Unitil Corporation, the power company in Western MA and NH, that left many residents without power, some for more than a week, has apparently hired a PR firm. It's about time! But is it too late? This company made about every PR blunder a company could make. Public relations is about building relationships with the target audience. Ideally this should happen before a crisis. Theory goes, if your customers like you, they'll be more forgiving during a crisis. How to do this? Contribute to the community. Sponsor youth sports. Create useful newsletters full of energy saving tips and company information. Solicit ideas from customers. Care about the people who pay for your product! Simple stuff really.
The key to successful relationship building is communication! Talk to your customers. Visit them. Instead of tea and sympathy many customers got enormous "estimated" electric bills. I wonder if it ever occurred to the powers that be at Unitil to give those most impacted free electricity for a couple of weeks. It might cost a little money but it also might save the company's neck! Unitil's PR firm certainly have their hands full! Good luck with this one.
Read Boston Globe Article.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/01/28/unitil_gets_an_earful_from_angry_residents_left_without_power/?page=1
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment