10 Day Tune Up for H1N1 – Day 3: Verify Your Contacts

Assignment editors change jobs. Reporters receive new beats. If you haven’t reached out and touched someone in a few weeks, you need to make it a priority to check in with them now.

photo credit: Andres Rueda

Lesson Learned the Hard Way

The contacts you identify in your Strategic Communications Plan can vary. Some are stakeholders, such as the fire department or a supplier. Others are media contacts specific to your industry. Still others might be business rivals or local charities. The possibilities are endless.

The larger your critical contact list becomes, the more risk you have that the information you collect could be wrong at the very moment you need to use it.

Today’s To-Do: Call Everyone on Your Plan’s Contact List

Depending on the site of your critical contact list, Today’s To-Do may take a bit of time. Delegate, if you can, but make sure you confirm that the people on your list are where you last left them. Make sure reporters are still covering your beat, and update the information in your file (with a confirmation) while you are on the phone with your contacts.

Here are other articles I have written on this topic:

• 10 Day Tune Up for H1N1 – Day 6: Reporters’ Notebook
• New Campaign for Will County Health Department
• The Art of Cleaning Up a Mess
• 10 Day Tune Up for H1N1 – Day 10: Team Briefing
• 10 Day Tune Up for H1N1 – Day 7: Social Media Checklist
• 10 Day Tune Up for H1N1 – Day 5: Test Your Call Tree
• 10 Day Tune Up for H1N1 – Day 4: Notify Stakeholders
• 10 Day Tune Up for H1N1 – Day 2: Your Message
• 10 Day Tune Up for H1N1 – Day 1: Influenza Update
• Writing a Strategic Communications Plan: Evaluation