As part of our First Wednesday series, Culture Republic invited Julie McGarvey of 3×1 Public Relations to speak on the topic of effective cross channel communications – looking at the importance of message consistency.  Julie is a member of the Culture Republic board, as well as being an expert in effective brand communication with a specialism in crisis communication and attendees were particularly interested to learn about these.

Passionate talk at @culture_public #1stWed from @JulieMcGarvey on cross channel communications pic.twitter.com/Tny90OX6PQ

— Culture Republic (@culture_public) September 3, 2014

Julie started with an introduction to the crowded communications landscape highlighting the need to keep messages clear and consistent.

Recommending crystallising your message at #1stWed. Less is definitely more according to @JulieMcGarvey

— Culture Republic (@culture_public) September 3, 2014

How the message is delivered is often much more important than the exact words that are used.  Sharable, visual content – especially rich media – has a much greater impact on social channels than text alone.

When it comes to crisis communications, plan ahead as much as possible.  Keep the focus on verifiable facts that you can back up. Make sure you have a senior team who can be pulled together at short notice for immediate response. You have a very short window for your reply – maximum of approximately one hour, thanks to social media.

For crisis management comms, you should have a senior team indicated in advance that can be pulled together & keep focus on facts #1stWed

— Culture Republic (@culture_public) September 3, 2014

When planning your messages, you need to know who your key audiences are and what the right place is to reach them. Once you have their attention make sure you’re clear about what you want them to do. A niche blog can work better for this purpose than other less targeted forums.

Planning tools like 3×1’s message house (pictured above) or other planning templates are helpful for identifying and honing key messages. As with all First Wednesday events, the final part of the session was spent is open conversation trying out some of the communications techniques and in an informal Q&A session.

First Wednesday events are regular lunchtime sessions, hosted in Culture Republic’s Glasgow and Edinburgh offices for attendees to keep up to date with ideas and examples of useful practice we’ve gathered from across the country. This lunchtime event is offered exclusively to our Partners and industry colleagues. See our events listings to find out what we’re talking about at the next First Wednesday.