Challenges
4
Potentials
8
Position
12
Objectives
16
Target groups
19
Messages
22
Channels
24
This document sets out the communications strategy of the Danish Diabetes Academy (DDA) for 2020-2022.
A requirement to be met by the communications strategy is that it must contribute to a sharper focus and more efficient resource utilization. The strategy focuses on the DDA’s position as a builder of networks spanning research areas, universities, hospitals and the life science industry, and on ways to support and develop this position through strategic communications.
The communications strategy is designed to support the DDA’s overall objectives of:
• strengthening the research training available to PhD students and postdocs in the field of diabetes, in
collaboration with academia, hospitals and the life science industry;
• recruiting, educating and training national and international PhD students, postdocs and visiting professors in the field of diabetes;
• facilitating diabetes networks, unifying academia, hospitals and the life science industry to strengthen educational activities and talent development in the diabetes field.
Resources
The communications strategy has been drawn up on the basis that the DDA’s communications have the resources below at their disposal.
The Communications Officer coordinates strategic communications work with overall guidance from the Managing Director and Management Assistant.
As the DDA secretariat is small, the route to our own media is quick and flexible. Everybody contributes input and ideas, and everybody helps with web, newsletter and social media content on an ongoing basis.
It is the Communications Officer’s responsibility to make sure everyone is confident about contributing. This is achieved through openness around planning and idea development, and through mentoring and coaching in communications and journalism.
Resources (1Q + 2Q 2020)
Communications Officer – 18.5 hours
Student Assistant Social Media (Twitter, LinkedIn and documentation etc.) – 10 hours
#1 The stakeholder landscape is diverse and polarised #2 Communication is not based on strategic priorities
Challenges
The diabetes landscape is
diverse
There are many people with an interest in and views on the field of diabetes, in which the DDA is active.
This means that actors other than the DDA also want to be on the agenda and to draw attention to their contributions to the field of diabetes.
The DDA’s primary activity is in diabetes research, where our vision is to raise the standard in the area through education, networking and recruitment.
So, the DDA is a significant part of the overall picture. But the large number of stakeholders and their many interests and views may challenge the DDA’s ability to raise its profile and focus attention on the unique educational and networking opportunities that it creates.
Communication is not based on
strategic priorities
Strategic communications have not previously been a high-priority part of the DDA’s work. Instead, there has been a broad focus on operations: social media, website, press relations, newsletter etc.
Strategic communication is a fundamental process that must be integrated into the work of the DDA. The lack of a strategic approach increases the risk of communication being given low priority and put to one side when things get busy and other jobs are urgent.
This can mean that the DDA maintains a relatively defensive posture, putting resources into doing things ‘the usual way’ and not into highlighting the value that the DDA creates.
Through the creation of action plans, templates, procedures, guidelines etc., an increased focus on strategic communications will make room for a more efficient and more
resource-appropriate approach to the tasks we perform.
This will enhance external communications and lend perspective and a greater sense of ownership to the DDA’s communications internally.
Communication is not just communication
The DDA must take a far more strategic approach to the organisation’s communication.
5TH BBDC-JOSLIN-UCPH
CONFERENCE
Potentials
Two strong narratives to build on
# 1
The DDA enhances diabetes researchers’ skills by educating and training the
next generation of researchers.
# 2
The DDA occupies a unique position as a builder of diabetes research networks
spanning universities, hospitals and the life science
# 1 The DDA enhances diabetes
researchers’ skills by educating
and training the next generation
of researchers
The number of Danish people with diabetes doubled between 2000 and 2016. At least 267,000 Danes have diabetes, and it is estimated that more than 300,000 have the precursor to type 2 diabetes (2019 figures, Danish Diabetes Association). Worldwide, at least 435 million adults are living with diabetes (2017 figures, Danish Diabetes
Association).
The need for diabetes research and research development is of crucial importance in terms of the prevalence of diabetes and its
consequences, both human and social.
The DDA works to raise the quality of research training nationally. It does so, among other things, by recruiting young researchers and providing education, training and networks for them.
The DDA adds value for the individual young researcher, for the research community, for the world of academia and for national and international diabetes research.
# 2 The DDA occupies a unique
position as a builder of diabetes
research networks spanning
universities, hospitals and the
life science industry
The DDA is the only actor that unites researchers, academia, hospitals and the life science industry and builds networks enabling such a large number of actors in the field to become connected. To the benefit of their work and to the benefit of the many people living with diabetes now and in the future.
Vision and mission
Mission
The DDA educates and
trains the next
generation of
researchers in the field
of diabetes.
Vision
The DDA enhances the
quality of Danish diabetes
research education to
ensure that it remains at
the highest international
Three principles of strategic communication
A clear and
definite aim drives all
communications
A strong professional
commitment permeates
all communications
The value of
cross-collaboration and
interrelationships is
highlighted
Why
– How - What
In its strategic communications, the DDA must set out an agenda highlighting the value of the DDA’s activities. The DDA’s aim must permeate all communications – clearly and frequently. What is the DDA’s goal, and what is its
ambition? What do we believe in, and why? What value do we create?
Clear answers to questions like these will motivate and engage.
If the DDA communicates whyit works in the way it does, it will be easier to gain understanding and support.
A secondary priority is to communicate howthe DDA works and what, specifically, the DDA develops, produces and does.
Why
The DDA enhances diabetes researchers’ skills
by educating and training the next generation of
researchers
What
The DDA provides education, facilitates networks and collaboration, and awards funding
for research grants
How
The DDA brings different target groups together though education,
Overall objectives
of the DDA’s
communication
Internal
We will carry on our communications in a strategic and
resource-optimised way
External
We will create measurable visibility around our value-creating work of educating
and training junior researchers and our unique network spanning the field of
diabetes
Overall objectives of the
communications strategy
Communications strategy
objectives
The overarching objective of the communications strategy is to contribute to:
• establishing a definite sender with a clear voice to spread the word about the DDA’s work and its role in the field of diabetes;
• ensuring more efficient use of the resources available for our work; • supporting the DDA’s overall mission and vision, and ensuring that
the DDA fulfils its aims.
This translates into two sub-objectives:
• The value of the DDA must be explained to target groups and
stakeholders
The value contributed by the work of the DDA – knowledge, results and solutions – must be made clearer to target groups and
stakeholders.
• The DDA’s activities must be highlighted to target groups and
stakeholders
The communications strategy must ensure that the DDA’s network-building activities achieve visibility with target groups and
stakeholders.
Attainment of the overall objective and the two sub-objectives will clarify that the DDA is helping to raise the quality of diabetes research training and is strengthening the network right across the field.
# 2
Highlight the DDA’s activities to target groups
and stakeholders
# 1
Explain the value of the DDA within education, networking and recruitment to target groups and stakeholders*
Sub-objectives
The DDA has three primary target groups overall. The three target groups have different levels of knowledge, different tasks and different needs.
The first target group, and the one that requires most attention,
consists of junior researchers. Here, knowledge of the DDA is essential to the development of research training. An informed and involved target group will develop and strengthen the DDA’s network. A focus on junior
researchers is in line with our
mission to educate and train the next generation of diabetes researchers. The second target group comprises senior researchers. Like junior researchers, these must be part of the DDA’s network. They should know about the DDA as a professional resource, and they should take a positive and participatory stance toward the DDA and its activities. The third target group comprises Denmark’s universities. The universities are essential to
knowledge sharing, dissemination and networking across the field of
diabetes. It is also here that recruitment of junior and senior researchers to the DDA’s work and activities takes place.
Primary target groups
Senior researchers (supervisors,
professors)
Mission
Quality in education – ‘support’ and ‘manage’.
Network and professional relationships
Need
To be informed, kept in touch and involved.
Need
To be informed about how the DDA can be
used as a professional input to networks and knowledge Junior researchers (postdocs, PhD students) Universities (managers, research school network, communications departments)
Need
To be informed and see the value of actively using the DDA’s network as a professional resource
Mission
Enhanced image and greater support through
better and clearer knowledge
Mission Build and maintain
relationships that contribute to inter-university collaboration
Secondary target groups
The stakeholders listed below are potential target groups for the DDA’s strategic communications:
• Interest groups • Collaborative partners • Hospitals
• University hospitals
• International diabetes researchers and diabetes research institutions
• Politicians
These stakeholders are secondary target groups, because they play less of an active role in relation to the DDA’s activity. The stakeholders are part of the DDA’s network, which lays the ground for informal dialogue and
communication.
The above do not receive targeted communications from the DDA, but will be informed about the DDA’s activity via the communication with the primary target groups. This refers, for example, to communication regarding the award of funding and communication in connection with events, courses and symposia organised collaboratively.
Strategic messages
Three core messages
The DDA offers
education, networking
and funding for
research grants
The DDA is
career-promoting and a
professional resource
The DDA facilitates
networking and
collaboration spanning
the field of diabetes and
arranges workshops,
courses and seminars.
#1
Support
#2
Manage
#3
Facilitate
Channels
Five primary channels
The DDA’s communication relies on five primary channels. The channels are chosen on the basis of resource
prioritisation and the value they bring to messages and the three primary target groups, either because they reach one of the target groups specifically, or because they span the target groups.
With all five channels, there is a strong emphasis on
versioning and reuse of the same content so as to make the most efficient use of resources.
Of the five channels, the website plays a key role and has the highest priority in terms of resources. Here, the DDA presents and provides information about its overall activity across the areas of education, networks and recruitment. It is therefore important to have a consistent focus on the website, since content here will lay the ground for an effective flow to the other channels.
The newsletter is the DDA’s direct access to the target groups and the rest of its network. This access is important, and the newsletter must therefore have high priority.
The following slides describe the five channels’ functions in more detail.
Actions associated with the individual channels are described in detail in the action plan drawn up on the basis of the approved communications strategy.
Newsletter Publications Website Events Press Direct dialogue LinkedIn Instagram Twitter
Primary channels – 1
Purposes and possibilities
A requirement to be met by the communications strategy is that it must contribute to a sharper focus and more efficient resource utilization
The website is an important channel for the DDA’s communications. Here, the DDA presents the organisation, its activities and its work. This is therefore also where the most time and resources need to be invested.
The website should put across the DDA’s educational, networking and recruitment activity – in a way that is digestible and easy to understand. The content should be diabetes-related.
The website is the foundation of the content produced by the DDA and the content produced/supplied externally via the network. In the choice of topics, in its appearance and in its language, it is important for the content to speak to and embrace the primary target groups – without becoming messy and indigestible.
Newsletter content must address the three primary target groups.
The content focuses on the DDA’s educational, networking and recruitment activity, and must be diabetes-related. This means news, event reports, notification of deadlines (events, bursary applications etc.), links to online articles, e.g. by researchers, a next month’s events calendar.
It is important that the newsletter sends users to the DDA’s website for further info/further reading/enrolment. Its content and look should therefore be clear and inspiring.
As of mid-August 2020, the newsletter is being sent to over 2,500 subscribers.
Website
Newsletter
Many of the DDA’s target group members and stakeholders are LinkedIn users. LinkedIn should be used strategically to build the narrative about the DDA’s activity. An effort is made to create a varied and meaningful flow of our own content within education, networking and recruitment – content that provides users with knowledge and information.
As of 24 August 2020, the LinkedIn page has 2,157 followers.
Primary channels - 2
Purposes and possibilities
Press relations are divided into two operations. One takes place in connection with the annual grant award rounds (July and December). The other operation involves story pitching and press work around the DDA’s general activities.
For resourcing reasons, the first operation has top priority. However, the two operations are connected, as the press material on grants is used strategically for an extended period following the award round. Both operations are aimed at professionally oriented media (diabetes, medicine and science) and general media – newspapers, radio, Web and TV, both national and regional.
Press
The DDA's Twitter profile must be active and factually oriented, containing news, facts and information from the DDA – or from network/collaborative partners with a close relationship to the DDA. Twitter is for lobbying, dialogue and debate, which demands a lot of resources for monitoring and participation alike. LinkedIn posts are therefore re-versioned for Twitter.
For greater curation of the DDA’s Twitter presence, the Managing Director’s account is used. This enables a more personalised and opinion-focused communication.
As of 24 August 2020, the Twitter account has 755 followers.
Other channels - 1
Purposes and possibilities
These are not primary channels, either because they are already going strong and don’t need further resource prioritisation, or because they make less of a contribution to the overall objectives of the communications strategy.
The DDA plays host to a number of events: courses, workshops, the Summer School, Winter Schools etc. In addition, the DDA provides resources for events in collaboration with others.
The DDA is visible at both types of event with posters, flyers, abstract books, roll-ups, hashtags, notices, merchandise etc. The DDA is also presented on welcome and conclusion slides.
Events are used to position the DDA and raise its profile within education, networking and recruitment.
The DDA has an active profile on Instagram. No strategy has been set for this medium as it is to be used as a secondary medium. At DDA events, participants are encouraged to use Instagram and highlight the DDA – and themselves. The same goes for the DDA’s staff.
For use at all times: #DanishDiabetesAcademy For use in the relevant context: #DDA_education
#DDA_network #DDA_grant
For use at the Schools: #DDA_summerschool #DDA_winterschool
Publications
Events
The DDA issues numerous publications, including report and evaluation publications, flyers, one-pagers, abstract books and other material for distribution.
The publications are designed according to the available graphics guidelines.
Content should highlight the DDA’s educational, networking and recruitment activity.
Efforts are being made to produce a series of standard publications.
Other channels - 2
Purposes and possibilities
Direct dialogue and email correspondence with the target groups, stakeholders and others in the DDA’s network (participants, speakers, collaborative partners etc.) are a big part of the DDA’s work. Procedures, templates, summaries etc. have been prepared that contribute to clear communication and accommodating dialogue. These materials are under continual development to keep them current and relevant to information needs.
Purpose
Strength
Channel
Objective
s
Branding and visibility Information Press relations toraise visibility of the DDA’s activity
Network activation; High level of attention
– in general and specialist media Network communication Network activation; information to stakeholders
Press
Channels
-Purposes and possibilities
Visibility and information
Visibility and
information Branding and visibility Foundation of
information about the DDA’s activity
Direct email information to users
Messages direct to primary target groups
Professional network for highlighting the DDA’s educational, networking
and recruitment activity
Network activation; communication with stakeholders Bring together information about the DDA in digestible form
