Logos and communication instructions for Erasmus+ projects

Communication plan

Produce a communication plan to support your communication. The measures set out in a good communication plan can be realistically implemented.

The communication plan serves as a tool for the project coordinator and is used to engage project partners in communication.

At its simplest, the communication plan can be a table listing the communication measures and schedules as well as the persons responsible for communicating. You do not have to do everything yourself – also make room for the participants and engage them in providing information about the project's activities and results! For example, you can include an obligation to communicate about the project by posting blogs or vlogs, recording video(s), or sharing photos related to the project on such media as Instagram in agreements of those participating in a mobility period.

A small budget will go a long way!

Communication plan:

• Objectives of communication
• Target groups
• Channels
• Schedules, responsible persons and costs
• Evaluation of communication results

Objectives of communication

The objectives of communication are related to the objectives of the activities. What is the objective of the project, why does it exist? What do we wish to tell people about our project?

The objectives of project communication may include:

• sparking discussion on the project’s themes
• describing the results
• marketing project events
• increasing visibility and raising awareness of the project or organisation
• building the organisation's community image

Target groups of communication

Your target group determines the content and style of communication and the channels to be used. The audience can be divided into target groups for internal and external communication.

1. Internal communication

Internal communication ensures that up-to-date information is passed on, while it inspires and engages participants and offers them a channel for exerting influence. You should also agree on the rules and responsibilities related to internal communication to ensure its success: who will inform whom and how/on what channel.

The target groups for internal communication include those involved in the project, such as the management of the organisation/educational institution/company, other personnel, potential participants and partners.

In addition to intranet, various online platforms (Teams and similar), e-mail and meetings, internal communication channels may also include a project website and various social media platforms and blogs.

2. External communication

The goal of external communication is to spread awareness of the project and its results among third parties and the general public. Think about whom you want to engage! It is better to target a limited group than to try and reach the vague ‘general public’.

Select the communication channel and style of communicating with your target group in mind. 
Channels for external communication may include seminars, events, presentations/performances, open days, websites, blogs, social media, publications (such as reports and brochures), press releases or stories in traditional media.

The target groups for external communication include customers and other stakeholders, authorities, project managers and financiers as well as traditional media.

Channels

Communication channels include

• online services and blogs
• videos and vlogs
• email lists and newsletters
• social media
• press releases and media articles
• events, training, seminars and fairs
• press advertisements, brochures and other publications

You should select the communication channel with your goal and target group in mind. Think about the content from the perspective of the targeted audience as well as the forms of expression natural to the selected channel and the opportunities it provides.

Social media

The social media is also an important communication channel for projects. Many reporters use Twitter, which means you can also approach reporters and editors in the social media by addressing a concise tweet about your project directly to a reporter.

You can also participate in the social media by publishing a blog or vlog during the project, or by creating a profile for the project on a social media platform. You can use images, reports, presentations, videos, or project visit diaries to create content. If other people are shown in your photos, always ask for their permission before publishing the pictures!

On Twitter and Instagram, use hashtags relevant to the project theme. The following, for instance, are frequently used in connection with Erasmus +:

• #ErasmusPlus
• #ErasmusPlusFI
• #ILoveErasmusPlus
• #internationality

Press release

The aim of a press release is to attract reporters’ interest and persuade them to write about the project. Think about what is interesting or topical about the project from the perspective of those using the media in question, and give these core points to the editors briefly and concisely.

Follow the media, news and social media in your region and field to get an idea of what they write about right now and what is topical. Wear a journalist's hat and become a news junkie!

Look at the topic from the reader's or viewer’s perspective, rather than from your project’s viewpoint. Catching the interest of local reporters is easier than drawing in the national media, but your project may well deal with issues that could attract wider interest. So don't be shy about contacting the national media!

Editorial teams prefer to receive press releases by e-mail. They often have specific e-mail addresses for news tips. Another way to approach the media is to contact the editorial team directly, either the chief editor or chief news editor, or a journalist interested in the topic.

Contacting the media directly

Contacting the editorial team directly may often be a better alternative than sending in a press release. You can do this in addition to sending out a press release.

Presenting an idea for a story to a journalist is like making a pitch. Focus on a perspective that interests the reporter and the media they represent! 

Note that reporters are always interested in a change. What new results have been achieved? In what way does organization X now operate differently from before?

The amount of project funding is usually not interesting, unless it is exceptionally large. Even if EUR 400,000 may be a huge sum for your organisation, this amount of funding does not necessarily exceed the news threshold of even regional newspapers. 

Invite a reporter to participate in an event organised by your project, including a visit by a foreign group, a topical seminar or the project’s closing event – or offer them an interesting person to interview. Reporters working for local newspaper, in particular, are happy to go out and get the story if the topic has regional interest.

As an interviewee, you should offer someone whose everyday life is concretely affected by the project. A reporter is much more likely to cover the story if the interviewee is a young immigrant at risk of exclusion, for example, rather than the executive director in charge of the project's budget and bookkeeping.

Get in touch with reporters well ahead of time as the topics of stories may be decided very early, especially in papers and journals that come out at long intervals. Editorial teams also have limited resources, especially in small media.

An e-mail that is short and to the point and contains the most important background information, followed by a phone call a few days later, is the most effective way to ensure that the invitation is noted. Editorial staffs get a high number of contacts, and if you only send an e-mail, it can easily become snowed under.

Is the project over? – It is not too late!

Is your project already over? Not to worry! The impacts of projects often only become visible over time. Even if the actual project is no longer in progress, this may be the perfect time to communicate about what impacts the project has achieved, and how its results live on in the educational institution.
It is never too late to communicate about the knowledge and good experiences produced by a project!

In the Google Drive folder linked below you'll find presentation slides. You can use these slides to talk about the Erasmus+ programme concisely as part of presenting your Erasmus+ project.

ErasmusDays is a three-day event organised every autumn to spread information across Europe about the experiences and lessons learnt in projects that are part of the Erasmus+ programme. All organisations and individuals who have been involved in projects or exchange periods can organise an event of their own and register it as part of the ErasmusDays event. ErasmusDays is an excellent opportunity to highlight one's own international activities, gain greater visibility for one’s own activities and to highlight positive things that come from the EU.

The events organised during ErasmusDays may be small briefings or celebrations organised in the school or organisation, or large and extremely diverse events organised together with partners. They may be seminars, photo exhibitions, morning assemblies, workshops, trips, concerts, sport events or network events presenting an ongoing or already completed project or highlighting the results of the project or intercultural learning. The content of the events may be brainstormed freely.