It always makes me laugh.
This or that company has got bad press. Suddenly the phone is ringing off the hook, "What do we do?","How do we make this go away?" "Who can we talk to?"
I can imagine too, that more often than not, when tempers are still hot an official from the company has called the media house and given them a tongue-lashing, including threatening to take them to court, hang their mothers from the rafters and everything in between.
The above questions often come after things have cooled down a bit and the company is wondering what to do ... they are now in crisis management mode. By this time of course, the horse has truly bolted from the barn.
Here below are my fast and ready rules for managing a PR crisis
This or that company has got bad press. Suddenly the phone is ringing off the hook, "What do we do?","How do we make this go away?" "Who can we talk to?"
I can imagine too, that more often than not, when tempers are still hot an official from the company has called the media house and given them a tongue-lashing, including threatening to take them to court, hang their mothers from the rafters and everything in between.
The above questions often come after things have cooled down a bit and the company is wondering what to do ... they are now in crisis management mode. By this time of course, the horse has truly bolted from the barn.
Here below are my fast and ready rules for managing a PR crisis
- Calm down
Often times, because we are so engrossed in our own little bubble we think that the sky is going to fall around our ears. In the greater scheme of things many times, it is not as bad as it looks because one, the news is not as widespread as you think and two, if you have done your home work the people you care about you will see through the lies or brush them off as an isolated incident or never get to know about it anyway.
Take a moment. Breath. Clear your mind. Get a grip.
And most importantly don't rush into any action that may make things worse or antagonise potential allies who would help diffuse the mess.
Sadly spokesmen do the complete opposite, lash out at the media, make unnecessary calls to unrelated parties and generally make a mess of a not-so-bad situation.
2. Who do you know?
Hopefully you have calmed down and the next thing is to make an inventory of your resources. What is your side of the story? What are the channels you want/can use to get your story out? Who do you know in the media?
This where the rubber hits the road. If as a PR manager you have not been cultivating and nurturing your contacts in the media, chances are it will be an uphill struggle to get your side of the story out. Also because you have not been in touch you don't know how the media work and therefore how to effectively get your message out.
3.Counter, deflect or bury your head in the sand
Believe it or not being defensive is not the only solution.
Sometimes the media has got it wrong and a robust response may be the key to shutting the whole mess down. But what happens if they have it right? Going after them hammer and tongs, hoping to intimidate them into silence or retracting their story, may backfire on you spectacularly and may very well make things worse. The smart thing would be to admit the error of your ways without admitting the error of your ways. This is often characterised by the response "We are not aware of this but we shall investigate the matter and if found to be true ...blah, blah"
And sometime silence is the best answer. With this you may judge by responding you will only raise the issues profile or that if you keep silent it may just blow over with little to no damage to the organisation.
This is the default position of many organisations but there is a real danger in this strategy. One, is that the consensus is that silence signals acceptance or guilt and secondly, nature abhors a vacuum and in this it will be filled and often than not to your detriment.
Crisis will come. That's a mathematical certainty. How you handle it will depend on how the PR department has been building the brand, maintaining relations with the media and within your company.
The truth though is that if your PR has not been deliberate,systematic and consistent up to that point the crisis may very well bury you. Good luck.
Take a moment. Breath. Clear your mind. Get a grip.
And most importantly don't rush into any action that may make things worse or antagonise potential allies who would help diffuse the mess.
Sadly spokesmen do the complete opposite, lash out at the media, make unnecessary calls to unrelated parties and generally make a mess of a not-so-bad situation.
2. Who do you know?
Hopefully you have calmed down and the next thing is to make an inventory of your resources. What is your side of the story? What are the channels you want/can use to get your story out? Who do you know in the media?
This where the rubber hits the road. If as a PR manager you have not been cultivating and nurturing your contacts in the media, chances are it will be an uphill struggle to get your side of the story out. Also because you have not been in touch you don't know how the media work and therefore how to effectively get your message out.
3.Counter, deflect or bury your head in the sand
Believe it or not being defensive is not the only solution.
Sometimes the media has got it wrong and a robust response may be the key to shutting the whole mess down. But what happens if they have it right? Going after them hammer and tongs, hoping to intimidate them into silence or retracting their story, may backfire on you spectacularly and may very well make things worse. The smart thing would be to admit the error of your ways without admitting the error of your ways. This is often characterised by the response "We are not aware of this but we shall investigate the matter and if found to be true ...blah, blah"
And sometime silence is the best answer. With this you may judge by responding you will only raise the issues profile or that if you keep silent it may just blow over with little to no damage to the organisation.
This is the default position of many organisations but there is a real danger in this strategy. One, is that the consensus is that silence signals acceptance or guilt and secondly, nature abhors a vacuum and in this it will be filled and often than not to your detriment.
Crisis will come. That's a mathematical certainty. How you handle it will depend on how the PR department has been building the brand, maintaining relations with the media and within your company.
The truth though is that if your PR has not been deliberate,systematic and consistent up to that point the crisis may very well bury you. Good luck.
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