Top five tips for your communication and dissemination strategy

1.        Know Your Audience

The first step in a successful dissemination strategy is understanding your audience. Whether they are stakeholders, policymakers, industry leaders, researchers, or the general public, your dissemination approach should be tailored to who you are targeting and their specific interests and needs.

There’s no such thing as a one-size-fits-all approach to dissemination, so the format and messaging should reflect the diversity of your audiences. For example, technical publications on the scientific methodologies may be of interest to researchers but would be considered too specialised to resonate with the general public. Instead, shift your focus to create content that is engaging, avoids overtly technical language, and can be easily shared as videos and social media posts. 

Given that Horizon Europe projects often involve multiple partners, it’s crucial to establish a clear, unified message and tone of voice from the start. This ensures consistent communication across all partners, platforms, and channels, helping to convey the project’s objectives effectively and cohesively. 

Different groups prefer different dissemination formats, so it is important to identify, plan, and segment your dissemination activities early on. 

2.        Plan Early

Planning your dissemination strategy early in the project’s lifecycle is paramount. You don’t want dissemination activities to be an afterthought - prioritise their importance from the very beginning and ensure they are aligned with the project’s objectives, timelines, and stakeholder needs.

Awareness-building and raising interest in the project will be vital in the first few months. As the project progresses and results begin to be realised, efforts might then pivot towards target key stakeholders with more detailed reports, interim results, or progress updates.

In the final stages of the project, the dissemination of final results, outcomes, and success stories through webinars, workshops, and public events will help to solidify and build upon the dissemination efforts that you planned from the beginning of the project.

3.        Continuous Engagement with Audiences

Never take engagement for granted – you should never wait until the end of the project to present your results. Keep your audience interested by applying the three I’s of maintaining engagement: informed, involved, and invested. 

Informed audiences are a foundational pillar of any successful Horizon Europe project. By keeping them informed, your audience feels valued and invested in, and they will likely maintain their interest in the project. Recommended channels include newsletters, press releases, and the project website as your nucleus of dissemination.

The next step in the engagement process is to ensure that your audiences feel involved in the project, meaning that they have a role to play and can provide their input, knowledge, and expertise. This can be done through workshops, roundtables, and webinars for feedback and collaboration. By involving the stakeholders in this way, you are helping to create a sense of ownership and investment in the outcomes of the project.

Finally, seek to foster the investment of stakeholders in your project. You want them to champion the project, promote its outcomes, and even take actions to support its long-term sustainability. 

To do this, show the stakeholders how their involvement has helped shaped or improved the project in some way. Acknowledge their contributions and highlight the real-world impact of the project’s work in their industry or community. An invested stakeholder is more likely to advocate for the project and is more likely to contribute to its success.

4.        Take Advantage of Different Channels

The ability to reach and connect with audiences will be maximised if you take advantage of the range of channels that are available today.

Utilising both traditional and online forms of media ensures a dynamic approach is taken towards dissemination. A multi-channel strategy that is tailored to different audiences, contexts, and platforms means you are increasing your chances of the message being received in a way that resonates with those who may not be attentive to one form of media or another.

Different channels will require different types of content. For example, content on social media should be kept short and to the point, with visuals that can effectively and quickly convey your message. This differs to a press release, where you would focus on more strategic and newsworthy elements of your project and how they may address a societal challenge and the solutions of the project. 

The long-term impact, visibility, and engagement of your Horizon Europe research will be strengthened by understanding the importance of and using a range of different channels in this way.

5.        Analyse and Adapt

Not every measure you take as part of your dissemination strategy will be a success. What works on one Horizon Europe project may not work on another. Therefore, it’s really important to have a flexible and adaptable strategy. If your dissemination activities are not producing the desired outcome, track the effectiveness of your dissemination activities and adjust your approach to get you back on track. 

Analytics are an indispensable tool to help you refocus the direction of your dissemination strategy. Social media channels such as LinkedIn offer in-built analytics that allow you to track a variety of engagement metrics, such as likes, comments, and shares. You can also monitor how specific posts on certain topics perform better than others, which will help you to refine your content strategy for improved audience engagement.

It is important to note, however, that more activity does not always correlate to greater impact. Focus on the quality of the engagement and the tangible effects of your dissemination activities, rather than superficial engagement. Take time to ask questions such as, is the content leading to stakeholder action? What evidence is there that this project is driving change? Are we reaching the right audiences? 

By asking these questions and regularly measuring the success of your dissemination activities based on data and feedback, your dissemination strategy will help to ensure that the project remains visible, relevant, and impactful.

For more information on Carr Communications’ work in Horizon Europe, visit https://carrcommunications.ie/horizon-europe/