Sanitation and Water for All (SWA) recently published the results of a global audience study that looked into the perceptions around water, sanitation, and hygiene of experts working in climate, health, human rights, humanitarian response and economic development. The objective of the research was to understand how different ‘external’ audiences perceive the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) sector, and to explore what messages resonate with them. This document distills information from the SWA research project, first presenting eight key findings that WASH communicators can use to inform their engagement with audiences ‘outside’ the sector. It then considers some specific insights for six sectors – economic development, health, education, humanitarian response, human rights, and climate change, and concludes with some insights into how WASH is viewed by other sectors in different regions of the world, and what that can mean for communications messaging and strategies.