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.
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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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While teaching interview skills in a media training class, a participating executive provided expert insight to the lesson I was teaching.
“So you don’t want us to word vomit everything we know in a media interview, right?” he asked.
That isn’t how I would have phrased it, but now that I think about it, many spokespeople, and the public relations people who write the key messages for the spokespeople, are guilty of “word vomit.”
Before every media training class I teach, I ask the PR team to provide me with their existing key messages. Most are word vomit.
Many public relations people “vomit” every word they can, every cliché they can, and every statistic they can onto the page they submit to me. As you might guess, I have to do major key message re-writes before every media training class.
When a spokesperson is being interviewed, more is less. You must help them fight the urge to say everything they know about the company or organization.
The more you say to a reporter, the more you subject yourself to editing that you may not like.
As gross as it may sound, today’s media training expert advice is:
a) Avoid word vomit when you write your key messages.
b) Avoid word vomit when you are speaking to a reporter in a media interview.
If someone read your key messages right now, would they think, “Ew Gross. Word vomit.”?
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In media training and crisis communications training, there are many debates about who should be your spokesperson in a crisis. Here are three common arguments and what you should consider.
Argument 1: The CEO Should Always Be the Spokesperson
A CEO who wants to be the only spokesperson is destined for failure. In a crisis, the CEO should be:
1) Managing the crisis
2) Managing the business operations
This is especially true in the first hours of a crisis when information is just becoming available.
In a severe crisis involving injuries or fatalities, the CEO becomes the face of the organization’s compassion. Even then, the CEO as a spokesperson might come several hours into the crisis. In the first hour, when a statement needs to be made, the CEO is often busy with other issues.
Also, if a CEO misspeaks early in the crisis, they destroy their credibility and undermine the reputation of the organization. Whereas, if anyone else misspeaks early in the crisis, the CEO can step in to clarify the facts and becomes the hero figure.
Remember BP’s CEO Tony Hayward, who uttered, “I want my life back.” That line caused him to be fired as CEO.
Argument 2: The PR Person Should Always Be the Spokesperson
The public relations person is an excellent choice as spokesperson in the first hour of the crisis when media might be just arriving, but doesn’t need to be the spokesperson throughout an entire crisis.
The PR person should be on the crisis management team and should serve as leader of the crisis communications team.
A “First Critical Statement” should be in every crisis communications plan. When few facts are known, it allows the PR person to:
1) Acknowledge the crisis
2) Provide basic facts
3) Say something quotable, while promising more information at a future briefing
(For a free First Critical Statement contact gerard@braudcommunications.com)
Argument 3: A Variety of People Should Serve as Spokespeople
My recommendation is that numerous people should be media trained as spokespeople. In a crisis, the PR person should speak during the first hour of the crisis. By the end of the second hour of the crisis, a subject matter expert should serve as spokesperson. If needed, the subject matter expert can remain as spokesperson if the crisis is ongoing. The final news briefing of the day may be the best time to feature the CEO as spokesperson.
Think of your spokesperson selection process the way sports teams operate. You have stars and strong people on the bench, ready to step in as needed.
Media training helps identify your star players and secondary players. Most of all, never let anyone speak without intense training. Media play hardball. Don’t send out an untrained person with little league skills.
About the author: Gerard Braud, CSP, Fellow IEC (Jared Bro) is a media training and crisis communications plan expert. He has helped organizations on 5 continents. Braud is the author of Don’t Talk to the Media Until… 29 Secrets You Need to Know Before You Open Your Mouth to a Reporter. www.braudcommunications.com
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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.
Our last article focused on the need for public relations experts to be more strategic as they accomplish tactical tasks. You were reminded that the articles you write must result in behavior change. Your Tweets, Facebook posts and videos must also result in change such as better employee productivity, more sales, or a changed behavior in your customers.
Once you have set up your strategic goals for the year, you must fight what we will call, “Emergency News Release Syndrome.”
Symptoms of Emergency News Release Syndrome include:
1) Emails from an executive telling you in the middle of the day that they need an unplanned and unscheduled news release by the end of the day.
2) An executive walking into your office asking you for a news release immediately for something that he or she has known about for weeks, but did not trust you enough to share with you previously.
3) Someone from a random department, that achieved an internal goal, wants you to write a news release to brag about their accomplishment. No one in the outside world, or even outside of their department, cares about it.
Several years ago I worked as a Vice President at Best Buy, which had one of the best processes I have ever seen for dealing with Emergency News Release Syndrome. It was in place before my arrival, so the credit goes to my predecessors.
Best Buy’s communications department had a policy that no news release would be written if the information did not correspond with the strategic objectives of the overall corporation. For example, if a corporate goal was to increase sales, the news release had to contribute to an initiative to increase sales. Also, if someone in IT came rushing to the communications department asking for a news release about a gadget that did nothing to improve sales or productivity, their request was rejected and no release was written. They were told to write a memo and place it on the bulletin board within their department.
Another policy was that there would never be a request for a news release for something that the communications department was kept in the dark about. When the executive leadership held confidential meetings about big, future initiatives, or potentially negative issues, a vice president from communications was brought into these confidential discussions from the beginning.
Both of these approaches worked because the communications team instituted a “Gatekeeper” policy. All requests for news releases had to go to the Gatekeeper. The Gatekeeper and her team would evaluate whether the information contributed to the company’s strategic objectives.
There are two somewhat sarcastic lines I use when presented with an Emergency News Release request:
• Do you want fries and a large coke with that news release?
This references the concept that you are not in PR just to take orders like someone at a fast food restaurant.
• Poor planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part.
This references the concept that in PR, your day, week, month and year should be planned out. Yes, you must be flexible on days when things are truly beyond anyone’s control, but man-made emergencies that result from poor planning or corporate secrecy are unacceptable.
You should do these things:
1) Set PR objectives annually that are in line with corporate objectives.
2) Appoint a gatekeeper and communicate to all what the PR department’s policies are regarding the gatekeeper system.
3) Push back and stick to your guns when people violate the gatekeeper system.
In short, be a welcome mat for strategically communicating and not a doormat for everyone to wipe their feet on.
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Public relations and communication professionals on a global basis are experts at creativity. One cute, creative holiday letter I received spoke volumes about how public relations people judge success and the urgent need for public relations people to rethink their approach.
The card was a creative spoof of the dreaded “holiday letter” that so many families send out. You’ve probably received one. It brags about the achievement of their daughter in dance class, the son’s success in soccer, the mom’s new workout routine, dad’s job promotion and of course, photos of the family vacations to exotic lands.
The accomplishments in this spoof letter included how many tweets the communications team made, how many Facebook posts, how many “Likes,” the number of videos posted and viewed, the number of publications created, and the number of news releases written.
This is typical of how many public relations people judge success; they judge it based on tasks completed.
What is wrong with this approach?
Ask: What Do I Want These Tasks to Accomplish?
Success should be measured not in the quantity of tasks completed, but by the impact those tasks have on or for your institution and your audience. If you Tweet 1,000 times, post 1,000 times on Facebook and blog 360 times in a year, but you have no followers and no readers then you also have no impact. If you are blessed with followers and readers, you must ask, “Have my communications caused my audiences to behave the way I want them to?” For example, did your customers buy more products? Did you guide your employees to be more productive? At a hospital, did you change the health habits of your community? At an electric company, did you help your customers be more energy efficient?
A new year is always a time to set goals. You should consider setting goals as strategic objectives that are accomplished by the tactical actions you take. Public relations actions without meaningful results equals busy work.
Hence, I would have loved to see that cute, holiday card spoof again next year. Next year I hope it tells me about the successes achieved in terms of end results rather than tasks completed.
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Recently we have published two articles here about Lululemon founder Chip Wilson. The first focused on his foolish ad-libs in a TV interview for which he was clearly not prepared. In the article we said his failure to prepare for the media interview would affect his profits. The second article focused on his poor attempt to apologize for his first blunder, creating a social media fire storm. Now comes the news that he is out as Chairman of the company he helped found, because of… wait for it… wait for it… because of things he said.
Click image to watch video
Chip Wilson’s ad-libs and bad media interview caused him, in large part, to be ousted from the company that he helped start.
Verbal blunders have cost an executive his position in his company.
This should be a wake-up call to all public relations people, executives and CEOs. It should be, but it won’t. Most CEOs and executives will remain too stubborn and arrogant to schedule time for training. Most public relations people will be too timid and afraid of losing their jobs to get in the CEO or executive’s face and demand that they dedicate ample time to prepare for EVERY media interview.
Many CEOs and executives treat media training as though it is a bucket list item – something they do once in life. This is as dumb as me taking one class at putt-putt and thinking I can play golf against Tiger Woods in the PGA.
EVERY interview requires practice.
Media interviews are not something you should ever take lightly.
Media interviews affect your bottom line.
Media interviews are connected to money.
Media interviews affect profits.
Click to watch interview
I’m befuddled to see how corporations spend millions on branding, millions on product development, and millions on all the contracts lawyers write, all to protect profits. Why would any corporation or executive spend so much on all of that stuff… why would they place such a high financial value on all of that stuff… yet completely under estimate the financial value of a media interview?
Wake-up executives.
Wake-up public relations people.
Wake-up corporations.
Wake-up CEOs.
Wake-up Chairmen and boards.
If you invest time and effort in media training it will pay huge dividends.
I’ve witnessed corporations lose millions in moments in a bad interview.
I’ve witnessed corporations make millions in a moment in a well planned and practiced interview.
If you could attach a dollar to every word you say, would you make money or lose money?
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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
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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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by Gerard Braud
