SERVICES
Public Trust Brand Strategy
“ | If you don’t give the market the story to talk about, they’ll define your brand’s story for you." " |
Our Public Trust Brand Strategy includes:
- Profiles for highest-priority audiences with whom your brand needs to attract and gain trust, including demographics, psychographics, identified needs, and current awareness and perception
- Public trust brand attributes: two to three public trust ideas attributed to your brand with proof points
- Public trust brand personality: what traits your brand portrays in public trust communications, closely connected to your company’s original brand personality
A Public Trust Brand Strategy will:
- Provide your brand with a tailored, data-based strategy agreed upon by all leaders
- Allow your brand to feature your commitment to contributing social good
- Improve your brand’s performance (effectiveness) by highlighting your social license qualifications as differentiation points
- Act as a tone and voice litmus test for every new communications piece
- Foster trust by eliminating confusion and building consistency regarding public trust topics
Development process may or may not include (and is not limited to):
- In-depth interviews with internal communications leaders
- Facilitated sessions with internal communications leaders
- Focus groups with a sample of highest-priority target audiences
- Omnibus surveys
- Sourcing and analysis of secondary research studies for your industry
- Online review of similar organizations’ public trust brand strategies
- Internal or board presentation of a pilot draft (initial take per the gathered input and research) for direct feedback and refinements
You will benefit from a Public Trust Brand Strategy if your brand:
- Struggles with consistency regarding public trust
- Is in need of a light strategy refresh with an emphasis on public trust
- Has never communicated public trust messages before
Public Trust Communications Action Plan
“ | A goal without an action plan is a daydream." |
Our Public Trust Communications Action Plan includes:
- Public trust communications objectives
- Success measurement
- Profiles for highest-priority audiences with whom your brand needs to attract and gain trust, including demographics, psychographics, identified needs, and current awareness and perception
- Communications information and action goals
- Public trust key messages
- Public trust brand personality
- Public trust communications tactics and mediums
- Financial and internal investment
- Timeline
A Public Trust Communications Action Plan will:
- Provide an immediately actionable communications program that can be consistently executed, managed and optimized
- Help form internal consensus on past, present, and future public trust objectives and results
- Arm your team with professional tools to support your communications
- Improve the regularity and consistency of your public trust communications efforts
Development process may or may not include (and are not limited to):
- In-depth interviews with internal communications leaders
- Facilitated sessions with internal communications leaders
- Focus groups with a sample of highest-priority target audiences
- Omnibus surveys
- Sourcing and analysis of secondary research studies for your industry
- Online review of similar organizations’ public trust brand strategies
- Internal or board presentation of a pilot draft (initial take per the gathered input and research) for direct feedback and refinements
You will benefit from a Public Trust Communications Action Plan if your brand:
- Has an important public trust message to communicate
- Has limited resources to achieve your public trust communication goals
- Doesn’t have the time or expertise to create your own comprehensive public trust communications plan
Public Trust Crisis Preparedness Plan
“ | By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail." |
Though it’s impossible to predict every possibility, planning and preparing for a potential crisis is the most effective way to overcome the situation. A Public Trust Crisis Preparedness Plan can go a long way to showcase leadership and commitment as a well-managed and empathic organization.
Our Public Trust Crisis Preparedness Plan could include any number of the following:
Context and preface:
- Communication response goals (tangible outcomes)
- Invoking the crisis communications plan
- Defining risk from crisis
- Plan overview
- Crisis Task Force (CTF)
- Key messages & holding statements
Crisis Task Force communications protocols:
- Rules of engagement
- Internal communications/streamlining CTF communications
- Guidelines for early response/comment
- Daily schedule
- Communicating with farmers
- Communicating with media/public
- Communicating with employees
- Media training and employee preparedness
- Social media crisis management
- Monitoring systems
- After the crisis communications response
Tools and resources:
- Crisis onset checklist
- Frontline phones/email, log
- Contact information for CTF and executive
- List of stakeholders, roles/contact info
- Media list(s)
- Email databases (internal, external)
- News release template(s)
- Media questions (expected; per crisis)
Preparations for the above may include:
- Developing communications materials required for the “fair weather” before a crisis
- Considering internal and external audiences
- Gathering information and assess the situation
- Generating a full list of possible crisis events
- Distributing best practice reminders
- Documenting revision history
A Public Trust Crisis Preparedness Plan will:
- Provide your team with detailed instructions and actions required for effective coordination and execution of public trust crisis communications within your organization and any applicable outside agencies, including the media, regulatory agencies, customers, suppliers, stakeholders (board of directors, shareholders, unions), and the general public
- Decrease confusion, uncertainty and stress in the event of a public trust crisis by defining roles and responsibilities within your organization
- Avoiding a hasty, unprepared approach to the sensitive topics while in a vulnerable state
Development process may or may not include (and is not limited to):
- In-depth interviews with internal communications leaders
- Facilitated sessions with organization leaders
- Focus groups with a sample of highest priority target audiences
- Sourcing and analysis of secondary research studies for your industry
- Internal or board presentation of a pilot draft (initial take per the gathered input and research) for direct feedback and refinements
You will benefit from a Public Trust Crisis Preparedness Plan if your brand:
- Operates in an environment or sector prone to uncontrollable events, like food contamination, animal welfare, environmental disasters, etc.
- Operates in a tightly interconnected sector (such as agri-food), where a crisis in another organization or geographical location somewhere along the value chain creates a crisis-like situation for you
- Suffers from constant concerns of an impending, hypothetical crisis and would benefit from and be appreciated by stakeholders for choosing proactive action
Public Trust Measurement and Stakeholder Research
“ | What gets measured gets managed." |
Our Public Trust Measurement and Audience Research deliverable includes:
- Research goals
- Research methodology and tools
- Research key takeaways (varies per research goals but could include):
- Audience segmentation and priorities
- Primary audience demographics
- Primary audience psychographics
- Primary audience public trust needs expected to be fulfilled by your organization
- Primary audience’s attitude towards market category
- Primary audience’s attitude towards your organization
- Volume of media coverage about your organization or sector
- Media coverage and social media tone
- Operating environment (shifts in government goodwill, regulation changes)
- Financial transactions (sales / investors / government grants / sponsors / partners)
- Primary audience perception shifts
- Research implications and recommended next steps
Our Public Trust Measurement and Audience Research will:
- Provide an objective understanding of the organization’s actual public trust level so you can identify what to build on, what needs work, and how to optimize
- Supply data-based insights on your audiences and their perceptions
- Give direction on how to optimize creative assets and your messaging approach
- Help determine what media to invest your communications budget into
- Present evidence that your stakeholders’ investment in public trust is paying off
Research methodologies may or may not include (and are not limited to):
- In-depth interviews with internal communications leaders
- Facilitated sessions with organization leaders
- Focus groups with sample of highest-priority target audiences
- Omnibus surveys
- Sourcing and analysis of secondary research studies for your industry
- Online review of similar organizations’ public trust brand strategies
- Internal or board presentation of a pilot draft (initial take per the gathered input and research) for direct feedback and refinements
You will benefit from Public Trust Measurement and Audience Research if your brand:
- Lacks market-based knowledge about the breadth and depth of public trust challenges and opportunities they face
- Struggles where and on whom they should focus their messaging or tactics
- Requires evidence of progress or a major issue to justify allocation of funds for communication investments to their owners, members, or board of directors
- Has financial resources for proper public trust due diligence and decision making based on solid real-time research-based knowledge
Public Trust Stakeholder Profiling
“ | The aim is to know and understand the customer [audience] so well the product [message] fits him and sells itself." |
Our Public Trust Audience Profiling deliverables include:
- Public trust audience segmentation
- Audience behaviour (ethnography)
- Audience prioritization
- Audience profiles (primary, secondary, tertiary, etc.)
- Demographics
- Psychographics
- Needs
- Perceptions
- Key takeaways
Our Public Trust Audience Profiling will:
- Equip your communication efforts with detailed audience intelligence
- Streamline and focus messaging by identifying your most important audience
- Inform your public trust messaging by what affects your primary audience
Research methodologies may or may not include (and are not limited to):
- In-depth interviews with internal communications leaders
- Facilitated sessions with organization leaders
- Focus groups with a sample of highest-priority target audiences
- Omnibus surveys
- Sourcing and analysis of secondary research studies for your industry
You will benefit from Public Trust Audience Profiling if your brand:
- Has a variety of audiences with opposing ideologies
- Aspires to streamline communications to make the most of limited resources
- Has financial resources for proper public trust due diligence and solid real-time research-based knowledge about its audiences
Public Trust Social Media Strategy
“ | It’s a dialogue, not a monologue. Social Media is more like a telephone than a television." |
Our Public Trust Social Media Strategy includes:
- Social media public trust goals
- Measuring success in social media
- Primary social media audience profiling
- Public trust positioning and messaging
- Primary social platforms
- Content development and publishing
- Platform management strategies
- Social media best practices
- Social media policies
- Execution tools and training
A Public Trust Social Media Strategy will:
- Rate your organization’s level of social media resources and appetite (spectrum of social media engagement and investment) as it relates to addressing public trust topics
- Take advantage of a natural forum for two-way dialogue, which creates a perception of transparency and trustworthiness
- Provide your team with an immediately actionable social media strategy that can be consistently executed, managed and optimized
- Improve the regularity, consistency and management of your public trust social media efforts
- Increase the likelihood of achieving your overall public trust goals
- Help you reach your audiences where they spend their time, in a personal space with an improved chance to be “let in”
- Help engage the audience via a personal medium, encouraging a perception of authentic connection amidst value-based conversation
Research methodologies may or may not include (and are not limited to):
- In-depth interviews with internal communications leaders
- Facilitated sessions with organization leaders
- Focus groups with a sample of highest-priority target audiences
- Omnibus surveys
- Sourcing and analysis of secondary research studies for your industry
- Online review of similar organizations’ public trust social media efforts
You will benefit from a Public Trust Social Media Strategy if your brand:
- Has audiences highly present on social media
- Is searching for a cost-effective medium with a wide reach
- Endeavours to monitor and address public trust issues in real-time
- Must initiate a two-way dialogue with audiences seeking transparency