Communicating With Partners

Methods of Communication
Multilingual Communication
Communication Content
Communicating with the Public
Email
Email is a convenient way to send a message to a large number of recipients at designated time. The content can be controlled by the sender and created for the audience. Disadvantages include recipients not opening the email in a timely fashion, turnover of stakeholders in critical roles resulting in returned emails, and email lists which need to be continually reviewed and updated.
 

Benefits:
Send to large groups at once.
Controlled content.
Targeted for audience.

Drawbacks:
Not opened timely.
Stakeholder turnover issues.
List needs constant updating.

Text Notifications
Text notifications which require stakeholders to opt into messaging are widespread, especially for focused or public notifications. For these notifications to have wide reaching effectiveness, a good deal of front-end effort is needed to grow the “opt in” population who are receiving the notifications. Another potential problem is the messages need to be short and due to smishing and other concerns, links to additional information are not a good addition to these text messages.
 

Benefits:
Widespread reach.
Good for urgent alerts.
Direct to stakeholders.

Drawbacks:
Requires opt-in effort.
Message length limited.
Links seen as phishing scams.

Dashboards
Dashboards are useful ways to communicate consistently with stakeholders on the measures of interest. Stakeholders can access the dashboard as needed, and dashboards can be created to update automatically with the most important metrics from a variety of data sources at regular intervals.
 

Benefits:
Consistent communication.
Access on-demand.
Auto-updates with data.

Considerations:
Requires users to actively check.
Accessibility compliance.

Social Media

Social media is another tool used to communicate messages with stakeholders. There are many platforms, and different generations have preferences for different ones including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and X (formerly Twitter). These platforms may be more helpful when sharing public messages, notifications, or actionable steps.

Benefits:
Consistent communication.
Access on-demand.
Auto-updates with data.

Considerations:
Leverage often-overlooked platforms with universal reach:
LinkedIn (professional users)
YouTube (all age groups)

 
 
 
QR Codes
Quick Response or QR codes are matrix barcodes which can be scanned from smart phones and used to link to URL (uniform resource locator) or website addresses where messages have been posted. QR codes can be useful when hyperlinks can’t be used or typing in the URL takes too long.
 
Best Uses:
When hyperlinks can't be used.
When typing URL takes too long.
Pasting on physical materials (flyers, posters).

Multilingual Communication

States and local communities should be aware of the need to create targeted public messaging in languages other than English to reach their entire constituency with messages. Start by identifying specific languages and dialects spoken in the target area. Use a professional interpreter to ensure message consistency. Translate verbal and written messages into multiple languages. Avoid acronyms as much as possible, as they may not translate or may have different meanings in different languages.

Communication Content

Developing the content of communications may be best accomplished through a stakeholder workgroup. Using collaborative input from the recipients of the intended messages can help accomplish the goals of sharing these communications. Some of the suggested best practices for content inclusion are listed for each type of stakeholder.

Recommended content to share with internal stakeholders:

Recommendations for external stakeholder communications:

Communicating with the Public

Work with the public health agency’s communications staff to create specific messages for each of the communication methods decided upon. While some staff members will have the subject matter knowledge to contribute content for these communications, the communications staff will be best prepared to assist with public release of the information according to the rules of the organization and in accordance with state laws. 

Continue The Toolkit

< Previous: Mitigation

Next: Evaluate Overview >

Prepare

Respond

Evaluate

Resources