Journalists are trained to answer the key questions that address the main questions (who, what, when, why, and how). While marketers may ignore this technique, FAQs are an important marketing strategic tool, helping maintain focus and organization across multiple projects. This makes the FAQ document an important starting point for marketing campaigns.
Why are FAQs so important? When Should FAQs be Developed?
FAQs provide a complete guide for creating consistent company messaging across all communications. They help to align executive teams and departments by defining what has to be communicated and why.
FAQs are handy for handling important corporate events such as mergers, crises, company announcements, product launches, and rebranding initiatives.
Should FAQs be Shared with all Audiences?
FAQs are strategic internal documents intended for specific audiences and situations, rather than public resources. For example, separate FAQ sets are generated for various stakeholders (workers, customers, and partners) from both organizations in mergers and acquisitions. Executives receive a comprehensive master document that includes all FAQ versions, while staff receive only the necessary sections. The content should be honest and customized to each audience’s individual needs.
Who Should Be Involved in Creating FAQs?
While communications or marketing are often in charge of FAQ development, the content requires help from appropriate subject matter experts, such as human resources for mergers, product managers for launches, and legal counsel for crises.
How do you Ensure Proper Collaboration When Writing FAQs?
Setting deadlines for drafts and final documents, identifying necessary subject matter experts (SMEs), establishing a collaborative review process, determining how to resolve disputes, including external stakeholders as needed, and deciding who gives final approval and who has access to the completed document are all necessary steps in FAQ development.
How Should FAQs be Used?
FAQ documents serve several goals, including guiding the creation of various marketing products, ensuring message consistency, and documenting important information. While some FAQs are internal (such as during mergers or crises) and need adequate confidentiality labeling and staff training, others are public-facing and appear on websites to help customer service and SEO efforts in both B2B and B2C settings.
What are Some Key Questions to Include in an FAQ Document?
When writing FAQs for company announcements, focus on key questions regarding the announcement’s impact on various stakeholders (workers, customers, partners, and competitors) as well as its organizational significance. Here’s a list of simple questions to consider when writing a FAQ sheet for a corporate announcement.
1. What are we announcing?
2. Why is it important?
3. How will it affect employees?
4. What is the impact on customers?
5. How will partners be affected?
6. How would competitors respond?
7. Is there a call to action?
While tools like ChatGPT can help create questions, the primary goal of FAQs is to focus the message and show empathy by anticipating and responding to stakeholders’ information needs.
Source- Martech
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