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Information Services communications and marketing strategy 2025-28

1. Introduction

The Information Services (IS) Communications and Marketing Strategy has been developed to ensure that we communicate as effectively as possible with our users and stakeholders and that we review and continually improve our communications activities. It articulates what we are trying to achieve by communicating and outlines the methods and approaches we will employ to achieve those objectives.

To help us do this, the document breaks down our communications work into three core strands:

  • Informing: this is our outward communication to users and stakeholders
  • Engaging: this is when we seek the views and feedback of our users and stakeholders
  • Developing: this is when we reflect on our communications activities and make changes to improve them.

The IS Communications and Marketing Working Group will take the lead in ensuring that we implement this Strategy and will prioritise work by formulating an annual plan. However, communicating clearly, consistently, and accessibly is the responsibility of all IS staff.

2. Objectives

The IS’s communications and marketing activities help us to deliver the IS strategic aims, which are:

  • Enhancing the student experience and success: Ensuring seamless access to learning materials, interactive learning environments, and digital support
  • Supporting research excellence and success: Providing advanced digital tools and data infrastructure to enable high-impact, data-driven research
  • Operational efficiency supporting staff success: Streamlining internal processes, automating workflows, and improving decision-making through the intelligent use of data
  • Cybersecurity and data privacy: Implementing best practices for protecting sensitive university data while maintaining transparency and compliance with regulatory requirements
  • Data and information management: Building trusted and clean data repositories and models that are easy to use and access within agreed principles for managing and securing our valuable information assets.

The IS constantly develops its stakeholder communications to:

  • increase awareness and promote the use of the resources and services that the IS provides to support our users
  • improve the information and data literacy skills of our users so that they may succeed in their studies and research, as well as their careers beyond Birkbeck
  • make sure our messages are clear, consistent, accessible, timely, and helpful to them
  • establish diversified communication channels that are fit for reaching diverse types of users and other stakeholders
  • create a meaningful dialogue with the Birkbeck community, to ensure our services meet its needs
  • measure satisfaction with our services and use feedback to make improvements to them
  • raise the profile of the IS within the Birkbeck community
  • promote the IS contribution towards Birkbeck’s mission and strategic aims.

3. Methods

Inform

  • Develop tools for communicating in a clear, accessible, and consistent way.
    • Develop support materials and templates to assist IS staff in communicating clearly.
    • Ensure that IS staff have the training they need to always meet the required legal standards of visual and written accessibility i.e., WCAG 2.2 AA, and by following the university’s guidelines. (See list of resources at the end of this document.)
    • Develop and agree key messages that we will repeat consistently and share these key messages with all IS staff.
    • Incorporate Birkbeck branding, templates, and digital guidelines in all our communications.
    • Use a wide range of communications channels, appropriate to each communication, to maximise reach.
  • Target relevant messages at diverse groups of IS users and other stakeholders.
    • Direct students to the support and resources available to help them study successfully.
    • Direct academic staff to the support available to help them teach effectively.
    • Ensure that researchers are aware of our support services and know how to make use of the tools we offer to benefit their work.
    • Report on IS developments at university committees.
    • Promote the IS as a hub of the university, both as a physical space and an online resource.
  • Align our communications activities with those of the wider university.
    • Ensure IS-related news and content feature regularly in university communication channels.
    • Develop campaigns which reflect key moments in the academic calendar and the student journey.
    • Reflect the External Relations annual communications calendar in our marketing.
    • Look for opportunities to work closely on campaigns, events and exhibitions with other professional support services and academic faculties and to utilise our IS space as a venue for these.

Engage

  • Use a wide range of channels and methods to consult with our users and stakeholders and to measure satisfaction with our services, including:
    • annual IS/IT Services survey
    • verbal and written feedback
    • social media
    • National Student Survey (NSS), Postgraduate Taught Experience Survey (PTES) and Postgraduate Research Experience Survey (PRES)
    • taught-course module questionnaires
  • Develop relationships with and listen to the Student Union and other student representatives through:
    • Student–IS Partnership
    • regular consultation with Birkbeck Students’ Union officers
    • student representatives within schools
  • Develop relationships with academic schools through:
    • regular liaison work of our Academic Services Librarians, the IS Disability and Dyslexia Service, other IS engagement groups
    • user education and training
    • attending Faculty and School meetings
    • building relationships with staff responsible for Communications within Faculties and Schools.
  • Participate actively in the College’s committees and other forums, including:
    • UEB
    • Project Prioritisation Group
    • IS Advisory Group
    • IS User Group
    • Education Committee
    • Research Committee
    • Research Students Sub-Committee
    • Diversity, Disability and Wellbeing Sub-Committee
    • Communications and Events Forum
    • Digital Accessibility Working Group
    • Faculty and School committees and meetings.

Develop

  • Analyse the effectiveness of our communications and engagement, including:
    • visits to our My Birkbeck and Connect pages
    • engagement with College newsletter items
    • use of print media
    • use of our feedback options
    • participation in our engagement forums
    • attendance at user education activities
    • enquiries received (to identify gaps in knowledge of our services)
    • complaints about specific services and overall satisfaction with our service
    • users and stakeholders we are not reaching.
  • Develop and improve our communications and engagement by:
    • agreeing an annual Communications Plan, created by the IS Communications and Marketing Group and agreed by the IS Management team, which addresses gaps identified by our analysis
    • refining and adding to the key messages that we communicate to our users
    • redirecting our communications through the most appropriate channels
    • diversifying the way we engage with users and stakeholders
    • reviewing and improving our communications guidelines and training for front-facing IS staff and IS management
    • engaging a broad section of IS staff on the work of the Communications and Marketing Group, and to include representation from teams across IS front-end and back-end.
  • Respond to user needs identified in our consultation and engagement by ensuring:
    • feedback is a standing item on our IS Management Team agenda
    • user feedback informs the annual operational plan, in which service priorities are identified and agreed
  • Keep our users up to date with the results of their feedback, including:
    • services we have introduced or improved as a result of their feedback
    • updates on whether we have achieved our standards and performance indicators
    • being honest about when we have not met our users’ expectations.

List of resources

Reviewed June 2025.