Why are Archives Important? An Example of How to Tackle Communication Campaigns

Communicating The Importance of Archives to the Public.

An Example of How to tackle Communication Campaigns -

This page looks at the importance of archives to the public in an effort to give you an example of how to construct an effective communications campaign template – and help you in your future career with an example of how you might present it. In it we ask the right questions and think carefully about the answers in order to help you work more successfully in your job.

Questions to ask when writing a communications campaign:

What is the message? How can we express it and why do we need to? Who do we want to tell? How do we reach them, what do we say, and what do we use? What media will we target and how? Then what?

Example Campaign: The Important of Archives

General Message

The preservation of current and historical documents is important to society, because it can allow us to unlock the full potential of the Nation. More efficient use of the information held within the UK’s Archives can impact positively on almost every aspect of our lives;

• · from improving business and economic strength
• · to fostering personal wellbeing and social cohesion
• · Preserve research in every branch of knowledge, in the arts, humanities and sciences.
• · They allow the development of new knowledge, new services, systems and enterprises.
• · They safeguard business records.
• · Archives enable future policy forecasts and planning.
• · They enhance democracy by ensuring accountability,
• · And in a nation with an unwritten constitution they form the cornerstone of our legal system.
• · Archives promote a virtual community of knowledge with scholars sharing their expertise to help shape and enhance the value of the information being preserved.
• · Through their assistance archives become accessible and interesting to new areas of the public.
• · They can enrich lives through an immediate revelation of national and personal histories.
• · In teaching us about yesterday, Archives help us discover who we are.
• · They afford us an understanding of our neighbors and communities, our culturally diverse heritage and the achievements of our nation. In doing so they allow us to work together more closely.

The aims of an awareness campaign are;

• To raise the National Archive’s profile,
• And engage public interest,
• In order to promote the three strand strategic vision of the Organisation. Which is to…
• Lead and transform information management
• Guarantee today’s vulnerable digital information for tomorrow
• And to bring history to life

So who do we need to communicate this to?  Who are the public?

In addition to local authorities and government departments, the public can be private businesses, clubs and societies, chambers of commerce, social groups, families, schools, children and teachers, scholars and experts, individuals and marginalized groups.

But how do we reach them? What do we say and what do we use?

Both the message and the means must be personalized for the audience.

The National Archives quotes Sir Timothy Berners-Lee; he says “Locked within all this data is the key to knowledge about how to cure diseases, create business value and govern our world more effectively.”

Essentially he is extorting the theory that the preservation and sharing of information can strengthen governmental, economic and social systems. But to translate it into the reality of our everyday lives, he breaks it down into accessible and immediate terms.

By talking of tackling disease and aiding business he begins to take this theory out of the abstract and into the tangible to maximize its impact.

1. · A good example is the National Archive Centre’s ongoing Victorian Voices competition. It targets schools, teachers and young people by using the common situation of school and teenage life from almost two centuries ago to engage children’s enthusiasm for history and archives. It becomes attractive to teachers by meeting national curriculum criteria across a range of subjects.
2. · Similarly, the appeal to families and individuals can fall along the lines of personal history, and help and advice in how to open up the archives for self discovery.
3. · Minority or marginalized groups may be able to trace their past through records of the slave trade or immigration as in your recent Footprint of the Dragon Event.
4. · Social groups, societies and professional bodies may be engaged through opportunities to learn about the history of their residential area or profession, their regiment or favorite activity.
5. · Academics can be attracted by the pooling of resources for the furthering of excellence within the arts, humanities and sciences; which in turn could benefit the individual through access to enriching works of literature or the visual art; to new and empowering social thought and policy; or, as Sir Timothy suggests, advances in treatments for diseases from hay fever to cancer.
6. · Just as local authorities recognize the advantage of being able to provide new, better and more accessible services, so too must this be beneficial to the public; from those looking for care for elderly relatives to individuals hoping for effective local recycling systems or social groups.
7. · And everyone must recognize the importance of archives as the basis of our democracy and legal system in the absence of a written constitution. Oscar Slater is an excellent human embodiment of the debt we owe the preservation of records like his.

This is not an exhaustive list, and does not try to create campaigns for each example. It barely touches on the excitement of knowing nearly a thousand years of history can be brought to life in an instant.

It does recognize the National Archives concern to enhance the immediacy and relevance of their service in an exciting and accessible manner for the public.

So how do we reach them?

Having defined our messages for each sector of our audience, we need to target the most appropriate media portals through which to reach them.

These include national, local and regional newspapers, radio and television, online, leaflets and postcards, public events, professional journals, academic and social forums, and more. Put simply:

• If you are holding an event about Islington, target local community radio and printed media.
• If you are approaching schools for a short story competition, approach national GCSE or Key Stage magazines and educational journals.
• If you are opening up archives about pleasure gardens approach BBC Radio 4, Horticultural Associations and publications like Homes and Gardens magazine.

Hooking our target media

Once our message is defined and our means identified we need to get our media portals as excited about the work of the National Archives as we are. In brief:

• Writing press releases and sourcing newsworthy content in an easy, engaging and relevant form for specific media channels and their audiences.
• Building relationships with journalist.
• Fostering productive relationships with external partners.
• Managing press and public events, including management of campaign material (website, emails, printed advertising), press briefings and information packs, budgets, funding opportunities, and handling of enquiries.

It is vital to track, review and improve the success of campaigns and processes throughout.

In summary;

To communicate the importance of archives to the public we must:

• Identify key audience targets.
• Device a clear, personalized and interesting message to engage those targets.
• Identify key media portals through which to reach them.
• Provide accurate, clear, relevant and irresistible information to those media channels.
• Communicate enthusiasm and passion in an accessible, informed manner at all times.
• But how can we explain that to the public? And why do we need to?