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3 Ego Driven Comments and 5 Ways to Combat Denial: Expert Media & Crisis Skills

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By Gerard Braud, CSP, Fellow IEC

Certain crisis communication and media interview scenarios send shivers up my spine. Would you love to know the top three?

  • When someone says they don’t need to prepare for something, I cringe.
  • When someone says, “I’ll wing it,” I feel a disaster coming.
  • When someone rejects writing a crisis communications plan with pre-written news releases and says, “We’ll just get everybody in the room when it happens and hash it out,” I gasp in disbelief and wonder which world they live in.

Why are these so cringe-worthy?

The answers are below and I’ll be discussing these issues with members of ACD during my presentation at their conference in St. Louis. [EDITOR’S NOTE: This post has been updated to reflect that The National Association of Chemical Distributors (NACD) has changed its name to The Alliance for Chemical Distribution (ACD). This may affect some links.]

 Attendees can download handouts here.

https://braudcommunications.com/pdf/2018-NACD-Hanout.pdf

 Copies of Don’t Talk to the Media Until… can be purchased here.

https://braudcommunications.com/store/

 

In a world that moves at the speed of Twitter and mobile phone images, a crisis communications expert would tell you that seconds REALLY, REALLY, REALLY count.

But what do we see too often?

We see human egos telling executives that they can wing it and spontaneously crank out great media statements when a crisis hits.

Other companies operate on hope and denial, hoping a crisis never happens and denying the reality that it only takes one event to destroy the reputation and revenue of an organization.

The best companies take these five steps:

1. Conduct a Vulnerability Assessment

Hire a facilitator to help you build an extensive list of all of the potential issues that could affect your reputation and revenue. The facilitator will help you sort out the vulnerabilities that affect your incident command plan, your business continuity plan, and your crisis communications plan. Some types of crises will affect all three plans. But you’ll be surprised to see how many only trigger your crisis communication plan.

2. Write a Crisis Communications Plan

This task can take a year of collaboration to get it right. After too many years of exhausting collaboration, I’ve created a crisis communications system that can be licensed and put in place in a single day. If you are going to tackle this yourself, the key is to build a plan that can be read and simultaneously executed in real time, so nothing falls through the cracks. The more specific, the more terrific. When written properly, it perfectly captures the complicated process of gathering information, confirming the information, and then disseminating that information to various stakeholder groups. It is a fool’s bet to think you can hash out communications decisions spontaneously during a crisis. A great crisis communication plan should have decision trees built in to help your team select the best options based on the uniqueness of each crisis.

3. Write a library of pre-written news releases

Yes, with skill and time, you can write a news release today that is still perfect and ready to use ten years from now. The secret is to write statements with the proper multiple choice or fill-in-the-blank options, based on questions reporters are most likely to ask in a news conference. I typically license 100 at a time to most companies I work with. Short of subscribing to my library, your task is best achieved through a writing retreat. Realize that most companies take three to five hours before they release a statement during a crisis. In contrast, Twitter takes 60 seconds. Your job is to close that gap. Getting everyone in the room and hashing out a news release by committee during a crisis is the worst thing you can do.

4. Do Media Training for your spokespeople

The best athletes have coaches. The most successful business leaders have coaches. And yes, the best spokespeople have coaches. Oh, and yes, you will pay your coach a fair price for their skills. Interview your prospective coaches to see if they are a good fit. For crisis communications media training, be skeptical of a public relations firm that offers 20 different services plus media training. Also be weary of any trainer who tells you to ignore the reporter’s questions and talk about only what you want to talk about. That sort of bad advice will result in embarrassment, public outrage, and degradation to the company’s reputation and revenue. Media training should go hand-in-hand with writing your pre-written news releases. Those news releases, when written properly, should be the script you read to the media during a crisis news conference. Oh, and remember that one media training class doesn’t let you check this task off of a bucket list. Annual practice is a must.

5. Conduct a crisis drill to test your various plans and your people.

Many organizations conduct an emergency drill and only test their emergency response. Never do they role-play the scenario of conducting a news conference or facing an unruly mob of reporters. Likewise, many are not ready for the negative onslaught of social media during a real crisis. Hence, when a crisis happens, folks are outdone and beside themselves because the media and social media consume their time and attention, taking them off of their response game. These days, your drills must be holistic. Test every plan and every person all in one comprehensive drill.

Next time you hear a colleague suggest you hash it out on the day of your crisis and then wing it in interviews, feel free to challenge them, their ego, and their denial.

 

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Stop Un-Selling: Roseanne Uses Social Media to Create a Costly Self-Inflicted Crisis

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Roseanne Barr TweetBy Gerard Braud, CSP, Fellow IEC

 Un-Selling. It is the opposite of selling. It’s not good (he writes sarcastically). Stop Un-Selling, people. Stop it!

I could stop there, but today’s case study looks at ABC canceling their hugely popular television sitcom reboot of the Roseanne show, which drew upwards to 25 million viewers per week.

The Roseanne show was selling. The reboot of the sitcom was a huge moneymaker for ABC. Money was pumped into production and marketing. Huge salaries were paid to stars. Jobs were created for writers and the production staff.

Then this morning, Roseanne made the unwise decision to Tweet something racist. Yep. In a nanosecond it is all gone. Roseanne tweeted that, “muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby-vj.” VJ is indicated to be Valerie Jarrett, a former senior advisor to President Barack Obama.

The revenue is gone. The jobs are gone.

Like many people; like many companies; this is a self-inflicted crisis. I like to call these self-inflicted crises an act of “Un-Selling.”

The world is hypersensitive. Social media fuels hypersensitivity.

Corporations can no longer defend themselves in a hypersensitive world. Admitting defeat and closing up shop is more cost-effective than fighting a controversy and the fallout associated with the crisis.

Somehow, after 12-14 years of social media, many people and companies still seem oblivious that we are at the crossroads of social media; we are at the crossroads of crisis communications; we are at the crossroads of selling.

Roseanne has always been controversial and has said many things in her comedy that offend people. When she went off of the air 21 years ago, social media didn’t exist. Heck, 21 years ago the internet and email were just making their mark.

There was a time when a network like ABC would experience a crisis like this, then hunker down with lawyers for a few days, then count how much money they would lose if the show got canceled. They would compare that number to the revenues they would earn, before making decisions. Those days are gone.

These days, decisions are swift, brutal, and costly.

Every corporation is vulnerable to Un-Selling these days. It can be from your own post. It can be due to a bad situation captured on video and shared with the world.

I can’t help but notice the irony that I’m typing these words at the very moment every Starbucks store is closed for sensitivity training because the arrest of two black men was captured in one of their stores, causing the company to lose customers. (Yes, Starbucks was Un-Selling.) It happened when United Airlines dragged a passenger off a flight. It happened when Wells Fargo created fake accounts. It happened when Facebook sold your data.

Everyone one of these is an act of Un-Selling by a company. Un-Selling requires crisis planning and crisis training.

Plan, practice, and stop Un-Selling.

 

 

Media Interview Secrets: 4 Steps Every Company Needs to Take in Order to Avoid the Default Spokesperson

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Crisis communications Expert Gerard Braud - QuoteBy Gerard Braud, CSP, Fellow IEC

Who is the default spokesperson? In my expert opinion, the default spokesperson is the eyewitness who controls the media, because a company in a crisis has not provided their own expert for a media interview.

Think about it. A guy named Bubba – an eyewitness – controls the reputational fate and financial future of your company, if he is talking to the media, and an official company spokesperson is not being quickly provided by your company.

It blow’d up real good.

is the quote I once put on TV from a guy named Bubba following a chemical explosion, as he stood outside his mobile home.

In two weeks I’ll be speaking at conferences for both the Alliance for Chemical Distribution and the International Association of Business Communicators. Later in the month, I’m part of a crisis drill team for a nuclear power plant. The need for speed will be a key point in each of my presentations and training programs.

When I was a journalist, I remember people would actually ask me, “How come reporters always interview people with no teeth who live in trailers?” They were referring to the eyewitnesses, like Bubba, who were often interviewed near industrial facilities following a chemical explosion.

These days, before reporters even arrive on the scene of a crisis, eyewitnesses like Bubba, are posting pictures, videos and personal accounts to social media – especially Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook.

As a company, you have

4 communications obligations in a crisis:

  1. Designate multiple people who can serve as your spokesperson.
  2. Hire a media trainer to properly train those spokespeople.
  3. Train the spokespeople to be ready with a written and oral statement that can be shared within one hour of the onset of the crisis.
  4. Hire someone to write a crisis communications plan with a library of pre-written statements and scripts that can be used to quickly and accurately communicate with the media, employees, community, and other stakeholders.

I’ll add a bonus 5th tip: Budget for media training and a crisis communications plan with the same priority you budget for safety training, sexual harassment training, and diversity training. Justify the expense by recognizing that your corporate reputation and revenue hang in the balance for each crisis.

Remember, the destiny of your company is in the hands of a guy named Bubba, when you fail to provide a spokesperson in a crisis.

 3 Attempts at Crisis Management with Television Commercials — 3 Lessons to Learn

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By Gerard Braud, CSP, Fellow IEC

Think of a crisis as UN-selling your customers.

Traditional crisis management and crisis communications are practiced almost the same way by every company and public relations firm. A company screws up and UN-sells their customer. Then the public relations team tries to clean up the mess. They essentially try to resell the customer.

Three television commercials have just hit the air with three high-profile companies attempting to repair their self-inflicted wounds and resell their customers.

Will it work?

Facebook lead the way with their television commercial, followed by Uber, and now followed by Wells Fargo.

As a cynic, I wonder if they would be running commercials if each crisis didn’t hurt their bottom line? That’s what happens when you un-sell. As a crisis communications expert, I question why their respective responses were so slow, which further damaged their bottom line.

Most so-called crisis communication experts want to repair reputation. My expert advice is to protect revenue by preventing the crisis from happening to begin with and by getting out ahead of the crisis if it reaches a flashpoint.  I have three tips about this at the bottom of this post.

All three of these companies were initially silent and all three were much too slow to respond. Speed in crisis communications is critical. The sooner you address the crisis with one or more statements, the faster the crisis will go away.

Facebook apology video Gerard Braud crisis expertFacebook  was the first I saw on television. Imagine, the company with one of the largest advertising platforms in the world having to buy television commercials because so many of their customers were un-sold and the only way to reach them is through television.

As commercials go, it is sentimental and emotional and may cause some people to give them a second chance. It confesses the sins of the company, then boldly states, “That’s going to change.” I like that. But what is missing is the phrase, “We let you down, and for that, we are sorry.”

Uber Apology Video Gerard Braud Crisis ExpertThe second commercial I saw was from Uber. Uber portrays their new CEO as the crusader who will right the wrongs of the past and invites the customer “to move forward together,” and “to help write our next chapter.” Void again is the phrase, “In our growth we let some things fall through the cracks and for that we are sorry.”

What is also interesting about Uber, is their growth resulted from virtually every taxi driver in America un-selling people with open windows, dirty cabs, excessive speed and a lack of courtesy. Uber drivers were essentially the opposite until a handful of crises happened that were not addressed quickly enough.

Wells Fargo apology Crisis Expert Gerard BraudWells Fargo has the weakest of the three attempts to win customers back. Their commercials are frankly years too late, since their crisis was exposed in the Fall of 2016. The cynic in me says that a commercial this late in the game is likely the result of executive denial, portrayed by folks who thought this crisis would blow over. It didn’t. Human denial in a crisis is the thing that slows response. Regarding the commercial, the music is bad. The script is weak. The commercial is vague in alluding to the company’s actions in which reportedly two million fake accounts were opened, leading to 5,300 employees being fired and the company paying $185 million in fines. Added to the list of bad moves is the company paying almost that much in bonuses to the executives who lead the teams which led to the bad behavior. Oh, and never is there an apology.

Your crisis management and crisis communications lessons should be this:

1) When your company screws up, respond fast. If you want to know how, ask me about the 100 pre-written news releases I now provide to each of the clients who use my crisis communications plan.

2) You must apologize for something. Your lawyers don’t want you to say you are sorry as part of a confession of wrongdoing. I understand that. But I have written many phrases in the past that apologize to the offended party without confession to anything that would give ammunition to the plaintiff’s attorney. I’ve included some of those above, such as, “We are sorry for letting you down.” Remember, winning in court is a small consolation when you have lost in the court of public opinion and your customers have left you.

3) The best form of crisis management is to recognize a potential crisis before it goes public. I could have spotted all three of these crises long before they went public. My best case studies are always about potential crises that were caught in the early stages and made to go away before they ever went public.

When denial, bad behavior, and poor judgment exist in the C-suite, you will have a crisis. That crisis will un-sell your customers.

PR Tips on How to Get to Know Your Local Reporters

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When a crisis hits, you need to have effective crisis communications and media relations. You need to have relationships with your local reporters that will help you be able to tell your story. When you have positive news to share, you want local reporters to help you get coverage and reach your audiences. You want to be able to issue public statements fast, and have the media share them fast. You do not want the media speculating about your crisis. So, how do you get to know them and develop positive relationships with them? Some PR expert followers and media relations experts on social media have weighed in on our weekly discussion question. Some experts recommended coffee meetings, others recommended various networking strategies. We now want to hear what you have to add! Do you agree with their comments? What have you had success with?

This week’s discussion question is one of a series of debates in the media relations, crisis communications, public relations, and social media industries where you and your colleagues can share observations with each other. Yes, YOU are invited to share your bite-size bits of best practices. Here is how:

Step 1: Subscribe to The BraudCast on YouTube

Step 2: You will see a short video that poses a new question every Monday. You then post your best practices and observations on The BraudCast YouTube channel.

Step 3: Once your opinion is shared, you can follow the discussion online so you can compare your best practices to those of your professional colleagues.

Step 4: Watch the follow-up Friday Video where you will see a short YouTube video outlining some of the most interesting observations. Yes…your comments may actually show up on our BraudCast video, bringing you world-wide fame, fortune, a big raise, glory, street parades, and more.

Thanks in advance for sharing your knowledge. Please take 2 seconds now to subscribe to The BraudCast.

Media Training Discussion Question: How to Get to Know Your Local Reporters?

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In a crisis, whether it’s a school shooting, a fire, a natural disaster, or a white-collar crime, your local reporters will be the first to come knocking on your door at your business, school, or organization. You want the media on your side. You want the media to work with you so you are able to tell your story for yourself. You also want the media to be there and be engaged when you have great news to share, whether it be an announcement of new leadership, the opening of a new branch of your franchise, or any important milestone in your business. So, how do you get to know your local reporters so that you can establish these types of positive relationships?

We are asking you, our readers and followers, expert public relations and media training professionals, to share your expert opinion this week. Comment here and on our social media pages to join in. You and your answers may be featured in our follow-up video!

Today’s question is one of a series of debates in the crisis management, media relations, public relations, and social media industries where you and your colleagues can share observations with each other. Yes, YOU are invited to share your bite-size bits of best practices. Here is how:

Step 1: Subscribe to The BraudCast on YouTube

Step 2: You will see a short video that poses a new question every Monday. You then post your best practices and observations on The BraudCast YouTube channel.

Step 3: Once your opinion is shared, you can follow the discussion online so you can compare your best practices to those of your professional colleagues.

Step 4: Watch the follow-up Friday Video where you will see a short YouTube video outlining some of the most interesting observations. Yes…your comments may actually show up on our BraudCast video, bringing you world-wide fame, fortune, a big raise, glory, street parades, and more.

Thanks in advance for sharing your knowledge. Please take 2 seconds now to subscribe to The BraudCast.

Media Relations Tips: Should Executives EVER Give Their Opinion on Politics?

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Executives have an important role in leading their company, their business, or their organization. Does any part of that role include publicly sharing their opinions on current events or getting involved political debates? What if they are a subject matter expert on a topic that is being discussed by politicians or media experts? Do you think that it is too risky? Could it harm their reputation and revenue? Or could they gain new fans and followers? How could it benefit their business or harm their business?

To help out corporate communications professionals and share valuable tips among one another, this week’s public relations discussion question was, “Is it ever appropriate for an executive to give their opinion about politics?” On Monday we asked this question to our public relations experts and social media followers. Our social media contributors and BraudCast subscribers weighed in on this topic and we are now sharing some of their answers in this video! Now it’s your turn to join in on the conversation and let us know if you agree with their comments.

Today’s video topic is one of a series of debates in the corporate communications, media relations, crisis communication, public relations, and social media industries where you and your colleagues can share observations with each other. Yes, YOU are invited to share your bite-size bits of best practices. This is how:

1: Subscribe to The BraudCast on YouTube

2: You will see a short video that poses a new question every Monday. You then post your best practices and observations on The BraudCast YouTube channel.

3: Once your opinion is shared, you can follow the discussion online so you can compare your best practices to those of your professional colleagues.

4: Watch the follow-up Friday Video where you will see a short YouTube video outlining some of the most interesting observations. Yes…your comments may actually show up on our BraudCast video, bringing you world-wide fame, fortune, a big raise, glory, street parades, and more.

Thank you in advance for sharing your knowledge. Please take 2 seconds now to subscribe to The BraudCast.

Public Relations Question: Should Executives EVER Give Their Opinion on Politics?

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To help out our corporate communications community and in order to share valuable media relations tips among one another, this week’s public relations discussion question is, “Is it ever appropriate for an executive to give their opinion about politics?”

You may have heard the rule not to talk politics at the dinner table or at family gatherings, but what about at work or with the media? What are the risks if an executive decides to share his or her opinion on a political matter? When they publicly comment on politics and share their stance, how does it affect their brand, reputation, and revenue? How may it affect their employees, their stakeholders, their customers, their clients, and their revenue?

Share your comments and opinions here and on our social media pages to join the discussion. Your answers may be featured in our follow-up video!

Today’s question is one of a series of debates in the crisis communications, media relations, public relations, and social media industries where you and your colleagues can share observations and expertise with each other. Yes, YOU are invited to share your bite-size bits of best practices. Here is how to join in on the discussion:

Step 1: Subscribe to The BraudCast on YouTube

Step 2: There will be a short video that poses a new discussion question every Monday. You then post your best practices and observations in the comments section on The BraudCast YouTube channel.

Step 3: After your opinion is shared, you can follow the discussion online so you can compare your best practices to those of your professional colleagues.

Step 4: View the follow-up Friday Video where you will see a short YouTube video outlining some of the most interesting observations. Yes…your comments may actually show up on our BraudCast video, bringing you world-wide fame, fortune, a big raise, glory, street parades, and more.

We thank you in advance for sharing your knowledge. Please a quick moment now to subscribe to The BraudCast.

PR Tips On the Best Way to Get Media Coverage for a Ribbon Cutting

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On Monday, we asked our social media followers, “What is the best way to get media coverage for a ribbon cutting?” They have chimed in with their best public relations practices and media relations tips on this discussion question. Our contributors discussed how to get your audience interested, how to utilize the current relationships you have with the media, and they raised the question, should you have one at all? We now want to hear your comments on the topic. Do you agree? Do you disagree with their answers? Do you have anything to add? What has worked for you in the past, or what has worked for other companies and organizations? How do you make the good news, such as a ribbon cutting, newsworthy and interesting? Watch the video below and then comment with your thoughts.

gerard-braud-crisis-expert-ribbon-cutting

Click image to watch

 

Yes, YOU are invited to share your bite-size bits of best practices. This question is one of a series of debates in the media relations, crisis communications, public relations, and social media industries where you and your colleagues can share observations with each other.  Here is how to join in:

1: Subscribe to The BraudCast on YouTube

2: You will see a short video that poses a new question every Monday. You then post your best practices and observations on The BraudCast YouTube channel.

3: Once your opinion is shared, you can follow the discussion online so you can compare your best practices to those of your professional colleagues.

4: Watch the Follow-up Friday Video where you will see a short YouTube video outlining some of the most interesting observations. Yes…your comments may actually show up on our BraudCast video, bringing you world-wide fame, fortune, a big raise, glory, street parades, and more.

Thanks in advance for sharing your knowledge. Please take 2 seconds now to subscribe to The BraudCast.

Media Relations Discussion Question: Best Way to Get Media Coverage for a Ribbon Cutting?

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Today’s media relations discussion question is: “What is the best way to get media coverage for a ribbon cutting?” We want to hear tips from corporate communications and public relations professionals who have some experience with this topic. On Thursday we will share your expert opinions in a follow-up video. And from the standpoint of a former reporter, you will hear my tips for getting the attention of the media. So, what would you need to consider when promoting your ribbon cutting? Who should be your spokesperson? How do you get in touch with the media to ensure they cover your big news? Is it newsworthy? How can you grab the attention of your audience?

So, what would you need to consider when promoting your ribbon cutting? Who should be your spokesperson? How do you get in touch with the media to ensure they cover your big news? Is it newsworthy? How can you grab the attention of your audience? How do you get the media to cover the “good stuff?” We want you to chime in with your thoughts to help benefit your colleagues and the online PR community.

 

gerard-braud-crisis-expert-ribbon-cutting

Click image to watch

Today’s question is one of a series of debates in the media relations, crisis communications, public relations, and social media industries where you and your colleagues can share observations with each other. Yes, YOU are invited to share your bite size bits of best practices. Here is how:

  • Subscribe to The BraudCast on YouTube
  • You will see a short video that poses a new question every Monday. You then post your best practices and observations on The BraudCast YouTube channel.
  • Once your opinion is shared, you can follow the discussion online so you can compare your best practices to those of your professional colleagues.
  • Watch the Follow up Friday Video where you will see a short YouTube video outlining some of the most interesting observations. Yes…your comments may actually show up on our BraudCast video, bringing you world-wide fame, fortune, a big raise, glory, street parades, and more.