When and how to break important company news
Don’t wait until Friday, and don’t count on a one-and-done approach. Follow up big announcements with complementary, concise messaging to hammer home the crux of it.
It’s long been common corporate communication practice to send out bad news around 4 p.m. on a Friday.
The thinking is that most folks are in weekend mode by that point, which helps soften the blow. Good news, however, goes out Monday morning, because we want it to run all week.
But when do you send your important news? You know, the news that’s not sexy yet it’s crucial for your employees, customers, clients or stakeholders to know about?
A recent study showed that late in the week isn’t the time to send important messages. Here’s why:
Communicators tend to work all week to make messaging perfect, only to release pieces after most people have mentally checked out. The better idea for important news is to release it first thing on Monday and then to trickle out the gist all week to increase engagement and comprehension.
It takes most people five to seven times of seeing and/or hearing information before it sinks in, so don’t make important news a one-and-done dissemination deal. Repeat, reinforce and reiterate key points.
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