Overview
In today’s information age, customers have access to various digital platforms to access and share information. Customers also use these platforms to communicate with service providers, share opinions, and provide feedback. Therefore, it is important for product owners and service providers to be ready with a response plan for all communications over digital platforms.
You are a regional marketing director of a theme park and responsible for designing marketing strategy for the reopening of the park. Each department is helping you with the relevant and required information. As the date of reopening of the parks gets closer, the business intelligence unit of the organization in the scenario has noticed a surge of negative opinions among consumers. This is evident not only on social media platforms but also across a host of other digital media platforms, such as the organization’s websites and other digital information sources. A major cause of concern is that the organization’s ethics are being questioned in most of these negative opinions.
The business intelligence unit has sent a memo to share their concerns. The CMO has asked you to respond to this memo by creating a recommendation report.
Prompt
Write a recommendation report, in a memo format, to the CMO of the organization in the course scenario, describing the strategies to minimize the negative opinion from consumers. Refer to the Business Intelligence Memo to ensure adjustments and additions to the plan for stopping negative publicity. In your memo, emphasize the need for cross-functional effort alignment, crisis management, social media response methods, and CSR communications.
Specifically, you must address the following criteria:
- Describe how you must now pivot from your previous plan to introduce strategic changes to stop negative publicity.
- Which two steps will you take to effectively address the negative publicity related to the park re-opening?
- Describe the cross-functional effort alignment.
- How can the organization’s sales and operations departments help address the negative publicity?
- How can you use marketing channels to communicate the safety measures to the customers?
- Explain how a crisis communication plan can improve the organization’s image, when aligned with ethical practices.
- How would you use your public relations efforts in crisis communication?
- How would you use your corporate website for crisis communication?
- Describe the social media response methods to be used in this scenario.
- How would you address negative comments?
- How would you answer the safety-related questions?
- Describe the corporate social responsibility (CSR) communications strategy in this scenario.
- What are the key CSR initiatives and policies for the organization?
- What are the key channels of communicating the CSR initiatives?
What to Submit
Submit a 1- to 2-page Word document using double spacing, 12-point Times New Roman font, and one-inch margins. Consult the Shapiro Library APA Style Guide for more information.
Module Eight Memo Rubric
| Criteria | Exemplary (100%) | Proficient (90%) | Needs Improvement (70%) | Not Evident (0%) | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Strategic Changes | Exceeds proficiency in an exceptionally clear, insightful, sophisticated, or creative manner | Clearly identifies and describes the required changes to the existing marketing strategy | Shows progress toward proficiency, but with errors or omissions; areas of improvement may include identifying and describing required adjustments to the plan to address the challenges that have emerged due to the new information | Does not attempt criterion | 20 |
| Cross-Functional Effort Alignment | Exceeds proficiency in an exceptionally clear, insightful, sophisticated, or creative manner | Describes how sales and operations departments align to make sure that negative comments are addressed | Shows progress toward proficiency, but with errors or omissions; areas of improvement may include providing a clear description of expectations about the role of sales and operations departments to address the negative publicity on the digital platforms | Does not attempt criterion | 20 |
| Crisis Communication Management | Exceeds proficiency in an exceptionally clear, insightful, sophisticated, or creative manner | Explains how crisis management can be used to improve the ethical stance of the company | Shows progress toward proficiency, but with errors or omissions; areas of improvement may include determining the appropriate methods of marketing for crisis communication and explaining how crisis management can be used to improve the ethical stance of the company | Does not attempt criterion | 20 |
| Social Media Response Methods | Exceeds proficiency in an exceptionally clear, insightful, sophisticated, or creative manner | Identifies and describes the appropriate social media response methods to minimize the negative opinions | Shows progress toward proficiency, but with errors or omissions; areas of improvement may include identifying and describing one standard social media response method which helps in effectively handling the negative comments on social media | Does not attempt criterion | 15 |
| Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Communications | Exceeds proficiency in an exceptionally clear, insightful, sophisticated, or creative manner | Identifies and describes the appropriate CSR communications to be used | Shows progress toward proficiency, but with errors or omissions; areas of improvement may include identifying the appropriate marketing channel and describing how the channel can be used to effectively communicate the CSR initiatives and policies of the company | Does not attempt criterion | 15 |
| Articulation of Response | Exceeds proficiency in an exceptionally clear, insightful, sophisticated, or creative manner | Clearly conveys meaning with correct grammar, sentence structure, and spelling, demonstrating an understanding of audience and purpose | Shows progress toward proficiency, but with errors in grammar, sentence structure, and spelling, negatively impacting readability | Submission has critical errors in grammar, sentence structure, and spelling, preventing understanding of ideas | 10 |
| Total: | 100% |