Not a day goes by that I don’t have a phone call with a public relations person who is telling me what they can’t do and why they can’t do it. This trend concerns me gravely.
I call this getting ready to get ready to get started to begin.
Wow. I would hate to live like that, which is why I don’t work within a corporation. Having been a corporate V.P., I can tell you such behavior was never allowed in my department. It was not allowed from those who reported to me, nor did I allow people to give me excuses on why we couldn’t do what needed to be done.
Granted, in any endeavor in life and business, I value the ready, aim, fire approach. However, each step should have a reasonable time limit. Strategic planning, for example, seems to just keep dragging on for so many public relations colleagues I speak to. They never find the target at which to aim and they are slow to fire. They are stuck in ready. Dare I say, many are getting ready to get ready to get started to begin.
Boldly, I’ll predict that 50% of all activities in corporations are a complete waste of time. What do you think? Ask yourself, “How long have we dragged out or waited for a strategic plan to be developed before we could make a move?” When all that strategic collaboration was completed, did you really learn anything significant that you didn’t know? Did you figure out anything that you couldn’t have strategized on your own – and in a shorter period of time?
How often has a project come to a halt because your company is going through reorganization? Did that reorganization make the organization better? Seldom does it get better, it just gets slower. Usually it is the equivalent of rearranging the proverbial chairs on the deck of the Titanic.
Are you operating in slow motion?
Are you letting your company keep you from doing what you know should be done?
Are you letting your company keep you from being the professional you should be?
Are you a floor mat for your corporation to wipe their feet on?
As a former news guy, I can tell you we moved at the speed of seconds. When a crisis hits, we’re on the story and we were on you. Meanwhile, PR people, and especially the corporate bosses, think you can move at your own good ol’ pace. They fall into decision paralysis, which I’ll define as making no decision at the fear of making the wrong decisions, which sadly, is always the wrong decision. They fall into paralysis by analysis, which means weighing too many factors that don’t need to be weighed. Meanwhile, your reputation and revenue are going to hell as detractors and the media take the organization to task.
Public relations people and corporate leaders can see a crisis on the horizon, yet they are slow in planning their response and they are slow to respond. Meanwhile, aggressive opponents are generating negative news about the organization, harming reputation and revenues.
And all that social media that you love in PR… it is often really bad for you in a crisis. It accentuates and escalates your crisis. Social media, in many cases, further damages your reputation and revenues. Why is it public relations people want to use it for good PR, yet ignore its potential negative effects in a crisis?
I challenge you: Pick one PR project and fast track it. When you get done, tell me how it feels. I expect to hear back from you in 24 hours.
https://braudcommunications.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Logo-white-01-300x138.png00gbraudhttps://braudcommunications.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Logo-white-01-300x138.pnggbraud2014-03-28 03:00:462021-05-20 22:35:37Getting Ready to Get Ready to Get Started to Begin
It’s been said that the person who says something can’t be done is always right.
Does this adage apply to crisis communication and crisis communications plans?
The Malaysia Airlines crisis and communication challenges with the media and families have many in public relations saying, “This is unprecedented. You can’t prepare for this.”
Pardon me, but that’s bull$h*t.
As a defiant, non-conformist, contrarian, nothing inspires me to do something more than doing something they said couldn’t be done.
If you want to prepare and you are willing to put forth the effort, you can write a crisis communications plan and a library of pre-written news releases that will serve you in any crisis. Public relations people without the expertise, who are unwilling to put forth the effort, take the easy way out by saying, “It can’t be done.”
Here is the backstory of how defiance turned into a process that allowed public relations teams to put an effective crisis communications plan in place in as few as two days
In 1996, I begin doing extensive research on crisis communications plans and found each plan repeated the same flaws as the ones before it. All conformed to public relations standards of then and today. Being a contrarian, I researched the common communications mistakes made in each crisis. I poured over case studies from when I was a member of the media. I analyzed why spokespeople said dumb things to me in most crises when I was a television reporter. I analyzed why corporations were slow to communicate about each crisis.
The pain, problems, and predicaments of the communicator and the corporation were scrutinized. Once this was done, I began to work backwards, with the end in mind. Multiple end points were identified, which consisted of the intervals at which a statement would need to be made by a company to the media, a company’s employees, and the stakeholders most affected by the crisis.
From 1996 – 2004, I wrote crisis communications plans for a wide variety of businesses, government agencies, and non-profit organizations. The process often took a year of collaboration, which for me was too long. Dealing with the slow pace of corporate collaboration didn’t fit my personality, despite the large sums of money companies would pay for a year’s worth of work.
In 2004, while spending six months recovering from a near-death-illness, I began looking for the fastest way to deliver a crisis communications plan. I had so many plans written that I was able to condense the crisis communications plan writing process down to two intense days of a group writing retreat. I provided the expertise and base documents, while the public relations team provided a workforce to modify the documents.
Ten years later, the plan still works in every crisis. Granted, the base crisis communications plan is a living document that undergoes constant modification to incorporate the ever-growing list communications outlets, such as social media.
The reality is, you don’t know how every crisis will unfold. The secret is to understand the intervals at which you must communicate to key audiences. You must make sure your crisis communications plan has a system in place to gather information, confirm information, then release that information.
The biggest breakthrough for me was unlocking the secret to creating a library of pre-written news releases that lives in the addendum of each plan. Starting with the end in mind, I was able to analyze the questions that get asked in every news conference by the media. Based on those questions and a clear understanding of how journalists will
write their news reports, I was able to create a series of statements that include multiple-choice and fill-in-the-blank options.
Some of my pre-written news releases have as few as five paragraphs while others have more than 30 paragraphs. Some pre-written news releases are for an event that can be handled with a single press release. Others are three-part releases that can be used to issue advisories before, during, and after an event, such as for an electric company dealing with a winter storm. Still others must exceed three parts, such as an ongoing crisis similar to Malaysia Airlines. These pre-written news releases can usually be edited and released in as few as ten minutes. This is in stark contrast to the typical problem of a public relations person sitting before a blank computer screen and writing from scratch, then facing hours of revisions and hours of delayed communications.
What are the constant realities for the company you work for? The reality for every airline is that they may experience a crash. Virtually every set of scenarios can be broken down into fill-in-the-blank and multiple-choice options.
A crisis communications plan can be structured to identify your key audiences, the various ways you must communicate to those audiences, and the frequency of your communications.
Is writing this type of crisis communications plan easy? My original plan took about 1,000 hours to develop – that’s six months. Since then, it has evolved with many more hours.
Analyses of case studies in your industry will show you the communications flaws of those who came before you so you can modify your crisis communications plan in such a way that those flaws are eliminated.
If you think it can’t be done, you are correct for yourself. You are not, however, correct for everyone.
Those who are willing to prepare can be prepared and they will communicate effectively when “it” hits the fan. Others, however, will make the same mistakes so many before have made, who have thrown up their hands and said it can’t be done.
https://braudcommunications.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Logo-white-01-300x138.png00gbraudhttps://braudcommunications.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Logo-white-01-300x138.pnggbraud2014-03-26 03:00:042021-05-20 22:43:01The Great Crisis Communication Lie: A Plan Can’t Anticipate Everything
Ask any expert in global crisis communications how Malaysia Airlines should be communicating during their crisis and you will get varied opinions. Having worked in Malaysia many times writing crisis communications plans and teaching media training, I would like to offer five things worth considering, should you face a prolonged crisis that draws global media attention.
Culture – Problem #1
Malaysian’s culture and religion are different from traditional western culture and religion. Their language also includes a mix of Malay, Mandarin Chinese and English. Prior to my trips, I’ve taken classes to help learn and respect their culture. I’ve even learned to speak some Malay.
Sadly, western media wants to play by western rules, often with little regard for the culture of another country. Media are not known to stop what they are doing to take cultural sensitivity classes. U.S. media can be especially pushy and overbearing. Chances are western media will not adjust to or fully respect Malaysia’s culture. Hence, if you work for the airline, you must be prepared to adjust to all of the many global media outlets and their ways. This is no easy task.
Accomplishing this means that long before you ever have a global crisis, you need to write a crisis communications plan that takes this into account. Next, you need to practice it at least once a year in a crisis communications drill until you are an expert communicator and public relations professional. The drill will also help your leaders better understand what they will face during a crisis, provided your drill includes intense mock media and mock news conferences.
Joint Information Centers (JICs) – Problem #2
In the U.S., when your corporation has to share the stage, microphone and crisis with government agencies, often all parties agree to set up a Joint Information Center (JIC). Often, the government agencies want to take the lead and usually corporations are too willing to let the investigating agencies bear the burden of the media interviews. This usually happens because the corporation has failed to write a good crisis communications plan, they have failed to train their spokespeople, and they have failed to hold annual crisis communications drills. Due to their failures – all of which could have been avoided – they capitulate to government agencies, praying the government agencies have good spokespeople.
I despise when this is done. I especially despise when a corporation depends entirely on government spokespeople to communicate.
Consider that government agencies cannot and will not communicate empathy to the affected parties. Their communications is only about the issues related to their investigation and fact gathering. Government agencies have a different communications motive than the affected company. Only the offending party – in this case the airline – can adequately communicate empathy to the family members of passengers.
You have an obligation to media train your spokespeople to the highest level so they can hold their own in a news conference.
Separate Media From Grieving Families – Problem #3
Never house family members in a building or hotel where the media has easy access to them. Crying family members amid the media makes for a great story for the media and a horrible story for your company.
When I was a reporter, I hated talking to family members in situations like this. I recall covering the derailment of an Amtrak passenger train with a high fatality count. The train plunged off of a bridge late one night and the passengers were trapped in the rail cars deep in a river. Family members were holding out hope that there were air pockets with people alive in the cars, just as Malaysian Airline families are holding out hope that their family members are alive somewhere on a remote island.
In the story I was covering, the trauma went on for days, with Amtrak housing the families in the lobby of a hotel with us – the media. The families never got a break from the cameras and the microphones and our producers kept asking for more interviews. Amtrak looked bad every time someone fell to pieces emotionally in the hotel lobby.
If your company might face this type of crisis with a high fatality count, your crisis communications team must work with your risk management team to identify, in advance, facilities where families can be housed without the media being anywhere around.
Brute Force Never Plays Well In Front of the Media – Problem #4
When Malaysian authorities hauled away a grieving family member earlier this week, it made a bad situation look worse. Authorities lost their cool. This happens all over the world. When they lose their cool, authorities seldom ask, “How will this play on TV?” This is one more reason to follow the advice above to keep the families separate from the media.
My experience in Malaysia assures me there are many gated resorts that the airline could take over as their base for families. These resorts have sleeping accommodations, restaurants and beaches. Malaysia Airlines should be using one of these resorts. The risk management team should be prepared to buy out the entire resort, keeping families content behind gates, keeping the media on the other side.
Manage Speculation With More Spokespeople – Problem #5
In an ongoing crisis like this, the media lack facts, so they turn to third party experts and ask speculative questions to get speculative answers. If your company is the offending company, you need to have highly trained spokespeople speaking on behalf of your company in every country where your customers have a presence. Those trained spokespeople need to:
A.) state the obvious facts in well worded quotes
B.) constantly communicate empathy and what is being done for the families
C.) constantly discourage speculation
If we look at the Malaysian Airlines case study, speculation has been generated by:
A.) an oil slick near Vietnam
B.) debris at sea near China
C.) possible debris spotted by Australia
D.) rumors that the plane landed safely on some remote airstrip
E.) rumors about the pilots and their routes.
When you fail to provide good information in a crisis, the media fill the void with speculation.
Conclusion
Never believe that any crisis is too big or too complicated to prepare for. You can prepare a crisis communications plan that will address every scenario you may face. Your crisis communications plan can have an addendum of pre-written news releases and media advisories for even an extended crisis like Malaysian Airlines. You can test your crisis communication team, your crisis management team and your spokespeople with a crisis communications drill annually. You can conduct media training annually for everyone who may have to serve as a spokesperson.
This isn’t rocket science, but it does require a commitment from the public relations team and from the leadership team.
So, will you prepare and perform flawlessly or will you leave everything to chance?
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In crisis management and crisis communication you must manage the rule of thirds, as it relates to your brand and the management of your reputation.
Define the rule of thirds this way:
One third of the audience loves you – and nothing can change that.
One third of the audience hates you – and nothing can change you.
One third of the audience swings like a pendulum and they love or hate you based on what is trending at that moment.
Please see exhibit A: Justin Bieber.
His self-made series of recent crises have eroded his credibility with the middle third.
Do you know parents who have supported their daughters, who love Bieber? Did those parents in some way also think Bieber was a nice guy?
If you had asked them a year ago, they would have said, “He’s a nice kid, he has great God given talent, and his mom seems to be trying to keep him grounded.”
Ask them today, they might say, “Justin Bieber is a spoiled little a**hole.”
Want more proof of how this works?
1) Bieber is officially the butt of an increasing number of jokes. During the Olympics, the trending joke was that the loser of the U.S. versus Canada hockey game had to keep Bieber. Hashtag – that’s funny for us. Hashtag – that’s sad for Bieber.
Would you be disappointed to learn your crisis communications plan is built to fail?
Here are three questions to ask to find out if you are destined for trouble when a crisis comes calling — or if you will manage your crisis like an expert.
Warning Sign #1
What is the system within your company by which people report a crisis? Most organizations have:
1) No requirements among employees to report a problem or potential problem.
2) No single phone number to call to report a crisis.
3) No clear definition of what a crisis is.
A reportable crisis should be defined as any event that can negatively impact the revenue and reputation of your company. This can range from a sudden crisis like a fire or explosion, to smoldering issues such as sexual harassment or executive misbehavior. It needs to also include all of the things in between that can trigger a crisis, such as dangerous working conditions or problems that are swept under the rug. Don’t fight over the semantics of whether it should be called a crisis, an event or an incident. Categorize it all as either an actual crisis in the making or a potential crisis.
As a rule, you should welcome the possibility of over-reporting rather than under-reporting. Every employee should be encouraged to speak up and bring issues to the attention of their immediate supervisor. Each supervisor should be encouraged to report up the chain of command. Even better yet, there should be a hotline number that any employee should be able to call to report an actual crisis or a potential crisis. Furthermore, regular employee meetings should be held in which supervisors ask employees questions and create opportunities for them to freely speak up about potential crises.
Often, there is a weak link in the chain of command. Employees fear reprisals for speaking up, rather than anticipating praise for being a team player. You don’t want that culture in your workplace.
Warning Sign #2
Spontaneity and winging it are of little use when a crisis or potential crisis is unfolding. You must know what to ask and with whom the information must be shared. Once you have established a reporting system, such as a hotline, you need to consider what happens when the hotline is called.
1) What questions need to be asked of the caller?
2) What information should the caller be prepared to share?
A flaw in most companies is that neither the caller nor the person receiving the call has a script to follow that outlines what information needs to be gathered and shared.
The solution to this problem is in good crisis communication planning on a clear sunny day. Either one good communication strategist, or a team of people, should discuss what they would want to know in a crisis, then write out the questions that need to be asked by the hotline operator.
The system becomes stronger when the questions are placed with strategic individuals throughout the company. They should be trained to recognize that when a crisis or potential crisis is unfolding, they should be prepared to ask these critical questions and pass that information on to the hotline operator.
In places where a 24-hour operator is not a viable option, consider making a single cell phone the hotline phone. Each week a specific manager can be designated as the crisis manager. They must carry the phone with them 24/7. Their job is to answer the hotline anytime it rings, then begin to gather information that can be shared with other managers, so the crisis can be dealt with.
Warning Sign #3
Most organizations fail to have a well thought out Crisis Management Team. Many have no established team. Hence, their response to a crisis is usually ad-hoc and prone to fail because mistakes are made in the heat of the moment.
Once you have gathered the initial information, you must clearly establish to whom does it go and what actions should they take?
All companies should have three types of plans for a crisis, which would include the plan we are talking about here, which is a Crisis Communication Plan. There must also be an Emergency Response or Incident Command Plan, as well as a Business Continuity Plan. Few companies have all three. Many companies have none.
The leader of each of these teams should be members of the Crisis Management Team, along with the CEO. You should consider limiting your core Crisis Management Team to only four to five leaders. This is your inner circle. Each of them should have other internal managers and experts who can be called upon as needed.
The Crisis Management Team is the group that should receive the information gathered when the hotline number is called. Each should then dispatch their legions of designees to respond to the events.
In our case, the leader of the Crisis Communications Team needs to start communicating facts to internal and external audiences as quickly as possible, using the most reliable tools. These tools should include:
Holding a fast, initial news briefing with any media who may be on site.
Posting the information to your secure website.
Simultaneously emailing information to the media and employees with text and a link to your website.
Using email to reach key stakeholders, such as customers.
Using YouTube as a location to host a short video statement for the world to see.
Using Twitter and Facebook to drive traffic to your statements on your website and on YouTube
Your ability to use all of these communications channels or only a few of these channels depends heavily upon whether your company has one PR professional or a team of them. When you are short handed, use the channels in the order that they are outlined above.
The difference between crisis communication success and crisis communications failure lies in planning. It is called a crisis communications plan for a reason. Don’t wing it. Take time now, on a clear sunny day, to determine if you are destined for failure from the start because you are missing the most critical steps from the onset of every crisis.
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By Gerard Braud Our focus on media training, crisis communications and public relations extends into the Duck Dynasty controversy and three lost opportunities. Put your politics, religion and personaBy Gerard Braud
Our focus on media training, crisis communications and public relations extends into the Duck Dynasty controversy and three lost opportunities.
Put your politics, religion and personal views about gender, sexuality and race aside for a moment in order to put these observations into the context for which they are intended.
Today’s primary question: Did those reacting to Duck Dynasty’s Phil Robertson each miss a golden opportunity in their reactions to advance their respective causes?
A secondary question: Is the media, in many cases, misreporting this story because most who are reporting on it are not reacting to the original GQ story? Instead, are they reacting to headlines they have heard from from others in the media, and from others who are reacting, who have labeled Robertson as homophobic, anti-gay and a racist?
Remember… put your politics, religion and personal views aside to look at the questions from a public relations point of view…
Also, read the Bible passage that Phil makes reference to.
Once you’ve done your background research, you can read on…
Here are the missed media opportunities by A&E, gay activist groups, and groups representing blacks.
Lost Opportunity #1 – Gay Organizations are failing to advance their cause because they opted to be reactive rather than pro-active in their statements. This is especially true for what I’ve read from GLADD. From a media training, crisis communications and public relations perspective, their statements vented anger back at Robertson. This approach divides all audiences into pro-gay and anti-gay factions. If GLADD took a calmer approach and removed anger, hurt and outrage from their statement, they could – from a media and public relations standpoint – leverage the situation to their advantage.
If I were writing their statement for them, it would have said, “We recognize that many people in America share a similar Biblical belief as expressed by Phil Robertson, including the belief that it is sinful for a man to sleep with a woman he is not married to and for a woman to sleep with a man she is not married to. What we share with Robertson is the belief that monogamous relationships have value, and therefore underscores our support that marriage equality be extended to partners of the same gender. We also recognize that many people believe homosexuality is a choice and we continue to strive to educate people that a person’s gender, sexual orientation, and gender identity are defined in the womb. This is a belief shared my many Christians, who are both heterosexual and homosexual.”
The statement calls Robertson “racist” and “homophobic.” (A side note – this joint statement surprises me since many Christian blacks very much share Robertson’s Biblical views and believe in the same Bible passage which he referenced in GQ.)
In GQ Robertson talked about his own perception of blacks he knew and worked with growing up. The statements referenced his perception from where he lived, and from my read of the article, spoke of no hate toward blacks, yet the joint letter and the media have labeled Robertson as racist.
Again, the NAACP and HRC are using angry and accusatory language that reflects the hurt they feel. They are effectively driving the story and the headlines in the first phase of the story. However, for the sake of gaining a headline, did they fail to seize on a greater public relations opportunity to advance their cause?
My advice would have been to issue a statement that would have said, “Some in the black community will interpret the remarks made by Phil Robertson as racist. We, however, see it as a personification of what blacks endured during the civil rights period. In many parts of America, our white brothers and sisters did not see the discrimination that many of our black brothers and sisters were experiencing. It is for that reason that we have spent the last 50 years fighting for equality and justice for all and the reason we will continue to our efforts to bring awareness to the need for equality.”
Lost Opportunity #3 – A&E could have addressed this matter without Phil’s suspension. A&E quickly bowed to pressure from the above mentioned groups, who are well organized, well funded, and have a public relations machine already in place. Television networks usually make their decisions based on their own revenue and the reaction of advertisers, who get pressured by activist organizations.
A simple statement without the suspension could have been the wisest way the network could have responded to the unfolding media crisis. They could have simply issued a statement that said, “We realize that many people will be offended by Phil’s remarks, while many people share his belief. However, even if we, as a network do not agree with all that Phil has said, we respect his First Amendment rights and his freedom of speech. We ask for understanding by all of our employees, viewers, and sponsors. We also apologize to anyone who may have been offended by Phil’s remarks.”
While Duck Dynasty viewers are not currently as well organized as the above mentioned groups, I think A&E will see that they too vote with their dollars and have the ability to organize and mobilize through social media to put pressure on the network and the sponsors of Duck Dynasty. This program draws one of the largest audiences on cable television and A&E.
Crisis Management for Duck Dynasty
Now consider this media relations, crisis communication and public relations truth – We’ve seen many people who are in the media spotlight for a controversy, make it worse when they either respond or attempt to issue an apology. Paula Deen was horrible in her live Today Show interview with Matt Lauer. Chip Wilson, founder of Lululemon was forced out of his job because his apology was poorly worded and poorly executed.
The next move for Phil Robertson and the Duck Dynasty family is the most critical. A poorly executed post-crisis interview, like the one by Paula Deen, could spell disaster. While saying nothing in the short term is an option, every time any of the Duck Dynasty stars are in public, you can bet someone from the media will be there shouting a question or asking for a comment about the controversy.
Every member of the Robertson family – if they want to manage this properly – must sit down with the best media expert and best media trainer they can find – and spend some serious time preparing for their verbal and non-verbal reactions. The clever one-liners used on the television show will not play well in media interviews. The media trainer must work with the family members to keep them authentic and to recognize that they can still speak their mind, but that each word they say is important and each word they do not say is important.
Careless phraseology by an authentic person is what started this controversy. Careless phraseology will make the controversy worse.
There are many moving parts to this media crisis and there are many opportunities that have been missed and are yet to be taken.
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It is a bold move; perhaps unprecedented. Certainly in my career in crisis communications and my prior career as a reporter, I cannot recall a community that has suffered a crisis, asking the media to stay away. However, officials in Newtown, Connecticut are asking the media to stay away on December 14th, the one-year anniversary of the tragic shooting that killed 27 people.
From a media relations perspective, I support this bold move.
As for the lessons for communicators and public relations professionals, Newtown offers many crisis communications lessons. Free information and a free webinar from one year ago are still online. Sadly, a bold post-Newton prediction I made in a blog post on CommPro.biz has come true.
I predicted that, “The Sandy Hook shooting will likely not raise any discussions about effective crisis communications, although it should.” With CommPro.biz, I presented a free webinar outlining what all schools should do in order to be properly prepared for effective crisis communications should they experience a shooting or some other type of crisis.
An effective crisis communication plan can save lives and move people out of harms way. With all my heart I believe it and advocate for crisis communications preparedness each day.
Sadly, I can report my prediction has come true, at least among the schools that contacted me immediately after the webinar and during the year. Of those who had more questions about writing a crisis communications plan, to date, not a single person who has contacted me has been able to get their school officials to endorse or believe in the premise that if you plan on a sunny day, all will go much more smoothly on your darkest day. So many organizations see communications about a crisis as a reactive response to media after a crisis rather than a pro-active event of planning that should be done long before a crisis ever strikes. Not a single person who contacted me was able to get their schools to allocate even a modest amount of time or money to begin the effort.
It would be a great day for children, parents and educations if my prediction were wrong.
Watch the news coverage as winter storms move across the United States, leaving many people without power in the cold for up to two weeks. Much of this story is being told through the eyes of the so-called, “citizen journalists.”
Citizen journalism is one of the reasons breaking news got broken. While corporate communicators, corporate executives and corporate lawyers haggle over every word and comma in a news release, eye witnesses to news events are posting their pictures and videos online with astounding speed.
Corporations around the world need to wake up. They need to rethink their approach to media relations and crisis communications. They need to think and act like citizen journalists. They need to post fast to the web.
When I hear a corporate communicator tell me, “Our people will never let us do that,” my first instinct is to channel my inner Ron Burgundy because, “I’d like to punch you in the spleen.” Trust me, in 1994 I heard these same people telling us that we couldn’t use e-mail and websites. They were wrong then and they are wrong now.
But seriously – stop saying you can’t. Here are 5 things to consider.
#1 The Miracle on the Hudson
When U.S. Airways had a jet full of people land in the Hudson River in the media capitol of the world, all of the world’s media used the same image taken by a guy with a smart phone who posted the image to Twitter. I’d wager that U.S. Airways might have not even known they had lost a plane when those first images hit Twitter. You must be that fast to post images of your own news events.
#2 The Virginia Tech Massacre
On that sad day when 32 people died at Virginia Tech, University officials were slow to meet, slow to make decisions, and slow to issue both news releases and emergency communications to their student body. Instead, an engineering student used his smart phone to capture video of police officers on campus as 26 gunshots from the gunman are heard on the video. There was no national news media on the campus at that moment, yet when the students uploaded his video to CNN iReports, the media had all they needed to tell the story from a location where no media would have been allowed. You must be that fast to post video of your own news events.
#3 Stop Analyzing Words and Commas
After more than 30 years in communications, I still don’t understand why corporations spend so much time scrutinizing a written news release, only to have the spokesperson say dumb, un-vetted comments in an interview. If the interview isn’t going to match the written news release then stop spending so much time on the news release and spend that time in media training with the spokesperson.
#4 Stop Writing News Releases from Scratch
Every crisis communications plan should have a huge library of pre-written and pre-approved news releases that can be easily modified through strategically placed fill-in-the-blanks and multiple-choice options. If 100 things could go wrong in your organization, you should have 100 pre-written news releases. The pre-approval process will allow them to be posted to the web and read to the media in less than one hour of the onset of your news event or crisis.
#5 Practice
To be as good as a citizen journalist you must have the necessary Facebook, YouTube and Twitter accounts set up. You must set up accounts with CNN iReports and other media uploading profiles. You need the right phone or tablet device and it must be configured to interface with your social media accounts. You need Skype for live reports. Here is the big one – you must practice your performance on camera as well as your ability to share and publish online from your smart device. This isn’t easy to do, yet you must do it and make it look easy.
The bottom line is someone will be telling your story. It can be an uninformed, yet technologically advanced eye-witness, or it can be an official source who understands the technology, as well as good media relations and crisis communications.
Who will tell your next story?
Want to learn more? Register for this free CommPro.Biz webinar on December 16, 2013 at 1 p.m. EDT
https://braudcommunications.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Logo-white-01-300x138.png00gbraudhttps://braudcommunications.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Logo-white-01-300x138.pnggbraud2013-12-08 03:00:042021-05-20 23:17:52Citizen Journalism: How Breaking News Got Broken and 5 Things You Need to Do Now
Crisis Communications, a working Crisis Communication Plan as well as good media training skills will be critical in the next few days as bad weather moves across the United States.
Before the weather gets to you, now is the time to begin managing the expectations of your customers and employees. Many of you will experience power outages that may last up to two weeks. Let your customers and employees know this through effective communications today.
In your communications to them, be very clear about the pain, problems and predicaments they will face.
#1 Do Not Sugar Coat the News
Tell people exactly how bad things may get. Make sure your messaging is direct and simple. Deliver the headline, give a good synopsis, and then give the details. Write your communications the same way a reporter would write a news story. Don’t overload your communications with corporate jargon, acronyms and politically correct phrases that may confuse your audience.
#2 Do Not Hedge Your Bets With Optimism
You are better off to tell audiences what the worst will be and then be happy if the worst does not come to pass. It is easier to celebrate good news than to apologize for a situation that drags on and gets worse.
#3 Be Ready to Use Every Means of Communications Available to You
Traditional media will be overwhelmed with many stories. If you want to get their attention and get coverage as a way to reach your audiences, do these things now:
Be ready to post updates to your primary website starting now.
Use iPad and iPhone video to record each update and post it to YouTube.
Send e-mails to employees with links to your website and video.
Post that same video to CNN iReports.
Add links to Facebook and Twitter that send your audiences to your website and your video.
#4 Media Training for Spokespeople
Anyone who records a video or does an interview with the media should have gone through extensive media training prior to this crisis. Additionally, do role-playing and practice with them before each interview in the coming days.
#5 Be Skype Ready
In a winter storm type crisis, media may ask you to do live interviews via Skype. Download Skype to your mobile devices now and practice using Skype. Additionally, all spokespeople on a Skype interview must be properly media trained in a Skype interview setting. Use my online tutorials to help you prepare spokespersons.
#6 Expect a Spike in Social Media Communications
Keep in mind that organizations that often have very little following on social media will see a spike in social media during power outages. As audiences have no computer access they will turn to their mobile devices. Your team needs to be prepared to monitor social media and reply to posts only when it is absolutely necessary. Too many replies to negative comments only lead to more negative comments and those comments keep re-posting more frequently in everyone’s news feed.
#7 Direct Tweets to Reporters
Increasingly, reporters respond quickly to Tweets. I find that in a weather crisis you can get a reporter’s attention faster with a Tweet than with an e-mail, phone call or text message.
#8 Be a Resource
Don’t confine your social media posts to only information about your organization. Post resource information that your audience needs, such as locations to shelters, information about emergency supplies, and any other creature comforts they need.
#9 Don’t Be Left in the Dark
Now is the time to review your list of emergency supplies and gather all of the devices you need to power your mobile devices. Devices like Mophies can charge your phones and tablets. Make sure you have batteries and flashlights. If you can, get a generator and ample supplies of gasoline. Gather extra food, water and blankets. Make sure you can heat your work environment.
#10 Rest When You Can
Rest and sleep well before the crisis. Work strategically in shifts during the crisis. Everyone doesn’t have to be awake all of the time. Naps are allowed in the middle of the day.
#11 Victory from Preparedness
Don’t judge your public relations skills by how well you were able to wing it during and after the crisis. Victory is measured by how much you did on a clear sunny day to prepare for your darkest day.
#12 Update Your Crisis Communication Plan
When this crisis is over, evaluate whether your crisis communication plan worked. It should be so thorough that nothing slips through the cracks, yet easy enough to read and follow during your crisis so that it tells you everything to do with a precise timetable for achieving each task. If it doesn’t meet these criteria, evaluate it during and after your crisis, then prepare for a substantial re-write or re-design as soon as this crisis is over.
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When media training a candidate, politician, or elected official, one of the hardest things to teach them is when to shut up.
In every media training class I impart this expert advice to the trainee: “When you are digging a hole for yourself, put down the shovel.”
Toronto May Rob Ford has likely never heard this from his media trainer. One must ask, has Rob Ford ever had media training? Instead of putting down the shovel he has brought in a backhoe.
As repulsive as you may find Rob Ford’s latest quote, I’m going to give it to you here just to show what an amazing failure this guy is every time he is questioned by reporters. You can watch the video for yourself.
“Oliver Gondek says that I want to eat her pussy and Oliver Gondek, I’ve never said that in my life to her. I would never do that. I’m happily married. I’ve got more than enough to eat at home,” said Toronto Mayor Rob Ford.
From Vancouver to Toronto, Canadians have dominated the news for the past two weeks for saying things to the media that they should not say. Each time, they make the situation worse with a poorly executed apology. We saw that last week with Lululemon Founder Chip Wilson and now with Toronto Mayor Rob Ford.
Each case, the spokesman created their own crisis by what they said. Dare I say the United States media has not covered this much news from Canada in my lifetime?
Admittedly it is difficult to media train certain people with certain personality types. Certain rich or powerful people are arrogant enough, or over confident enough, that their inflated egos preclude them from seeking expert advice and expert coaching in order to improve their skills in many areas, including talking to the media.
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by Gerard Braud
