Crisis communication resources to help you protect your revenue, reputation, and brand.

Effective crisis communications when “it” hits the fan.

Welcome to Our Crisis Communication Blog

Our blog is filled with deep resources to help with your crisis communication needs. Whether you are writing a crisis communication plan, seeking the best media training tips, or digging for case studies on crisis situations, you’ll find it here. Our goal is to give you all of the public relations resources you need to protect your revenue, reputation, and brand.

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Lesson 4: Test Your Crisis Communication Speed

September 27, 2013/0 Comments/in Crisis Communications, Media Relations /by gbraud

By Gerard Braud

How quickly can you get approval for and issue a statement to the media, your employees and other key stakeholders during a crisis? Your crisis communication plan should clearly spell out what is acceptable and what is not acceptable.

It greatly disturbs me to see that some companies and government agencies think five hours from the onset of a crisis is an acceptable time frame to respond within. It disturbs me even more to know that some organizations think tomorrow or the day after is soon enough. Just this week, while speaking to a group of public relations professionals in Washington, D.C. several of the attendees said it often takes their organizations one to two days to approve a news release.

Wow! It is 2013 and we live in a world where social media gives details about a crisis the second it happens. Speed is important.

In every crisis communication plan I write, it states that the first communications should happen in one hour or less. Admittedly, this is about 59 minutes too long, but is likely a realistic amount of time in a corporate setting where statements must be written by the public relations team and approved by executives before being released.

My key to speed is the use of a First Critical Statement. It is a pre-written, fill-in-the-blank document that allows an organization to release a few basic facts until more is known. The goal is to control the flow of accurate information rather than allowing rumors to spread on social media and speculation to run rampant among the media.

(Download a free copy with this link. Enter this coupon code to get it as a free gift: CRISISCOMPLAN )

If your crisis communications plan has this template in it, you should be using it in your crisis communications drill.

Your crisis communications drill, while allowing you to test your crisis communications plan, allows you to test your public relations department and their ability to gather facts quickly. The team must fill out the First Critical Statement, get it approved by executives, then release it to the world. It also allows you to test your executives, who must be taught that time is critical and that major rewrites can slow the communications process.

Yesterday’s article referred to feeding little bits of information to the media, just as you would serve a buffet. Following that analogy, the First Critical Statement is the salad.

As the crisis communications drill continues to unfold, your crisis communications plan should dictate that by the start of the second hour of your crisis, a more detailed statement should be released to the media, your employees, and other key audiences.

The plans I write for my clients may have over 100 of these pre-written statements in the addendum of the plan. These are also fill-in-the-blank and multiple choice documents written on a clear sunny day that can be quickly modified and released to the key audiences. They can also be pre-approved by executives on a clear sunny day. Such pre-approval eliminates approval delays on the day of your crisis.

Your crisis communications drill allows you to again test the speed at which the documents are modified and the speed at which they are approved.

Speed is critical when you need to communicate in a crisis. Your crisis communications drill helps you to perfect that.

Lesson 3: Test Your Crisis Communications Plan

September 26, 2013/0 Comments/in Crisis Communications, Media Relations /by gbraud

By Gerard Braud

There are many articles throughout this blog about what makes for a good crisis communications plan. I believe so many documents that proport to be crisis communications plans fall far short of what is needed to effectively communicate when “it” hits the fan.

A great way to find out if your crisis communications plan is up to par is to test it with a crisis communications drill.

During a crisis, anxiety is high, tensions run high, and pressures can be enormous. During times like this, it is easy for important things to fall through the cracks. However, if you write them all down on a clear sunny day and organize them in sequential order, then you have the foundation for a good crisis communications plan. Furthermore, if you can easily read them during your crisis and follow the pre-ordained steps, you are able to achieve effective communication.

I don’t know of anyone else who tells you to read your crisis communications plan during the crisis. That may be because most crisis communications plans only list the rule of standard operating procedures. Most plans fail to be organized chronologically with clear directions that you can read and follow during your crisis. My prescription is to have a plan written with clear directions and follow it every step of the way throughout your crisis communications drill.

This important step accomplishes several goals. First, you get in the habit of carrying your communication plan with you. Secondly, you learn to trust your plan and trust that in your worst times it will guide you toward a brighter conclusion. Thirdly, if there is a flaw in your plan, your crisis communications drill will expose that flaw, allowing you to make important rewrites.

Keep in mind also that the tools of communication change constantly. This means your crisis communications plan needs to be a living document. What worked during last year’s drill may need to be revised this year because the tools of communication have changed. Just look at how in recent years, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube went from being non-existent to being available but irrelevant, to being a vital consideration and important communications tool in a crisis.

A crisis communications drill is designed to let you screw up in private on a clear, sunny day, so you don’t screw up in public on your darkest day. The same is true for your plan. Discover any flaws on a sunny day and fix them before your darkest day comes.

Lesson 2: “This is a Drill”

September 25, 2013/0 Comments/in Crisis Communications /by gbraud

By Gerard Braud

Rule number one during a crisis communications drill is to never have anyone accidentally think a real crisis is happening, when it is not. Hence, in all written communications and on every phone conversation and radio conversation, you must generously use the phrase, “This is a Drill.”

For phone calls, the first words out of your mouth when the other party says, “Hello,” should be, “This is a Drill.” When the other party hears these words from you, they should reply, “This is a Drill.”

These basic rules need to be covered by your drill facilitator before and during the drill.

Likewise, when your phone call is concluded, your last words should be, “This is a Drill.” At that time the other party should reply, “This is a Drill.”

The reason this is important is because you never want someone to overhear details that sound like a crisis and think there really is a crisis, which might trigger panic, rumors, or other unintended consequences.

If two-way radios are a part of your drill, the same protocol should also be followed.

If e-mails are used during the drill, the phrase, “This is a Drill,” should be used in the subject line. It should then open and close the message within the e-mail. If Word Documents, PDFs or printed documents are used during the drill, each one should have a bold message at the beginning and end of the text that says, “This is a Drill.” Also, create a 50% watermark on an angle within these documents that says, “This is a Drill.”

In addition to avoiding unintended consequences internally, this phrase is important so that agencies such as police, the fire department, or the media don’t somehow hear a radio transmission and respond.

As a courtesy, you may wish to call your local police and fire dispatcher to inform them that a drill is underway. Generally, I do not tell the media a drill is happening because I don’t want the media to attempt to create a news story about my drill, because I don’t want to enlighten the media about some ugly events that might actually be a possibility.

Sometimes when a drill involves a school or airport, and it is conducted in conjunction with police and fire departments, the agencies turn it into a news event designed to be a media event that shows their preparedness. I’m not a fan of this, because when things go wrong in a drill, I don’t want the organization’s unpreparedness to become part of a news story.

Remember, the goal of a drill is to create an opportunity for organizations to practice how to do things right, with that ability to allow people to screw up in private so they don’t screw up in public during an actual event.

“This is a Drill.” This is not a publicity event.

In our next article we will discuss some of the goals and objectives of your drill, so you will have a clear idea of how to measure success.

Lesson 1: Why Have a Crisis Communications Drill?

September 24, 2013/0 Comments/in Crisis Communications, Media Relations /by gbraud

By Gerard Braud

Would you rather screw up in public or screw up in private? That’s really what a crisis communications drill is all about. On a clear sunny day you have the ability to practice for how you will respond and behave on your darkest day.

A crisis communications drill is designed to allow you to test your crisis communications plan and your crisis communications team. It tests how you co-exist and interact with your incident command plan, your risk management plan, and crisis management team.

In this series of articles, you will learn some of the sneaky things I like to do when I facilitate a crisis communications drill for my clients. Hopefully you will be inspired to be as sneaky in the drills you conduct.

The concept of messing up in private is foreign to many organizations. Often the people who lead companies think they can magically wing it on the day of the crisis. They think their public relations and communication team will magically make a crisis go away with a few news releases written in the heat of the moment.

Denial among leaders and an unwillingness to invest time and money to prepare for a crisis is frustrating to many in public relations. It is frustrating to me on a daily basis as I observe the same mistakes made in a crises and news events.

Yet, many PR people have discovered, as I have, that one crisis communications drill each year can produce amazing results.

A hard hitting, anxiety filled, realistic drill puts the fear of God into executives. They get a healthy dose of reality. If the reality check shows their weakness, they are more willing to help you budget time and money for important crisis communications tools and training. They may provide funding for a properly written crisis communication plan, budget for annual media training, and for an annual crisis communications drill.

Let’s face it – the annual holiday party will cost much more than all three of these.

Tomorrow, we’ll examine the most important words you can say during a drill.

Washington Navy Yard Shooting: How the Daily Show Portrayed the Media’s Coverage

September 18, 2013/0 Comments/in Crisis Communications, Media Relations /by gbraud

By Gerard Braud

Within the office here, I ranted at the media relentlessly about the horrible live coverage of the tragic events unfolding at the Washington Navy Yard. Only my assistant Shannon had to hear my rants.

Fortunately, comedian Jon Stewart has the resource and video tape evidence to call out the media for the idiotic way they covered this event. Here is the link to the show, and believe me it is worth watching every minute of it.

On a daily basis I beg corporations and government agencies to write a proper crisis communications plan, which has features that allow spokespeople to give small amounts of information at regular intervals. It starts with the First Critical Statement, which I’ll give you below. This is a psychological feature of the plans I write because it wards off the stupidity, rumors, speculation and unprofessionalism displayed on Monday, especially by CNN, but by many local stations as well.

Your assignments for the day:

1) Watch this daily show clip.

2) Call me for a free chat about your crisis communications plan and whether it is perfect or if it could use some improvement. My number is 985-624-9976.

3) Download copy of my First Critical Statement with this link.

To download it for free, enter the coupon code CRISISCOMPLAN

An e-mail will be sent instantly. Make sure it doesn’t go to your spam filter by authorizing my e-mail address gerard@braudcommunications.com.

PRSA Workshop Resources

September 17, 2013/0 Comments/in CNN iReporter Tutorials, Crisis Communications, Social Media, Social Media for Crisis Communications /by gbraud

As a PRSA member, here are some additional resources and links to supplement our program on social media, crisis communications, and secrets to effective communications when “it” hits the fan.

1) A copy of my First Critical Statement can be downloaded with this link.

To download it for free, enter the coupon code CRISISCOMPLAN

An e-mail will be sent instantly. Make sure it doesn’t go to your spam filter by authorizing my e-mail address gerard@braudcommunications.com

2) I think video is an amazing way to achieve effective communications during a crisis. It should be a vital part of your social media strategy and it can be an amazing way to get your message directly to the media. Training is critical to getting it right. This link takes you to a tutorial that teaches you everything I do when I’m creating iReports for CNN. The same strategy works on YouTube, Twitter and Facebook.

3) A crisis communications drill is vital to good performance during your crisis. This article outlines the elements of a good drill.

4) Speed is critical in a crisis. This article outlines missed opportunities to communicate quickly during a shooting.

5) Sometimes a crisis is the result of problems on social media. This article outlines how

Burger King failed to practice good crisis communications when their Facebook page was hacked.

Crisis communication resources to help you protect your revenue, reputation, and brand.

Welcome to Our Crisis Communication Blog

Lesson 4: Test Your Crisis Communication Speed

Lesson 3: Test Your Crisis Communications Plan

Lesson 2: “This is a Drill”

Lesson 1: Why Have a Crisis Communications Drill?

Washington Navy Yard Shooting: How the Daily Show Portrayed the Media’s Coverage

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