Message with Negative news

1. Message with Negative news When the messageyouarewritingcontains negative news, youneed to write it in a waythatretains the googwill of the reader and persuades the reader to accept the negative news as fair and reasonable. The primarygoal of a refusal letter is not to say no. Youneed to think of a refusal letter as an opportunity to help the readertoaccept the negative news.

2. Five-paragraphstructure for a refusal letter • p1) Thankyou ( thank the reader for the contact). • P2) Context (provide the reader with the rationale behind the decision and present the information neutrally as youbuildtowards the refusal). • P3) No (saynoclearly, but diplomatically and withoutusingany negative words). • P4 Positive alternative (provide somehope in the form of a positive alternative)- • P5 Positive close ( thank the readeragain and then provide yourcontact information, ifappropriate). Figur 6.3 side 90

3. Complaint letter The purpose of a complaint letter is to stateexactlywhat the companycan do to adress the situation. Wecanuse a four-paragraph to make a structure: • P1 context for the complaint (statewhatyou have a concern with the service or product and specifywhen and whereyou made the purchase). • P2 detailsabout the complaint (use neutral language to describe the problem as precisely as possible). • P3 compensationexpected (whatcompensationyourequire). • P4 positive close (provide contact information and closepositively). Se fig 6.6 page 92

4. Replying to a complaint letter If youare not able to give the reader the compensationhe or sherequested, use the Structure for reply to a complaint letter. • P1 context for the complaint ( thank the reader for informingyouabout the issue). • P2 detailsabout the complaint. • P3 Compensation offered (describe the compensationthatcanbegranted). • P4 Positive close (closepositively with a request to the reader to contactyouiffurtherclarification is requested). • Se fig 6.4 for the complain and 6.8 for the answer.

5. assignment • Make ”create a refusal letter” page 100.

6. Press Releases • Youuse a pressrelease to communicate information to the media. • The primaryaudience is the editor whoselect the pressreleases. • The secondaudience is the readers of the pressrelease. A pressrelease is an exellent marketing tool, and sometimes a pressrelease gives more publicity than a full page advertisement.

7. Organizingcontent for a pressrelease • Include a snappytitlethatattracts attention. • Provide the most important information in the firsttwo or threesentences. • Incluse sufficient details: who, what, where, when, why and how. • Appeal to the interest and needs of the targetaudience. • Feature quotations from at leasttwosources, whenappropriate. • Provide the information peopleneed in order to respond or to find additionaldetails, whenappropriate.

8. A Press releasestyle and format • Contact information included at the top of the pressrelease. • City and date entered at the beginning at paragraph 1. • Third persen usedthroughout (except in quatations) • Quatations (”) punctuatedcorrectly • Use of conventional formatting. • See page 110

9. Assignment case study 1 page 119.