Going quiet or ignoring what’s going on does not make for good communications right now
Yesterday I was due to run in the Bath Half Marathon but decided against it due to concerns about the spread of the coronavirus and the impact that could have locally.
In my previous post I wrote about the need for regular, clear communications at uncertain times like these.
Running High Events Ltd, which is responsible for putting on The Bath Half, is an example of a company that failed to communicate in a way that befitted an event involving thousands of people that was taking place during a global health crisis.
Last week saw a lot of government activity on its response to coronavirus as it was categorised a global pandemic. In the same week, the Bath Half sent:
- One email newsletter, which arrived on 12 March, three days before the event
- Five tweets between 8th and 15th March. Two of those linked to coronavirus updates on the Bath Half website
- One website update the day before the event saying it was going ahead
- Seven updates on the Bath Half Facebook page – three were related to Coronavirus
- Seven images on Instagram
So not a lot of communication considering the context.
Interestingly, the Bath Half received a lot of complaints all week on its social channels and no one from the organisers responded (or not that I saw).
The frequency, transparency and relevance of communications from the Bath Half in the build up to the event were severely lacking. Not how you should be treating your customers in times of crisis.
