Message Strategies: Communicating in a Crisis

As you are all aware, a fire broke out at the Apex facility at approximately 10 p.m. last night and thankfully no one was in the facility at the time. The cause of the fire is not yet known, but the rumors that the facility stores extremely dangerous chlorine gas and that the fire was spreading to other nearby businesses are not true. Special industrial firefighters hired by EQIS have already brought the fire under control. Residents in the immediate area were evacuated as a precaution but have already been able to return to their homes. At this point, tests conducted by the North Carolina State Department of Environmental and Natural Resources "had not detected anything out of the ordinary in the air." Thank you to the local police and fire departments that have helped us with this unfortunate event. For more information please call EQIS's toll-free hot line.

Page 309 Social Media

• Facilitate community building. Customers and other audiences can connect with your company and each other. Can be very simple such as activating the commenting feature on a blog, or it may involve having a more elaborate social commerce system.
• Listen at least as much as you talk. Listening is very important for online conversations as it is for in-person conversations.  A variety of tools can help you with this.
• Initiate and respond to conversations within the community.  Through content on your website, blog postings, social network profiles and messages, newsletters, and other tools, make sure you provide the information customers need in order to evaluate your products and services.
• Provide information that people want. This strategy of content marketing helps you build trusted relationships with potential buyers by repeatedly demonstrating that you understand and care about meeting their needs.
• Identify and support your champions. In marketing, champions are enthusiastic fans of your company and its products. Champions are so enthusiastic that they help spread your message, defend you against detractors, and help other customers use your products.
• Be authentic; be transparent; be real. Do not try and fool the public through fake blogs and other tactics.
• Don't rely on the news media to distribute your message. Marketers have to try and persuade the news media to distribute their message to consumers and other audiences by producing news stories. These are important, but you can speak directly to these audiences by blogs and other electronic tools.
• Integrate conventional marketing and sales strategies at the right time and at the right places.  AIDA and similar approaches are still valid for specific communication tasks, such as conventional advertising and the product promotion pages on your website.

Message Strategies: Negative Organizational Announcements

Shaw employees,

As we all know, the U.S. economy has continued to sag after receiving multiple blows from the housing and financial sectors. Due to these unfortunate events, there are struggles in the new-housing market the inability of many current homeowners to afford remodeling projects have lowered demand for carpet. With less demand for carpet, the Milledgeville plant can no longer operate at a profit. Shaw is forced to close the Milledgeville plant and lay off all 150 employees from the current plant. The plant will close three to four weeks from the current date. With more than $5 billion in annual sales, Shaw Industries is the world's number one carpet manufacturer. As openings become available in other Shaw facilities the company hopes to be able to place some of the workers in those jobs. Georgia Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond promised to help the affected employees. "The  layoff at Shaw Industries in the Milledgville will create a difficult situation for the workers and their families, and I want them to know they are not alone in dealing with this problem. Our staff will work closely with the laid-off workers, company officials, and local elected officials in determining how to best assist the affected employees." Assistance to be provided by the State of Georgia includes career counseling, unemployment benefits, and job retraining.

Message Strategies: Negative Organizational Announcements

I am writing this blog on behalf of the Looney Launch that has recently been introduced. The Looney Launch is extremely dangerous and is being removed from the market immediately. As employees here at XtremityPlus, you must be aware that there are going to be some negative reactions from enthusiastic customers and retailers. Reassure the customers and retailers that it is in their best interest that the Looney Launch is discontinued. The company cannot afford the risk of additional lawsuits, and even for XtremityPlus, the Looney Launvh pushes the envelope a bit too far. The product is simply too dangerous to sell in good conscience.