Developing Your Call to Action

Imagine that you are sitting at the busiest intersection in town. There are cars moving about, radio stations blaring, conference calls being interrupted by crying babies. And you have the task of telling each of them something very important. What are you going to do?

While the nature of the message, meaning how urgent the information will be to those hearing it, is deeply critical; there are three components to crafting your message. I call them the Three C’s.

Clarity

Your message must convey information that assures that the public will understand what you are trying to say. Your message must limit the chance that it could be misunderstood, or worse, lead to an inappropriate response.

Consider General Robert E. Lee’s famous message to Lt. General Richard S. Ewell at the Battle of Gettysburg. Rather than order Ewell to attack using specific language, Lee’s dispatch instructed Ewell “to carry the hill occupied by the enemy, if he found it practicable, but to avoid a general engagement until the arrival of the other divisions of the army.” Ewell chose not to attempt the assault.

Consistency

Consistency can be elusive, especially in a crisis communications scenario. Strategic Communication Plans, whose aim is to provide a framework for emergency response, must be flexible enough to accommodate new data. These plans must also build strong relationships with senior leadership as to insure everyone speaks with the same voice.

During the H1N1 influenza outbreak in early 2009, the Centers for Disease Control issued guidelines that schools should close for a minimum of seven days upon the confirmation of a case. When the H1N1 strain proved less virulent in the United States that it had been in Mexico, the CDC changed those guidelines to remove the patient from the population for seven days while leaving the school open. Health Departments around the country responded with explicit public communication of the new policy in order to educate the general public about the change in order to compensate for the “inconsistency” in school closing policy.

Credibility

The public will not believe or trust you or your message if your spokesman or source of information is not believable or trustworthy. Your credibility is you reputation. It is a capital resource you cannot flounder. Therefore, it is important that your Strategic Communication Plan have mechanisms for quickly reacting to mistakes or erroneous information if it were to be released.

Here are other articles I have written on this topic:

• The Most Important Element of Good Advertising
• Implementing That Big Rock
• Twelve Reasons Why Advertising Fails