• Unit 5: Developing Strategic Messages

    This unit will focus on how to use key messages to tell your company's story and how to incorporate key strategic messages in online and traditional media tools. This unit will also discuss how to help managers communicate timely, effective, and truthful messages while adhering to sound business principles.

    Imagine you work for a company trying to negotiate with its union employees for their routine 4- to 6-year contract renewal. Imagine you are the public relations spokesperson for the second largest company in the United States, and there are few trained spokespersons at your company, including you. What starts as a routine labor union contract renewal turns bad. As the spokesperson for your company, what do you do? In 1997, a situation like this occurred when UPS employees were negotiating their contracts. When talks failed to produce an agreement that provided more job security through full-time employment and less part-time employment, the Teamster's Union announced that its UPS employees would go on strike. Approximately two weeks later, in hindsight and with the help of the case study authors, management reviewed how effective planning and message development could have resulted in a better outcome. In this unit, you will learn more about crisis management while reading the UPS case study.

    Completing this unit should take you approximately 5 hours.

    • Upon successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

      • explain how to brainstorm key messages that tell a company's story;
      • describe how to help management communicate truthful messages;
      • explain how to craft strategic messages to target audiences;
      • describe how to communicate to various stakeholder groups; and
      • explain how to incorporate messages in online and traditional media tools

    • 5.1: Tell Your Company's Story

      • The Importance of Public Relations: UPS Case Page

        Read this case study about how negotiations broke down and led UPS employees to strike. This chapter will help you understand the importance of developing message strategies and how to develop them for crisis management.

      • Storytelling and the Information Strategy Page

        In crisis communication, the organization wants to create messages that tell their story. The crisis communication team needs to match the delivery of the message to the intended audience. For example, we wouldn't write the same message to our customers as the Board of Trustees. The method of delivery would be different as well. This short lesson will help you identify the goals and characteristics of good storytelling.

      • Key Questions to Answer Page

        This short lesson introduces the why, what, and who for creating messages. Pay close attention to the Key Questions Scenario to see how the audience can affect how a message is told.

      • What Is a Message Strategy? Page

        This video discusses creating a marketing communication strategy, including why a strategy is needed, how to create one, and how to launch and evaluate your strategy.

      • Message Writing Practice Forum
        Start discussions: 1 Post replies: 1

        Practice writing three key messages about your favorite organization. Post your messages to the discussion forum. Review and respond to at least one other student's posts. As you respond, consider which message is the most effective and why.

        1. Write three marketing messages that address the safety and value of a new social media application that helps parents keep track of their children's departure to and from their homes aboard school buses. Include that the cost for the app is only $10 to download. Each app can be customized with an individual child's genetic coding.
        2. Next, write three key messages on how a technology company provides smartphones with the same social media applications to help locate lost or missing children during an earthquake disaster. The devices will emit a special beep when a human is discovered buried deep under rubble or within horizontal ranges from 20 feet to 1 mile. Include that there is no cost for the apps, smartphones, or operators using them to help locate the children. Everything is free and donated by one nonprofit company named "Help on the Way".

    • 5.2: Communicate Truthful Messages

      • A Better Approach to Risk and Crisis Communication Page

        This video encourages thinking beyond the corporate-centric perception of the crisis communication field. The main focus should be on people, not profitability, to prevent, mitigate, and recover from a crisis.

      • Business and Marketing Ethics Page

        Read this article, which will provide guidelines for ensuring management is ready to handle a crisis and outlines specific business ethics that should be followed to ensure truthful disclosures.

    • 5.3: Craft Messages to Target Audiences

      • Crafting a Message Page

        While this section on crafting messages is targeted at open educational resources (OER), it will introduce you to seven very clear steps to crafting messages that can easily be used to support crisis communication.

      • Who's the Audience for Public Relations? Page

        Here's another short lesson on creating messages. Even though it's targeted at public relations messages, it clearly shows how important it is to identify the stakeholders for the messages that need to be communicated.

    • 5.4: Communicate to Stakeholder Groups

      • Stakeholders Page

        This short lesson clearly defines "stakeholder" and identifies the most common stakeholders who need to be communicated with. Jot down ideas for the brainstorming activity at the end.

      • Identifying and Prioritizing Stakeholders and Publics Book

        An important part of communication strategy is identifying types of stakeholders and publics (as opposed to the "general public", which as a designation is usually too broad and unhelpful in a public relations context). This chapter will go through definitions of stakeholders and publics and the general categories of each. Knowing this helps develop appropriate approaches to communicate your message more effectively.

    • 5.5: Using Online and Traditional Media Tools

      • Succeeding in Media Relations Book

        Read these three articles to better understand your role with news media, what you can do to achieve an effective working relationship with the media, and tips for using traditional and new media.

      • Creating Social Media Messages Page

        Read this brief overview of best practices for social media messaging and engagement.

    • 5.6: Pulling It All Together

      • Crisis Communication Scenario Book

        This is a fascinating progression through a crisis communication scenario. You'll be presented with a case and then walk through creating a message strategy.

    • 5.7: Case Study: Crisis Communication and COVID-19

      • Learning from a Pandemic Page

        Though this guidance is specific to COVID-19 and intended for public health professionals in communications roles, reading it will show you helpful steps to take before, during, and after a crisis. Think about the crisis management and communication lessons we could learn from the pandemic and how we can effectively prepare for the next one.

      • COVID-19: From Crisis Management to Sustainable Solutions Page

        Read this report, which focuses on France's response to COVID-19. Reflect on the response and progress since then. With hindsight, was there anything that could or should have been done differently?

      • COVID-19 Learning and Consequences for International Crisis Communication Page

        This optional webinar is quite lengthy, but it provides the perspectives of several international experts on lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic through the lens of crisis communications.