Everyday PR

Being childless, I’m hardly qualified to offer parenting advice so I’ll do the next best thing – share what a friend recently told me.  Whenever she or one of her siblings got sick as a child, her mother would make them all sleep in the same bed, wallow in all their cooties, and not come out until they were back to normal germ levels.

Is Secretary Clinton showing signs of horror or allergies?

The White House, the CIA, the Department of Defense and whoever else was involved in the plan to kill Osama bin Laden should take the same approach.  Everybody should have hunkered down in the same room, wallowed in all the details surrounding the operation and not ventured out until key questions could have accurately and consistently be answered regardless of who was doing the speaking. 

Finite things like time and location shouldn’t be fodder for ambiguity.  Either the guy had a weapon or he didn’t; he was either on the first floor or the third floor; his wife was either used as a human shield or she tried to shield; combat either lasted four minutes or 40 minutes and the indiscrepancies go on.  You’d think that officials would know what was and wasn’t factual if they were watching the assault in real time as was initially promoted, especially after seeing Secretary Clinton’s infamous hand-covering-mouth photo.  Turns out that she was reacting to allergies.

In a crisis communications, accuracy is imperative. Crisis situations demand facts AND fact checking, followed by double and triple confirmation of those facts. I don’t care how many reporters are chomping at the bit for a grain of information, the reality is they don’t want to report inaccurate information because it affects their credibility, not to mention their chances of a future journalism award.  Nobody accessorizes their office or mantle for almost getting it right.

In the adrenaline of a crisis, nearly all plans and logic go AWOL.  Emotions override. Competition trumps. Speed wins.  If you want to handle or respond to a crisis like most, then bow to hysterical higher-ups and antsy reporters, stay the course of ambiguity and inaccuracy, and follow up with apologies and explanations. 

However, if you want to prevent the egg-on-face outcome, keep yourself and/or your client hunkered down until you’re confident that undisputable facts can be released, even if it’s one fact at a time.  Explain that you’d rather be right than quick.

Granted, the approach requires unbelievable patience, confidence and fortitude. The story will eventually be overshadowed by the next crisis, but your credibility, including your accuracy, leadership and demeanor, will long be remembered.

Any other crisis management tips?

When Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords woke up on Saturday, I’m confident it didn’t occur to her, her staff, area law enforcement and local media that she and others would be fighting for their lives in a matter of hours, with some losing that battle.  The tragic event prompts us to question many things, and for public relations professionals, one question should be whether or not our crisis management plans are current.

What kind of crisis communications plan does your organization and/or clients have?  This isn’t a “yes” or “no” question – it’s a question of depth of preparedness to act expediently, responsibly and accurately – a component that vacillated all day in Saturday’s media reports.  And this question is no longer about the fundamentals – it’s about the ability to be able to communicate and disseminate information with today’s technology that has likely advanced since you last worked on your plan.

Review the following checklist. If you can answer “yes” to most, if not all, of the statements, then you’re ahead of the curve. If you can’t check “yes” to most of the statements, then do something about that.  As Saturday’s tragedy shows, nobody is immune to a crisis.   

____  We have identified potential crisis situations within our organization, and we have developed a communications strategy for responding to each.

____  In the event of a crisis, we are prepared to quickly communicate with all our target audiences, including but not limited to, staff, volunteers, consumers, constituents, donors, shareholders, elected officials, media and the general public.

 ____  We have established a crisis team and a formal notification plan to key audiences.

____  We have secured domains reflecting or related to our organization’s name (such as UPDATE @ NAME OF ORGANIZATION) to activate in the event of a crisis, as well as other potential communications tools like a designated web page for media use.

____  We have accounts with appropriate social media tools to use for crisis communications purposes as necessary.

 ___   Our management team and key board members/stakeholders/decision makers are familiar with the crisis communications plan. 

____  At any hour of the day, our crisis team knows how to contact each other. 

____  Each member of our crisis team has a copy of the crisis communications plan at home and at the office. 

____ If an incident occurs, we are confident the employee or volunteer on duty will know what to do to alert the crisis team.

____ Our plan defines our communications boundaries.  We understand when we speak as an organization; we understand when other entities such as law enforcement, medical personnel, expert leaders, etc., are to speak on behalf of the situation, and we continually communicate among all parties during a crisis to ensure consistency and accuracy of information.

____ Our organization has established a formal communications policy on providing the media with full and accurate information in a timely manner.

____ We have a current media policy that specifics designated spokespersons and how employees should respond if questioned by media.

____ The spokesperson for our organization has received professional media training and is an integral part of our management team.

____  We have an ongoing communications effort in place to maintain a foundation of goodwill in our community BEFORE any crisis occurs.

How many can you confidently and positively answer? What else would you add?

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Nobody plans to have a crisis – it’s like planning to have a heart attack the day after your retirement.  So with recent headlines from financial malfeasance to natural disasters, public relations professionals like me just have to ask:  What kind of crisis communications plan does your organization have?  This isn’t a “yes” or “no” question – it’s a question of preparedness and responsibility to your employees, customers and shareholders.

No doubt this crisis negatively impacted revenue for this retailer.

Following 9/11, I thought businesses would be clamoring to make sure they were covered in the event of a crisis – manmade or natural.  I was in shock and awe at how many organizations didn’t have so much as a current employee list, customer database and/or functional website.  Most executives thought a crisis only happened in big faraway places (tell that to the thousands of businesses put out of commission because of tornadoes, floods, fires, etc.); some believed planning for a crisis was a waste of money (ask Domino’s about that); and one even chose to “ride the wave” of a national tragedy as his strategy (see news clips of executive stuttering to explain how donations were really used).

Let’s be clear about one thing: NO ONE IS IMMUNE TO A CRISIS.  Who thought a 500-year flood would really happen, putting some businesses out of business?  Who thought a pilot would have to make an emergency landing in the Hudson River?   Who knew that students would actually form a plan to kill their classmates?  The rescue services, airlines and school officials likely never dreamed of such circumstances on their watch, but that doesn’t mean that a nightmare can’t happen.

So for those organizations interested in making a responsible step toward crisis planning, see the checklist below. If you can check “yes” to all of the statements, then you’re ahead of the curve. If you can’t check “yes” to all the statements, then do something about that.

*   We have an ongoing communications effort in place to maintain a foundation of goodwill in our community.

*  We have identified potential crisis situations within our organization, and we have developed a communications strategy for responding to each.

*   In the event of a crisis, we are prepared to quickly communicate with all our target audiences, including but not limited to, staff, volunteers, consumers, shareholders, elected officials, media and the general public.

*   We have established a crisis team and a formal notification plan.

*   Our management team and key board members/stakeholders have reviewed and approved the crisis communications plan.

*   At any hour of the day, our crisis team knows how to contact each other.

*   Each member of our crisis team has a copy of the crisis communications plan at home and at the office.

*   If an incident occurs, we are confident the employee or volunteer on duty will know what to do to alert the crisis team.

*   Our organization has established a formal communications policy on providing the media with full and accurate information in a timely manner.

*   The spokesperson for our organization has received professional media training and is an integral part of our operations and/or management team.

How many can you positively answer?

Recent brand attacks via social media reiterate what many organizations are lacking - little to no understanding, much less preparedness, on how to deal with an Internet-driven crisis.  But there’s no need to panic if your brand is authentic and if you’ve planned ahead just as you would with any other type of crisis communications process.

Southwest pounced to reduce its exposure in a social media crisis.

Look at Southwest Airlines and how they handled a recent disgruntled passenger who had more followers on Twitter than the airline did.  He’s told to get off the aircraft due to his large size, he fires off his displeasure via Twitter, yet Southwest responded in less than 20 minutes to his complaint, offering apologies and travel vouchers.  The airline could immediately respond only because they had planned ahead with steps like these:

1)   Anticipate Operational Issues - Brainstorm about operational issues that could go wrong from senior executive mismanagement and questionable finances to poor customer service and natural disasters.  You should have a detailed game plan on how to best address various issues and differing audiences with specific communications avenues. Now think about how and/or if to include social media in your plan. But the main reason the Southwest story had a short shelf life was two-fold: quick response, backed by its solid and reputable brand that began years ago.

2)    Social Media – Your overall communications strategy should contain various tools like media relations, stakeholder notifications, databases, etc. Adding social media tools is as simple as setting up accounts on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, SEO, and establishing static web pages and other tools to strategically use in the event of a crisis.  Going back to Southwest, when those tools are incorporated as part of your regular communications plans, consumers won’t see these tactics as just “they’re in trouble” tools as they will already be familiar with your brand.  Global brand Heinz did not anticipate a hacker claiming to represent the company to set up a pretty believable Twitter account with lots of followers.  Why?  They didn’t do the simplest of things like setting up an account, which takes less money than time. 

DISCLAIMER:  If your organization doesn’t understand how social works in its most basic purpose of forming communities and two-way relationships, and/or if your organization is unwilling to take its lumps and address its naysayers, you may be fighting an uphill battle (again, that’s for another post). Just keep in mind that it’s difficult to address a crisis initiated on and perpetuated by social media.  Ask Domino’s.

3)  Ninja Response – Social media communications works in real time. If you have any reason to believe something’s about to break, closely monitor activity; if your suspicion holds true, pounce on the situation like a Ninja.  Because you’ve already anticipated sensitive operational issues, you will have a clearer idea of what tactic to use with what audience (see Step 1).

Here’s the bottom line:  No organization is immune to a crisis. A respected brand, that’s often years in the making, can be undone in a matter of minutes. If you don’t have a crisis communications plan, get one.  If you have one that’s outdated, blow off the dust and rething your tactics in light of today’s social media.  

What are other ways to plan for a social media crisis?

While Domino’s Pizza continues to recover from a tasteless YouTube video, companies should take a clue and think about how to preserve their brand in today’s cyberspace world.  Domino’s learned the hard way – its failure to anticipate the negative ramifications of social media caused much reactive, costly and time-consuming activities.

Fortunately, there are ways to avoid or at least minimize cyber victimization before it turns into a verb as in “Hey, man, don’t Dominos my food.”   While large, longtime companies are likely to survive brand damage, small and mid-size organizations are much more vulnerable to the power of social media. Marketing experts believe some businesses are only a click away from a crisis premiering in the public domain.  Even bleaker is this reality: the absolute worst time to try to build relationships or to start establishing effective communications tools is during the crisis.

Wayne Hill, president of Ohio-based Edward Howard, says the most important first step is a change of mindset.  “Many companies suffer from ‘magical thinking’.  They simply believe they are immune to a crisis,” said Hill.  “If businesspeople took the time to really think about everything that could possibly go wrong – not so much operationally, but more technologically – then their mindset couldn’t help but change.” 

Once that shift in thinking occurs, other steps that a company can do to protect its reputation include:

• Know what’s being said – good and bad – about your organization. Surround yourself with people (in-house or outsourced) who have a working knowledge and application of all forms of social media to monitor your organization and to immediately activate communications, including live, as needed.
• Take small steps, such as Internet news alerts, establishing social media accounts or developing a dark web page.
• Ensure that your organization has most, if not all, of the basics of a crisis communications plan, no matter how remedial.
• Develop a crisis communications plan that includes social media elements, media training and messaging. If in-house resources aren’t available, look for a reputable service provider with both crisis management and social media experience.

“People may think they can’t afford to do something about their branding in today’s warp speed travel of cyber news and viral media,” said Hill.  “The reality is that people can’t afford not to be prepared, and the basic steps are more affordable than they realize.  With today’s 24/7 news coverage, combined with online avenues, information is continuously recycled.  Technology lasts forever (see www.digg.com), but every day, companies may see their reputations damaged in minutes.”