Message maps: blueprints for pandemic preparedness
Introduction Even more importantly, how will organizations - both private and public - choose to respond? With last-minute, unplanned messages? Or with comprehensive, planned message strategies? The threat of pandemic flu alone has businesses in the public and private sector scrambling to develop disaster plans and formalized communication solutions. Imagine a pandemic flu outbreak. Out of 100 employees, 40 are absent from work. Twenty people are ill; 10 people are caring for ill family members and 10 are absent due to fears of infection. How do you communicate quickly and efficiently when 40% of your workforce is absent? What will you do when confronted with questions about benefits, product delivery, and absentee policies? Like earthquakes, floods, fire, and terrorist attacks, a pandemic outbreak has the potential to cause major business interruptions, not to mention confusion, fear, and panic in and out of the workplace. Disasters directly affect an organization's ability to stay in business. Sending the wrong message during a disaster can be just as harmful as—or even more than—not planning for the disaster at all. Successfully managing major business interruptions, such as a pandemic flu outbreak, requires creating a comprehensive communication plan. The major component of effective pandemic communication is message mapping, a process of creating prepared messages that can be used in disaster or pandemic-related situations. This paper examines the role of message mapping and the Chandler Message Mapping process in disaster preparedness, especially as it relates to pandemic flu. Click here to open a PDF copy of the full white paper. It contains some 3n marketing material at the end but still offers much useful generic information.
•Date: 11th May 2007• Region: US/World •Type: Article •Topic: Crisis comms |
