Hi Friend,

Welcome to BlueChip's fortnightly communications round-up for financial services: 'Take a beat Tuesday'. 

Why ‘take a beat’? Because stopping to think, properly, in our work (and life in general) is often the difference between an 'okay' outcome and a great one.

With Westpac facing a responsible lending class action lawsuit, ASIC 2.0 unveiling a beefed-up enforcement arm to support its new 'why not litigate' approach, and harsher corporate crime penalties passing through Parliament, it's clear, as we predicted, that the wash-up from the Hayne Royal Commission will unfold in Australia's courtrooms and boardrooms for years to come. 

Boards, as former Liberal leader John Hewson points out in a scathing opinion piece, are ultimately responsible for setting an organisation's culture, green-lighting business strategy and safe guarding its brand. This, in our view, includes reputation risk, as part of the overall governance (including risk) and strategy responsibility.

More on the Board's role in weeks to come... 

In the meantime we've seen a move by management teams to review business and communication strategies in light of 2018's events. Some common findings from these reviews stand out:

1. Strengthening relationships with stakeholders matters more than ever. In part this means listening well, and responding.
2. Reputation risk frameworks have to evolve, including both early warning systems (short term management) and more long-term, strategic moves to reduce reputation risk.
3. Simple strong corporate narratives, while difficult to craft and deliver, are essential when the commentary environment is chaotic.
4. Sometimes the best strategy is to do nothing: present a small target. This is almost invariably the advice boards want to hear. While it has an important place in the right situation, it's not the cure all some directors would like it to be.  

 This week we share video #7 (small target) of our nine-part series of communication strategies used to slow, halt or reverse a perceptual crisis. 

Also, BlueChip's digital consultant Nicole Leong shares her advice for creating interesting and relevant financial services content to connect and strengthen relationships with stakeholders. 

And, look out for our upcoming 2-part special on how to maximise your spokespeople in the media's coverage of the upcoming Federal Budget. 

Until then, take a beat and have a great week.

Carden

Managing Director and Founder
BlueChip Communication

Small Target: Strategy #7 to slow or reverse a perceptual crisis

The 'Small Target' strategy is simple, conceptually - it's selectively choosing to stay silent or minimising the response to an issue or crisis. 

In this episode we discuss how, when faced with a PR "firestorm", to ride out that storm by depriving the fire of oxygen until it dies down. Be wary of overuse, but if deployed under the right circumstances, it can be highly effective.

Learn how to execute the strategy here

A few bank scalps won't help unless they change their rotten culture

John Hewson's opinion piece in the Fairfax press warns banks will revert back to their old tricks, if more is not done to stop them.

Read more here

How to not bore your audience: creating financial services content people want to read

Creating quality content is less about what you want to say, and more about what your audience wants to know. As communication folk, there’s a tendency to want to broadcast messages about your company - but that doesn’t deliver value.

Our digital strategist Nicole Leong shares the tips and tools you can use to understand what your audience is interested in, to create financial services content that's read and not ignored.

Read our blog here