Communication Best Practices

Clear, consistent communication helps Phoenix College build trust with students, employees and the community. This page brings together practical guidance for everyday communication tasks, from email and social media to event promotion and media inquiries, so you can represent the College accurately and professionally. Whether you're drafting a department-wide email or considering a new social media account, use these best practices to stay aligned with PC's brand and accessibility standards.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Standards for Accessible Design—along with the Title II and Title III regulations—say what is required for a public entity to be digitally and physically accessible to people with disabilities.

For digital content purposes, on April 24, 2024, the Federal Register published the Department of Justice’s final rule updating its regulations for Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The final rule has specific requirements about how to ensure that web content and mobile applications (apps) are accessible to people with disabilities.

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Acronyms

  • Whenever possible, avoid using acronyms. When you do to use acronyms, spell the acronym out in the first use, place the acronym in parenthesis immediately after, then use the acronym thereafter. For example:  Phoenix College (PC) welcomed its first students, as one of the first higher education institutions in Maricopa County on September 13, 1920. PC's founders envisioned the College as a place of inclusion, and the College continues to be a place of diversity, equity and access. 

Be As Concise As Possible

  • When communicating, use concise, non-technical, but specific language to help increase comprehension. 

  • Use highlighting, bolding, underlining, bullets and other text formatting tools help with comprehension.

All promotional items and merchandise orders are managed through the approved brand management company, Brand 360, contracted through the District. When new vendors are registered to do business with the District, they must also register with Brand 360. 

Professional & Branded Email

Employees are asked to create and use a PC-branded signature block. 

Adding media (headers, photos, videos, etc.) 

Using email headers is a helpful way to differentiate personal email from departmental email. 

  • Email templates are available in the marketing tool kit. 

  • Email containers help format email headers and text, and can be downloaded here. 

Formatting Email

Attachments & Google Drive Access: When sending a file, you can add attachments in Gmail up to 25 MB, but what if you have larger files such as videos or photos? Save large files in Google Drive, then insert a link to the Drive or shared drive file in an email.

  • Proofreading: Always re-read emails prior to sending to ensure proper grammar and punctuation. 

  • Highlighting, bolding, underlining, bullets and other text formatting tools help with reader comprehension.

  • Subject Lines: Using concise, specific subject lines helps recipients scan, search and quickly comprehend the purpose of your email. 

Sending & Responding to Emails

Gmail allows for scheduling emails to be sent at a later date or time. 

  • Compose the email as you normally would, then click on the arrow next to the send button.

  • Select “schedule send”, and a window pops up, prompting you to choose from a series of auto-options, or customize when the email is sent. 

Forwarding Versus Adding People to Email Threads

When forwarding emails consider the following:

  • Does the email have attachments that may be lost when adding others to the email thread?  You may need to forward an email rather than adding new people to an email thread, to ensure attachments are shared with the added recipients.  

  • Does the email contain sensitive information? If so, carefully evaluate the content of the email and who the email is shared with. See Securing Sensitive Information section below for additional details. 

Out-of-Office, Auto-Reply & Vacation Responder

Gmail offers an out-of-office / vacation responder option in the General Settings, which can be set up to send an automated message of your choice.  Use of the auto-reply tool is recommended when you will be away for an extended period of vacation or personal time, or due to a holiday closure.

For additional details on Electronic Communications Protocols, visit MCCCD Admin Regulation 4.3 Electronic Communications

Emailing Employees (faculty & staff)

  • Use of the [email protected] (all-PC distribution list) is limited to college-wide topics and should be used sparingly to prevent overloading inboxes. 

    • CET members, Directors, Managers and Department Chairs are permitted to use the all-PC-DL without prior approval. 

    • All other employees must get supervisor approval prior to using the all-PC Distribution List.

  • Always use Bcc to Send College-wide Emails using the [email protected] Distribution List.

    • To minimize Reply All emails and to respect email volume, please do not address an email to [email protected] in the To field. 

    • This will lessen the number of reply-all emails when using the all-PC distribution list. 

    • To Bcc an email - address the email to yourself, then add the distribution list  [email protected] to the Bcc.  

  • Another way to communicate with employees is via the Employee Newsletter, which is sent monthly. If you would like to submit something to be considered for inclusion in the employee newsletter, submit using the What's The Buzz Marketing Request Form.  

  • Have questions? Email [email protected]. 

Event Calendar

PC’s web-based event calendar is a great way to share details and promote college events.  The web-based calendar is tied to the MCCCD and PC scheduling tool 25Live. If you wish to post an event to the PC web-based calendar, submit the event in 25Live, and follow the prompts to have the event posted in one of the approved web-calendar categories:

  1. Athletics: PC athletic games and athletic events which are open to the public.

  2. Community: Events which are open to the public and public events hosted at the PC campus by other organizations, like voter registration drives, blood drives, food distribution events, etc.

  3. Students: Events which are open to all Phoenix College students, such as STEAM Days, FOI Expo, PC United Student Government meetings, Student Life events, etc.

  4. Visual & Performing Arts: Events hosted by the PC Visual & Performing Arts Department which are open to the public, students, alumni, faculty & staff.

If a reporter reaches out to you via email:

  • Do not respond - even just to let them know their email has been received.

  • Forward the email to PC's PR & Marketing Manager [email protected]

If a reporter reaches out to you via phone:

 If it is about PC in any way, please say “I am not the college spokesperson. Please email [email protected] with your request and she will be able to connect you with the right person.”

  • Including speaking about College statistics, processes, schedules, events, faculty, programs, staff, etc.

  •  If you are an expert on the topic and they want to speak with you, please tell them: “Thank you for reaching out. I can’t speak now, but please contact PC's PR & Marketing Manager [email protected] and she can coordinate for us.”  This is specifically if the reporter wants to speak with you to get your insight on a topic in your area of expertise. Otherwise, use the first sample response.

Do not answer any questions or provide any information - even if it is seems mundane, like confirming whether or not a class is taught at PC, or how many students are currently enrolled.

Contact the PR & Marketing Manager [email protected] or via phone at 602-920-8458, with any information you can provide about the reporter’s call, including:

  • Reporter’s name and news outlet

  • The purpose of their call

After a reporter’s initial contact, the PR &  Marketing Manager will then contact and vet the reporter.

Social Media: The purpose of PC’s Social Media Sites is to expand PC’s online presence to provide timely, accurate and relevant information to students, parents, alumni, faculty, staff and the community. We want PC’s social content to be engaging!  In addition to flagship accounts (managed by PC’s Marketing Department), Phoenix College is represented by a number of sub accounts already in existence including athletic teams, student support services, and the Office of Student Life. All sub-accounts should reflect PC’s brand, mission, vision, and values as well as serve as a resource of information for students.

  • Creating and maintaining a successful social media sub account is a significant commitment. In addition to planning, creating and posting content several times a week per channel, all sub account managers will need to monitor for comments and direct messages in a timely manner. For these reasons, we do not encourage the creation of additional Phoenix College branded social media sub accounts. However, if your department decides it is necessary to create an affiliated account, there are several steps that need to be taken immediately. 

  • You must have, at minimum, two full-time PC employees with administrator access, and give login information to PC’s Marketing Department. 

  • You must make sure to use appropriate assets - logos, copyright-free photos, wordmarks, etc. These can be obtained from Institutional Advancement. 

  • Meet with PC Marketing and provide 2+ months of content for review to determine how this potential new page fits into the overall messaging strategy for the college and possess a unique brand voice. This helps to determine if there is enough content to warrant a new social media channel and if your team has the capacity to manage the proposed social media platform. 

  • You must follow all Title II/ADA accessibility best practices.

If you are considering starting a social media account for your department or program, please contact [email protected] and we will set up a brief meeting to talk through your needs and review guidelines together.