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Posts by Kevin Cesarz:

Livestreaming

As new digital opportunities emerge, marketers and agencies will look to how they can adapt and improve their messaging. Livestreaming has been around for years - YouTube Live (2006), Twitch (2011), Periscope (2015), Facebook Watch (2016) - but livestreaming was often limited to the platform where the livestream broadcast was offered and the technical ability of the content creator.

We have all dabbled with online meeting software through the course of the recent pandemic – using platforms like Zoom, Skype and Microsoft Teams.

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Hashtags and Emojis

People use their phones and social platforms nonstop. The preferred usage patterns that match these devices and their most common format and display calls for brief, concise, and global language. Hashtags and emoji are popular on social media and phones because they are simple, universal, and effective ways to communicate.

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If you haven’t heard of the term “Zoom Bombing,” consider yourself lucky. If you’ve experienced it yourself, I’m sorry. Either way, consider yourself warned. It’s happening and will likely continue to plague our new virtual meeting world.

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Right Now, Customer Retention Strategies Should be a Top Priority

Chances are sales are important to your success as a business. Management generally expects to see a steady stream of new business flowing in the front door. But that’s not as important to your growth as you might think.

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In today's fast-paced, tight-budget, not-enough-hours-in-the-day world, we all could use ways to do more with less. And fundraisers aren't the only ones. In fact, that's what makes this next fundraising tip so important.

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A few years ago, I challenged myself to put my experience and (debatable) knowledge on paper and draft one fundraising tip that I could share with friends, colleagues and new professionals/volunteers to the field of fundraising. While I’ve shared a few of the tips in a variety of forums, I’ve decided it’s time to bring it back. I won’t promise the tips will come weekly, but they will come and hopefully you’ll find them helpful – even if you don’t work in fundraising.

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business-crisis-management-concept-picture-resized 2-1

Sometime in your life, you’ve probably heard the old canard that the Chinese symbol for crisis is a combination of the symbols for danger and opportunity. Crisis

It turns out to be one of those things that isn’t true but should be.

That’s because too many leaders have a one-sided view of a crisis. You can tell by the kind of language that’s used. Leaders want to:

  • manage a crisis
  • mitigate damage
  • survive the situation

While those things are certainly important, at Thread we think they lead to companies and nonprofits thinking defensively during crisis planning.

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Two Sides to Every Story

Our counsel is to remember that there truly are two sides to a crisis situation in our times, if not in ancient Chinese typology. Beyond merely avoiding damage to a brand, we believe that a well-handled crisis can actually increase the trust a brand has and improve it’s overall reputation. Further, that philosophy should be baked into every part of the planning process.

My favorite example came when I was working for a local retail business with a high profile in our region. One of the company’s employees had been caught fraudulently providing an add-on service to customer’s orders. He was due to be charged by the County Prosecutor following a thorough investigation.

By traditional measures, there was no reason for my client to be damaged. An employee was cheating the company as well as the customers. The company had discovered it, reported it to authorities and cooperated with the investigation. As long as we told that story, things were likely to be fine.

Even so. our counsel was to think bigger. As with any situation, you want to tell your own bad news and not leave the key details in the hands of others, if at all possible. Our recommendation was to mail a letter to every customer, self-report what had happened, take responsibility and then offer a small gift to compensate. Timing was key: the letter had to hit between the time when the employee was notified of his indictment but before the media found out. What we told the client:

“If we do that, your trust will not just be protected. People will trust you more.” 

We executed that plan and were pleased with the results. Because we told the story and told it first, we were credited by consumers for having nothing to hide. We weren’t concerned about a lurid headline sidetracking public opinion. And we had done the right thing—all the way down the line—and people were going to see it.

The feedback to the company was excellent. Numerous people said that they believed more in our client than they had before. Just as important was what didn’t happen: customers who walked in the door didn’t mention the story…customers didn’t leave…and business didn’t take a hit.

Not all crisis situations are as well set up as this one. In some cases, the company or non-profit might be more culpable than my client was in this case. I’d argue that even if that was the case, a company that makes a mistake and owns up to it and offers to make it good is well positioned to realize a long-term gain in public reputation. People understand that mistakes are made—what they don’t tolerate is spin, evading responsibility, or callous behavior.

If you’re interested in seeing how we create crisis plans that seek benefit as well as damage mitigation, let us know.

 

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