Communications
The Office of Research provides guidance and support to centers and institutes in building their marketing and communications programs. Reach out to the office’s Director of Communications, Emma Bonanomi, at bonanomi@bu.edu, with questions or to discuss a new project.
Onboarding
New communications staff should take the following steps:
- Connect with the Director of Communications in the Office of Research to discuss a timeline for communications orientation and a regular meeting schedule. Typically meetings with the Director of Communications will be scheduled for bi-weekly for the first two months and monthly going forward.
- Emma will get you added to relevant Teams channels and professional development for BU communicators
- Emma will connect you with contacts at BU PR and The Brink
- Sign up for a Brand 101 workshop, and review the brand hub.
- Email pr@bu.edu to get yourself listed on the Communicators Across Campuses list.
- Confirm that you have the center’s sub-brand logo package. If not, reach out to the Director of Communications in the Office of Research, who may have it on file, or visit the logo request form to request a new logo package from Creative Services.
- Review useful communications for research communicators at BU:
- An Introduction to Promoting Your Research: A list of steps to take to broadcast research findings at BU and beyond.
- Strategic Communications Series: These workshop recordings focus on building communications skills to help promote research and scholarship. They continue to be offered twice a semester for faculty, students, and staff, and upcoming events are included on the Research How-to listing.
- Research PR Case Studies: Case studies about successful research promotion at BU.
- Create a Website: BU has templates available to both faculty and research initiatives.
Templates & Support
The following templates are available through the Office of Research. Read on for details or reach out to bonanomi@bu.edu to learn more.
- Research Companion Theme: Website theme available for research centers or research initiatives. Requires approval from Emma Bonanomi in the Office of Research. View example
- Faculty Websites: This new template is available to BU faculty to showcase their research and scholarship. View example or learn more about using this template.
- Email Templates: This is a newsletter template that was created for University-wide research centers. It’s available in Mailchimp or Constant Contact. Reach out to Emma for access.
- Annual Report Template: This InDesign template offers a basic structure to lay out a designed annual report for marketing purposes. Please note that the template is in InDesign, and will require that you have someone in-house with basic InDesign experience.
- PowerPoint, Word, and Email Signature Templates: Basic PowerPoint and Word Templates, branded with your center logo, are available through the Office of Research. We can also create a template email signature for you to ensure consistent branding among center staff.
Event Promotion
Here are some resources available at BU for event promotion:
- WordPress calendar sharing: If you are using the calendar app in WordPress to list your events, you can share your events with other BU groups (including the Office of Research!). You can find instructions on IS&T’s TechWeb.
- BU Calendar: In addition to sharing with other centers, schools, and departments, you can manually share your events with the central BU events calendar by submitting this form.
- Digital signage: The BU Digital Signage Community is a place to share upcoming events with graphics for digital screens across campuses. Images can be submitted as JPEG or PNG are as follows:
- Portrait (vertical): 3840px tall by 2160px wide (we do not recommend anything smaller than 1920px x 1080px).
- Landscape (horizontal): 2160px tall by 3840px wide (we do not recommend anything smaller than 1080px x 1920px).
- Warren Towers digital posters: There are large, vertical digital screens at the bottom of Warren Towers that see a lot of foot traffic. Learn more on the MarCom website. Specs are the same as above but images must be submitted as JPEGs (72dpi).
- Cross-promotion: The Communicators Across Campuses list can be a resource as you reach out to schools, colleges, and centers with newsletters and other promotional channels.
Photos & Imagery
Here are some ideas for sourcing images for use on the website and in marketing/communications:
- Center photoshoots: You can coordinate a paid shoot with BU Photography, hire an outsourced photographer, or roam your building with a camera if you have experience taking photos. We typically recommend centers refresh their photography once every year to allow for fresh imagery in your annual report.
- BU photography: BU offers a vast library of pre-existing BU photos available for purchase. Only BU employees who are also registered users can access the library. If you are not on campus, you must be logged into BU’s VPN to access the image library.
- Other stock photos: There are many stock photo catalogues available online. Unsplash is one site that provides free, high-quality photos. Be sure to credit photographers and stock photography websites appropriately.
Common Contacts
- Logos / branding: Central Marketing & Communications
- PR / social media: BU PR | Social Media
- The Brink: Andrew Thurston, thurston@bu.edu
- BU Today: John O’Rourke, orourkej@bu.edu
- Technical support for WordPress / other BU-supported programs: IS&T at ithelp@bu.edu
- General questions / anything else: Emma Bonanomi, Office of Research, bonanomi@bu.edu