RDH Communication

Module 5: Chapter 3 Principles of Succesful Communications Strategy

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Z-W8VbO4Md7oIJ1kWkgGx4soYxqDAZPK/view

Basic Principles of Succesful Disaster Communication Strategy

- Ensure that emergency managers effectively communicate with their customers and partners in all four
phases of emergency management—mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery.
- Guidance to emergency managers and other officials involved in emergency operations and programs

1. Focus on the needs of your customers

2. Make a commitment to effective communications
3. Make communications an integral part of all planning and operations
4. Be transparent in your communications
5. Ensure that your information is accurate
6. Release information in a timely manner
7. Make yourself, your staff, and others, where appropriate, available and accessible
8. Create an emotional connection with your audience
9. Build a partnership with the media and the “first informer” community

FOCUS ON THE NEEDS OF YOUR CUSTOMERS

Principle: customer focused
(a) Understanding what information customers need
(b) Work on your customer’s schedule and not your own
(c) Use language that most people can understand
(d) Recognize language and cultural differences among your customers
(e) Identify trusted community leaders who can facilitate communications in disadvantaged neighborhoods
(f) Respect special needs populations and take action to meet their specific communications needs
(g) Use the appropriate media to reach your customers

MAKE COMMITMENT TO EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATIONS

Principle: leadership
(a) Be an active participant in communications - being the principal agency spokesperson during disaster
response and recovery, being directly involved in designing and implementing preparedness and mitigation
awareness campaigns, and working with elected officials in communicating with the public.
(b) Include communications director on senior management team - communications director should be involved
in all planning and operational meetings and decisions.
(c) Hire and maintain professional staff - at least one communications specialist on staff who can work with the
media during response and recovery and assist in the design and implementation of a preparedness and
mitigation awareness campaign.
(d) Invest in ongoing training for staff - Additional training for communications staff might include media relations
(how to work with the media), marketing (how to pitch story ideas to the media), and Web-related training
(e) Invest resources in communications - invest in the creation and maintenance of an information collection,
analysis, and dissemination program; Consider investing additional resources in new online media, Internet,
and print production costs and, for special projects, animation; consider using resources to acquire consulting
help in all areas—media relations, Internet, new media as well as customer research and message
development.

MAKE COMMUNICATIONS AN INTEGRAL PART OF ALL PLANNING AND OPERATIONS

Principle: Integrate Communciations into Planning and Operations
(a) Bring communications professionals to the table
(b) Run all decisions through the communications filter
 (c) Develop communications strategies to support operations
(d) Create communications strategies to promote plans

Be Transparent In Your Communities

Principle: Transparency
(a) Don’t lie
(b) Don’t talk about what you don’t know
(c) Don’t talk about actions of other organizations
(d) Don’t make promises you can’t keep
(e) Be informed
(f) Acknowledge the conversation
(g) Focus on performance

Ensure that Your Information is Accurate

Principle: Accuracy
(a) Make information a priority
(b) Invest in information collection
(c) Invest in information management
(d) Use only confirmed information
(e) Make decisions based on good information

Release Information in a Timely Manner

Principle: Timeliness
(a) Don’t hold onto information—share it
(b) Conduct regular updates
(c) Make special updates when new information emerges
(d) Reach out to as many media outlets as possible

Make Yourself, Your Staff, and Others, Where Appropriate, Available and Accessible
Principle: Availability
(a) Be available and accessible to media
(b) Make the incident commander available to media
(c) Work with elected and appointed officials
(d) Support your public information officer (PIO)
(e) Make technical staff available to media
(f) Include officials from other emergency agencies
(g) Secure media training for yourself and staff

Create an Emotional Connection with Your Audience

Principle: Connect to the Audience
(a) Give your organization a human face
(b) Assure audience who is in charge
(c) Be the source of information for media and public
(d) Share information
(e) Speak in plain and direct language
(f) Ensure that all parties are served
(g) Be emphatic
(h) Be accountable
(i) Be consistent
Build a Partnership with the Media
Principle: Media Partnership
(a) Maintain a trained media relations staff
(b) Be consistently accessible to the media
(c) Be the central information source
(d) Provide safe access to disaster site
(e) Respond to media inquiries
(f) Understand media deadlines and information needs
(g) Work with all media—traditional and new
(h) Monitor media stories
(i) Thank media for their help