Affluent Magazine
Breaking Bad News in Troubled Times
by Peter Whalen
How and when do you talk about bad news? That’s a question that a lot of CEOs and business owners are thinking about. This recession’s impact on sales, profits, and financial stability can range from a little belt-tightening all the way to looking at bankruptcy. The more severe the problem, the sharper the instinct to not let anyone know about it. Unfortunately, that instinct is usually wrong. The most severe problems require the greatest attention to communications.
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Thursday, May 28, 2009
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
The International Women’s Forum to Host Global Conference in South Florida
The IWF World Leadership Conference is expected to attract women from 50 countries
The International Women’s Forum (IWF), a global organization of preeminent women from government, academia, arts, business and science, announced today that 100 of the most distinguished women in South Florida will host the 2009 World Leadership Conference & Gala in Miami on October 7-9, 2009. An international audience of more than 600 leaders from 50 countries is expected to attend.
The International Women’s Forum (IWF), a global organization of preeminent women from government, academia, arts, business and science, announced today that 100 of the most distinguished women in South Florida will host the 2009 World Leadership Conference & Gala in Miami on October 7-9, 2009. An international audience of more than 600 leaders from 50 countries is expected to attend.
The conference will revolve around the theme: Becoming Better…Better World, Better Business, Better Days. Speakers from around the globe will explore the issues and challenges that are confronting our economy to expanding scientific frontiers to co-existing peacefully.
The conference will kick-off with an opening reception at Vizcaya Museum and Gardens featuring welcoming remarks from Mayor of Miami-Dade County Carlos Alvarez and Mayor of the City of Miami Manny Diaz. A luncheon, intimate dinners in Miami homes, informative panels and the International Hall of Fame Awards Gala will take place on Thursday and Friday. Three influential women will be inducted into the Hall of Fame, including Donna Shalala, president of the University of Miami, Sylvia Earle, deep-water explorer who holds the women’s record for a solo dive in a deep submersible, and Tzipi Livni, former vice prime minister and minister of foreign affairs of Israel.
For more information please contact Bryna Jacobs or Rebekah Hudder at 305.446.2700.
About the International Women’s Forum
About the International Women’s Forum
Founded in 1982 in the United States, IWF has grown across five continents into 21 nations and 62 affiliated forum locations. Now, 25 years later, there are more than 4,300 women leaders participating in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, North America and the Pacific Basin. IWF facilitates networking among women of achievement and promotes opportunities for women in leadership to come together to exchange ideas and share insights to better our world.
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Thursday, May 21, 2009
Using Social Media for Internal Crisis Management
Social media is catching on with small businesses, large corporations, non profits and even some banks. Yet, as active as these organizations are in the social media world with their clients and consumers, what are they doing to engage their employees and internal staff?
With the growth of social media, the news cycle has become shorter and more open to various types of journalism found online as Tweets, blog posts, Facebook status updates, comments on other posts and articles on news sites. Not only should organizations review their crisis management plans to include social media outreach for their external audiences, they should also consider how they can use the tools for internal communication.
By utilizing various social media tools and keeping some basic tips in mind, organizations can interact in two-way conversations with employees faster and more efficiently when a crisis occurs.
Be Available
Similar to a traditional crisis management plan where a spokesperson is made available to the media for responses and updates, the spokesperson(s) and management of a company should also be available to staff and employees if they have questions or concerns. This availability can be through phone, in-person or using social media tools such as Twitter, Facebook and IM. Using these social media channels, management can communicate in real time answering questions, calming anxiety or concerns about a situation and providing immediate updates about what the company is doing to handle the situation.
Be Open and Honest
It is likely that at least a percentage of many organizations’ employees and staff are already engaging in social media in one way or another, whether it be through Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Plaxo, blogging, interacting on message boards and forums, listening to podcasts and viewing webcasts or YouTube videos. Therefore, it is important to establish a presence on these channels with your employees before a crisis occurs. Your employees are going to view and read updates/comments about your company and how it’s handling the crisis on these sites anyway from other users. It will be better for internal morale and for your company’s reputation if you have direct contact with employees on these mediums to communicate your own key message points about the situation.
A great example of why this is important and how to utilize these tools is the Virginia Tech shootings in 2007, and the role social media played in that tragedy. Students, teachers, family and the rest of the world read constant updates and opinions of how the school was handling the crisis via Twitter, Facebook and other social media venues, causing some negative images of how the crisis was handled by the school’s leadership.
Since then, Virginia Tech has initiated several programs for alerting students and faculty during emergencies and crisis situations on campus, including:
- VT Alerts – offers three new methods for alerting the campus community and beyond about emergency situations. The newly developed system will allow students to sign up for the services – they can provide a cell phone number, instant message (IM) contact, or additional phone numbers in order to receive a text message, an IM, or an audio message in the event of a campus emergency. Mandatory sign up for VT Alerts is being considered.
- All students will be notified directly by email during the week of July 2 with detailed subscription instructions, at that time they can subscribe through a website, 24 hour a day, 7 days a week.
- Broadcast e-mails are sent when necessary during an emergency situation to all students, faculty, and staff.
Be Consistent
Although a company may designate one person as the crisis spokesperson, all employees need to know the key messages. This is important because although they are not the spokesperson, they may still share pieces of the information with family and friends, and as the president of a company you want those messages to be consistent with what the company spokesperson is saying to the general public.
To accomplish this, a company can use an internal enewsletter to distribute information about the crisis situation and the message points; they can post it on a Facebook page visited by employees; and the social media spokesperson can post the company’s main message or several key messages on Twitter to get the word out to employees and the general public simultaneously.
It will also be important to incorporate social media into boosting morale after a crisis. This can include the use of webcasts that can be sent by email to employees and/or posted on an intranet system. These webcasts should include an appearance by the CEO/president of the company reassuring employees that the company is okay, what steps they took to manage the crisis and what the company will do in the future to prevent similar crises.
Monday, May 18, 2009
The World of Social Media
Tips on how to make it work for you
At Thorp & Company, we have employed several social media channels to increase awareness of our services, the expertise of our clients and as a new way to build relationships with reporters.
Web 2.0, social media, tweeting – these buzzwords are everywhere, but what do they mean? Social media are online communication and networking venues including blogs, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Plaxo, Myspace, podcasts, webcasts and the list goes on, that people and businesses are using to create two-way conversations and interactivity with tools such as comment boxes, RSS feeds, recommendations, photo and video sharing, etc.
Last year Thorp & Company started this venture by upgrading our company Web site (www.thorpco.com). This year we have continued pushing forward with several initiatives including webcasts that can be found on our Web site, our Thorp and Company’s Source Blog (http://thorpandcompany.blogspot.com), developing Thorp and Company’s LinkedIn page, Facebook page and starting a Twitter account.
Our engagement in social media has proven to be beneficial for networking, building relationships and raising awareness of our brand. We have connected with several reporters through Twitter and our blog; we have joined and participated in several professional groups on Facebook and are gaining ‘fans’ of Thorp & Company’s page daily; we follow various industry experts’ and reporters’ blogs and Twitter feeds and have seen them return the interest.
We would like to offer some tips that may be helpful when considering joining the realm of social media.
Learn the Basics
When taking a step into the social media world, it is important to understand the basics of Web 2.0 and the different venues. We suggest hosting a training session for the company’s executives who may be more hesitant about getting involved in online activity. It’s always harder for people to accept change and new ways of doing things if they don’t fully understand it.
A training session can include a breakdown of the different types of social media, what industries are most active in each area, the cost of getting involved and how it all works. Social media can be very simple and easy to use as long as you understand its purpose.
Develop a Plan
After gaining a basic understanding of what social media is and learning about the various channels, it is important to develop a plan of how you and your company can use these tools to meet your goals.
The first step in this plan should be determining who your audience is and what channels they are using. Next, you should develop goals that you want to accomplish using social media. These goals should align with your company’s business goals including increasing brand awareness, sales and developing new business. An action plan should be drafted with strategies and tactics you will use to meet your goals. Use a timeline to map out when you will implement each of your social media strategies; for example, the dates and topics for blog posts, deciding when you will create and distribute a webcast and how and when you will announce your emergence into social media.
Stay Active
The best way to ensure you see results from engaging in social media is to stay active. Basic social media takes little investment aside from certain features that can be added for small costs, but it does take time. The amount of hours you invest in social media is your choice, and it’s fair to say that the amount of time you put in is going to determine what you see in return.
Social media is everywhere and everyone wants a piece of it, but is it for everyone and every business? At Thorp & Company we think there’s a way for everyone to get involved in the new movement, even if it’s simply by participating in a webcast and posting it on your company Web site. We’d like to hear how your company is involved in social media and what is and isn’t working. What are the results and benefits you have found by getting engaged?
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Don't forget to subscribe to Thorp & Company's Source Blog using the email subscription box in the upper right column.
At Thorp & Company, we have employed several social media channels to increase awareness of our services, the expertise of our clients and as a new way to build relationships with reporters.
Web 2.0, social media, tweeting – these buzzwords are everywhere, but what do they mean? Social media are online communication and networking venues including blogs, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Plaxo, Myspace, podcasts, webcasts and the list goes on, that people and businesses are using to create two-way conversations and interactivity with tools such as comment boxes, RSS feeds, recommendations, photo and video sharing, etc.
Last year Thorp & Company started this venture by upgrading our company Web site (www.thorpco.com). This year we have continued pushing forward with several initiatives including webcasts that can be found on our Web site, our Thorp and Company’s Source Blog (http://thorpandcompany.blogspot.com), developing Thorp and Company’s LinkedIn page, Facebook page and starting a Twitter account.
Our engagement in social media has proven to be beneficial for networking, building relationships and raising awareness of our brand. We have connected with several reporters through Twitter and our blog; we have joined and participated in several professional groups on Facebook and are gaining ‘fans’ of Thorp & Company’s page daily; we follow various industry experts’ and reporters’ blogs and Twitter feeds and have seen them return the interest.
We would like to offer some tips that may be helpful when considering joining the realm of social media.
Learn the Basics
When taking a step into the social media world, it is important to understand the basics of Web 2.0 and the different venues. We suggest hosting a training session for the company’s executives who may be more hesitant about getting involved in online activity. It’s always harder for people to accept change and new ways of doing things if they don’t fully understand it.
A training session can include a breakdown of the different types of social media, what industries are most active in each area, the cost of getting involved and how it all works. Social media can be very simple and easy to use as long as you understand its purpose.
Develop a Plan
After gaining a basic understanding of what social media is and learning about the various channels, it is important to develop a plan of how you and your company can use these tools to meet your goals.
The first step in this plan should be determining who your audience is and what channels they are using. Next, you should develop goals that you want to accomplish using social media. These goals should align with your company’s business goals including increasing brand awareness, sales and developing new business. An action plan should be drafted with strategies and tactics you will use to meet your goals. Use a timeline to map out when you will implement each of your social media strategies; for example, the dates and topics for blog posts, deciding when you will create and distribute a webcast and how and when you will announce your emergence into social media.
Stay Active
The best way to ensure you see results from engaging in social media is to stay active. Basic social media takes little investment aside from certain features that can be added for small costs, but it does take time. The amount of hours you invest in social media is your choice, and it’s fair to say that the amount of time you put in is going to determine what you see in return.
Social media is everywhere and everyone wants a piece of it, but is it for everyone and every business? At Thorp & Company we think there’s a way for everyone to get involved in the new movement, even if it’s simply by participating in a webcast and posting it on your company Web site. We’d like to hear how your company is involved in social media and what is and isn’t working. What are the results and benefits you have found by getting engaged?
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Don't forget to subscribe to Thorp & Company's Source Blog using the email subscription box in the upper right column.
Friday, May 15, 2009
The Importance of Introductory Meetings
Why is it important to establish relationships with reporters?
Building rapport and relationships with key reporters is one of the best things a business can do to develop brand awareness and build credibility. It is important for executives of a company to learn how to work with reporters effectively, especially because oftentimes, reporters have specific needs and tight deadlines to complete their stories. When working on a tight deadline, reporters tend to request interviews with sources they have worked with in the past.
There are several strategies executives and companies can use to develop relationships with reporters. One of the most successful strategies is to request an introductory meeting. Whether it’s lunch, coffee or just a phone conversation, introductory meetings help lay the groundwork for a relationship between you and the reporter. Most journalists get hundreds of emails a day, and meeting the reporter you are pitching sets you apart because it puts a face with the email.
An introductory meeting with a reporter who covers your industry results in many benefits, including a positive relationship with the reporter, giving you the opportunity to be an important source and increases your company’s awareness.
It can help you develop a strong rapport: Reporters generally have limited time to find an expert source for a story, and they tend to go to trusted sources. By introducing yourself to a journalist and demonstrating that you are an expert in the field they cover, you have the opportunity to become a valuable source for that reporter. When meeting with a reporter, make sure you offer information on trends in your industry, including data and statistics, to demonstrate you are familiar with current issues and a thought leader in the field. This will help boost your credibility and the reporter will appreciate the time you spent researching and collecting information relevant to their beat.
It is an opportunity to learn about the reporter: Reporters get spammed with irrelevant pitches all day. An introductory meeting not only offers you a chance to introduce your business to the reporter, but it also allows the reporter to introduce his to you. Use this time to learn the reporter’s preferences, including preferred method of contact, typical deadlines, key words they look for in a pitch or subject line, and you can suggest some story ideas to find out what is most interesting to them. Before you attend this meeting, you should do some research on the reporter. Aside from already knowing his or her beat, familiarize yourself with their most recent articles and writing style.
It allows you to keep in touch: Even if you do not have current updates or trends about your industry to discuss, you can check in with reporters to see what they are writing. You may be pleasantly surprised and earn some ink out of it. Staying in touch shows that you have a genuine interest in what they are covering, and this in turn makes them more inclined to call you as a source. Don’t be afraid to drop them a note commenting on recent articles. It’s okay to compliment reporters when they write an accurate and thorough story, and they appreciate when their story sparks a discussion.
Many times people are busy doing their job that they forget the importance of building and maintaining positive relationships with reporters. Time is a precious commodity, but investing a piece of your time in establishing these relationships will help promote you and your business, and can gain you positive media exposure. To start, all it takes is an invitation and a few minutes of your time.
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This post was written by Michelle Fonticiella, the Latin America media specialist at Thorp & Company, specializing in the Hispanic market in both the U.S. and Latin America. Her role with Thorp & Company is to provide public relations counsel and service to suit each client’s individual needs. Michelle has successfully secured and coordinated media interviews with Spanish-speaking media giants, including Univisión Network, TeleFutura Network, Galavisión, Univisión Radio and El Nuevo Herald. She has worked with well-known Spanish-language magazines and newspapers in Latin American cities, including El Nuevo Constructor, El Mercurio and El Norte.
Building rapport and relationships with key reporters is one of the best things a business can do to develop brand awareness and build credibility. It is important for executives of a company to learn how to work with reporters effectively, especially because oftentimes, reporters have specific needs and tight deadlines to complete their stories. When working on a tight deadline, reporters tend to request interviews with sources they have worked with in the past.
There are several strategies executives and companies can use to develop relationships with reporters. One of the most successful strategies is to request an introductory meeting. Whether it’s lunch, coffee or just a phone conversation, introductory meetings help lay the groundwork for a relationship between you and the reporter. Most journalists get hundreds of emails a day, and meeting the reporter you are pitching sets you apart because it puts a face with the email.
An introductory meeting with a reporter who covers your industry results in many benefits, including a positive relationship with the reporter, giving you the opportunity to be an important source and increases your company’s awareness.
It can help you develop a strong rapport: Reporters generally have limited time to find an expert source for a story, and they tend to go to trusted sources. By introducing yourself to a journalist and demonstrating that you are an expert in the field they cover, you have the opportunity to become a valuable source for that reporter. When meeting with a reporter, make sure you offer information on trends in your industry, including data and statistics, to demonstrate you are familiar with current issues and a thought leader in the field. This will help boost your credibility and the reporter will appreciate the time you spent researching and collecting information relevant to their beat.
It is an opportunity to learn about the reporter: Reporters get spammed with irrelevant pitches all day. An introductory meeting not only offers you a chance to introduce your business to the reporter, but it also allows the reporter to introduce his to you. Use this time to learn the reporter’s preferences, including preferred method of contact, typical deadlines, key words they look for in a pitch or subject line, and you can suggest some story ideas to find out what is most interesting to them. Before you attend this meeting, you should do some research on the reporter. Aside from already knowing his or her beat, familiarize yourself with their most recent articles and writing style.
It allows you to keep in touch: Even if you do not have current updates or trends about your industry to discuss, you can check in with reporters to see what they are writing. You may be pleasantly surprised and earn some ink out of it. Staying in touch shows that you have a genuine interest in what they are covering, and this in turn makes them more inclined to call you as a source. Don’t be afraid to drop them a note commenting on recent articles. It’s okay to compliment reporters when they write an accurate and thorough story, and they appreciate when their story sparks a discussion.
Many times people are busy doing their job that they forget the importance of building and maintaining positive relationships with reporters. Time is a precious commodity, but investing a piece of your time in establishing these relationships will help promote you and your business, and can gain you positive media exposure. To start, all it takes is an invitation and a few minutes of your time.
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This post was written by Michelle Fonticiella, the Latin America media specialist at Thorp & Company, specializing in the Hispanic market in both the U.S. and Latin America. Her role with Thorp & Company is to provide public relations counsel and service to suit each client’s individual needs. Michelle has successfully secured and coordinated media interviews with Spanish-speaking media giants, including Univisión Network, TeleFutura Network, Galavisión, Univisión Radio and El Nuevo Herald. She has worked with well-known Spanish-language magazines and newspapers in Latin American cities, including El Nuevo Constructor, El Mercurio and El Norte.
Friday, May 8, 2009
President Patricia Thorp quoted in AP workplace story
On Tuesday we posted a news release on behalf of our client Coverall Health-Based Cleaning System promoting two free webinars the company was hosting this week to help businesses minimize the threat of swine flu. Last week we posted our own informational piece about what businesses should do to prepare for swine flu.
While we've been able to provide our clients valuable service in a number of ways during the swine flu outbreak, we had an opportunity this week to promote our brand in front of a national audience.
While we've been able to provide our clients valuable service in a number of ways during the swine flu outbreak, we had an opportunity this week to promote our brand in front of a national audience.
Patricia Thorp, president and CEO of Thorp & Company, was interviewed by the national Associate Press workplace reporter about how Thorp & Company and our clients are dealing with the swine flu outbreak. Media opportunities like these are a great way to showcase expertise and elevate name recognition.
The story appeared in several media outlets, both local and national. Please follow the link below to read the article on ABCNews.com.
The Importance of Integrated Marketing
Tying all of your marketing strategies into one
Integrated marketing communications is the process of developing a strategy to ensure that all aspects of your company’s marketing program including public relations, advertising, direct marketing and sales are using the same message and tone when reaching out to your company’s target audience.
Brand awareness is an important component of any marketing program to establish your business as a major player in your industry. Having a concrete and cohesive message and tone is important when building brand awareness and customer loyalty. If the various parts of your marketing program are distributing different messages to the same audience, your target market will be confused, which can cause your company to seem unreliable and inconsistent.
Even if you have different vendors for each of your marketing channels, you need to forge consistency in message and tone. One good practice is coordinating a meeting for all of the teams involved. Once the key parties have met and conversed, it can help establish a better understanding of how each vendor is contributing to your company’s marketing strategy and unify the marketing program.
Message
Messages coming from public relations should be consistent with the messages coming from advertising, direct marketing, promotions, interactive marketing and so on. Consistency is crucial when branding your company’s product or service. By displaying one clear message across all marketing outlets, your company reflects a strong, reliable brand.
Tone
Not only is the message important, but the tone of your communications should be relevant to your business as well. The tone of your message will define the company’s personality, and it should be clear to your target market.
Brand Advocacy
By conducting a marketing program that is consistent and holds true to what it promises as a brand, your business will build consumer advocacy. Brand advocacy is important because when a brand is recommended by a friend or family member, it becomes more credible. Brand advocates are your company’s most valued customers and can even help market your brand, resulting in increased profitability.
That’s another reason why consistency is so important. If your brand image is professional and reliable like a bank, but your employees can’t answer the phone properly, all the advertising is wasted. If your image is cutting edge cool, but employees in your stores look like accountants, customers won’t trust you. CEOs and marketers need to stay vigilant and gain as much integration and consistency in both the marketing message and marketing tone as possible.
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This blog post was written by Rebekah Hudder with insight from Peter Whalen, chief strategist with Thorp & Company.
Integrated marketing communications is the process of developing a strategy to ensure that all aspects of your company’s marketing program including public relations, advertising, direct marketing and sales are using the same message and tone when reaching out to your company’s target audience.
Brand awareness is an important component of any marketing program to establish your business as a major player in your industry. Having a concrete and cohesive message and tone is important when building brand awareness and customer loyalty. If the various parts of your marketing program are distributing different messages to the same audience, your target market will be confused, which can cause your company to seem unreliable and inconsistent.
Even if you have different vendors for each of your marketing channels, you need to forge consistency in message and tone. One good practice is coordinating a meeting for all of the teams involved. Once the key parties have met and conversed, it can help establish a better understanding of how each vendor is contributing to your company’s marketing strategy and unify the marketing program.
Message
Messages coming from public relations should be consistent with the messages coming from advertising, direct marketing, promotions, interactive marketing and so on. Consistency is crucial when branding your company’s product or service. By displaying one clear message across all marketing outlets, your company reflects a strong, reliable brand.
Tone
Not only is the message important, but the tone of your communications should be relevant to your business as well. The tone of your message will define the company’s personality, and it should be clear to your target market.
Brand Advocacy
By conducting a marketing program that is consistent and holds true to what it promises as a brand, your business will build consumer advocacy. Brand advocacy is important because when a brand is recommended by a friend or family member, it becomes more credible. Brand advocates are your company’s most valued customers and can even help market your brand, resulting in increased profitability.
That’s another reason why consistency is so important. If your brand image is professional and reliable like a bank, but your employees can’t answer the phone properly, all the advertising is wasted. If your image is cutting edge cool, but employees in your stores look like accountants, customers won’t trust you. CEOs and marketers need to stay vigilant and gain as much integration and consistency in both the marketing message and marketing tone as possible.
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This blog post was written by Rebekah Hudder with insight from Peter Whalen, chief strategist with Thorp & Company.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Client Coverall Offers Webinar to Help Businesses Prepare for Swine Flu
Coverall Health-Based Cleaning System Offering Free Webinar
to Help Businesses Minimize Threat of Swine Flu
BOCA RATON, Fla.--In response to the growing global health threat caused by the Swine Flu pandemic, Coverall Health-Based Cleaning System announced today that it is offering two free informational webinars for businesses at 4 p.m. EDT on May 7, 2009 and 10 a.m. EDT on May 8, 2009. Hosted by Peter Sheldon, vice president of operations at Coverall, the webinar offers businesses proactive solutions that minimize the spread of illnesses, such as swine flu, in the workplace. Sheldon will discuss the importance of a cleaning program that focuses on germ eradication, regular disinfection of high contact points in between cleanings and the encouragement of hand hygiene.
Coverall Health-Based Cleaning System uses EPA-registered, hospital-grade cleaning products proven effective at killing Influenza A, the virus that causes Swine Flu. Coverall Franchise Owners are fully trained and prepared to provide decontamination services should an outbreak occur.
Coverall Health-Based Cleaning Systems recommends all businesses review their disaster preparedness plan, work with state officials to maintain ongoing communication and infection control activities, and review the current cleaning program to ensure it includes proper disinfection and removal of harmful bacteria and viruses. Coverall offers a free health risk assessment for businesses to determine the presence of harmful biopollutants and illness-causing germs that spread illnesses such as Swine Flu.
To register for the Coverall Swine Flu webinar, visit www.coverall.com/swineflu.
About Coverall
Founded in 1985, Coverall Health-Based Cleaning System is one of the world’s leading commercial cleaning franchising companies with a global network of more than 90 Support Centers and 9,000 Franchise Owners currently servicing nearly 50,000 customers in over 90 metropolitan areas. Coverall Health-Based Cleaning System is revolutionizing the commercial cleaning industry with its scientifically proven cleaning program designed to kill and remove illness-causing germs in our business facilities. In addition to general business accounts, Coverall Health-Based Cleaning System has segment focus on healthcare, education, childcare and fitness markets. For more information, visit www.coverall.com.
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Coverall Health-Based Cleaning System is a client of Thorp & Company.
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