Community Relations
After 40 years of working with business executives, union leaders, government officials, association directors and charitable groups, we are deeply rooted in the Michigan community. Headquartered in Detroit since 1964, our firm understands the thinking and the workings of the people who keep our cities and suburbs viable. Members of the Franco firm itself serve as officers and board members of numerous business, education and charitable groups throughout southeastern Michigan. Our extensive involvement in the community enables us to connect our clients with key community organizations and leaders.

The community relations programs we set in place for our clients range from informal, but carefully planned, networking opportunities at important events and among crucial community organizations, to more formalized programs relating to donations, sponsorships, speaking engagements, community-support programs, direct contact with leadership groups, and service on boards and councils.

Our knowledge of the communities in which our clients operate, our creativity in developing strategies to reach out to these communities, and our record of success in helping to shape community attitudes and opinions have earned us a reputation for excellence in community relations.

Crisis Communications
A crisis can be either a disaster or an opportunity for a company. It all depends on how well the organization communicates with the media and the public.

Our programs help corporate executives and communications staff learn the basic elements of good crisis communications and methods to help them emerge from the crisis intact or even stronger.

Following a seminar-style presentation on crisis management, we facilitate a role-playing workshop for clients to practice applying the elements in the seminar.

This approach includes elements such as:

• Defining a crisis for the organization
• Analyzing the likely impact of various types of crises
• Understanding the objectives of crisis management
• Identifying elements of good crisis management
• Developing the crisis response team
• Understanding the role of the news media in a crisis
• Learning what every media spokesperson must know
• Relating to the media in a crisis
• Dealing with the legacy of a crisis

Message Development
To be successful, every public relations effort, media interview and presentation must incorporate one or more key messages. These messages communicate the story – or the angle on a story – that an organization wants to convey in the minds of its audiences (i.e., employees, shareholders, industry analysts and consumers).

Our message-development approach will guide company spokespeople through a process of defining these key messages and wording them in ways that are memorable and impactful.

We facilitate message-development during a period of three to six hours and cover elements such as:

• Reviewing the organization’s immediate and long-range goals
• Defining competitors or opponents
• Distinguishing the organization’s products, services and/or point of view from those of competitors or opponents
• Defining the audiences for the organization’s messages
• Determining the most effective messages for each audience, based on objectives and competition
• Finding and enhancing the “news value” of each message

Employee Relations
Unfortunately, today’s competitive business environment allows less time for company executives and HR departments to focus on employee relations. Therefore, a company’s most important audience, its employees, is often the most overlooked. When this happens, Franco believes productivity, reputation, competitive position and ethics all suffer.

Franco knows the employee relations practices and processes that are most effective for a given situation. It also provides insights and counsel regarding the “when and how” of effective communications, whether for union-based work force or professional staff, service-sector specialists or administrative personnel. We offer extensive experience in writing and producing intranet content, internal newsletters, and all types of presentations to employees, as well as providing presentation training to assist executives in delivering internal messages. We counsel on ways to resolve employee communications issues and on methods of handling employee motivation.

Franco is also highly experienced in planning and executing employee events, from recognition dinners and company-wide offsite meetings to corporate anniversary celebrations. We counsel on content, themes and techniques for conducting internal meetings with emphasis on obtaining productive results.

Franco’s 40-year history of developing and carrying out employee relations programs ensures that our clients receive creative and reliable recommendations for dealing with employees and internal corporate issues.

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