The importance of crisis management
Posted Thursday, March 30, 2006 at 10:21pm in PR General | 10 Comments
Every organisation, no matter what size, should be thoroughly prepared for a time of crisis. The PR team should be fully aware of any possible dangers that they could potentially face if the inevitable were to happen. The occurrence of a crisis is not limited to any particular reason and can happen from numerous possibilities depending on the organisation’s line of work and/or other external factors.
Crisis management is an essential component of the public relations profession and when in practice, must be used as comprehensive and meticulous as possible. The benefits of good PR and crisis management can literally save lives, save money and save an organisation from devastation. Any organisation that isn’t prepared for a crisis will be constantly at risk.
Preparation is essential when dealing with any crisis, so a Crisis Communication Plan (CCP) should be an integral part of an organisation’s communication management and should be used as a clear and coherent way to limit any damage that an organisation might face.
A CCP is important to determine which crises an organisation is likely to face and the possibility of each. To do this, a ‘crisis inventory’ should be drawn up to demonstrate the risks involved and should rank each crisis as follows:
0 - Impossible
1 - Nearly possible
2 - Remotely possible
3 - Possible
4 - More than possible; somewhat probably. It may have happened to competitors before.
5 - Highly probable. May or may not have happened before, but warning signs are evident.
Again, a rank for the potential damage a crisis could cause can be viewed as:
No damage – Not a serious consequence.
Little damage – Can be handled without much difficulty.
Some damage – Slight chance media will be involved.
Significant damage – But still not a major issue.
Considerable damage – Would definitely be a major media issue.
Devastating – Front page news. Could put company out of business.
Thus, by determining these possible risks, the devastation they could cause and ensuring preparation and planning is carried-out beforehand, an organisation can reduce damage or, in fact, stop it from happening altogether.
A CCP should be well thought-out and systematically structured in step-by-step form and should detail everyone (stakeholders, publics, and media) and everything (pre-gathered information, key messages, control centre involved, equipment, supplies etc).
It should state every detail of what to do in any likely event of a crisis and have reference to any key contacts that are involved. All of this must be done prior to a crisis and should be rehearsed frequently by all staff.
From a PR point of view, there are various stages of a crisis. These are:
Detection
Before an issue develops into a crisis, there is time to do something about it. Good groundwork in advance by way of the CCP can help identify and deal with any issues before they grow. The detection stage is crucial to eradicate any possible crisis.
Preparation
If a problem begins to grow past the detection stage then it is vital that the tactics planned in the CCP come into play. A media management plan (MMP) should have been devised along with the CCP and ready to use if the issue grows. The MMP should have a list of all key media contacts and should identify which staff should talk to the media. The public’s first reaction to a disaster is shock, which quickly turns to anger if an organisation is not seen to be taking action, so a quick response in any crisis is vital.
Containment
In the event of a crisis situation, it is imperative to contain the situation so to stop the public’s and the media’s imagination running wild with speculation. To do this, the MMP should be followed thoroughly to establish what the media need to help them cover the story accurately and comprehensively. It should be made as easy as possible for the media to gain any information they might want. This could mean background information, statistics and spokespeople.
If the media want to talk to spokespersons, it is important that key people involved are at the focus of the crisis and ready to answer all questions as thorough as possible. In a two-way symmetrical model, if you will.
If an organisation refuses to talk to the media, a news story will be made using the information they do have - this could prove disastrous if it is full of one-sided stories, lies or half-truths. The answers to media questions should go along the lines of:
• “We know and here is all the information.”
• “We don’t have all the information yet, but here is what we do know.”
• “We have no idea but we will find out.”
A spokesperson should never answer a question with a “no comment” or “we can’t tell you”. If there is an answer that cannot be revealed the spokesperson must say “we can’t tell you because…”.
A typical objective of crisis communications is to show the public you are doing your utmost to rectifying any problems relating to them. It is paramount your key messages support this, along with other issues such as the environment, property and money (if affected).
Of course, depending on the situation, different issues may be affected. It is up to the PR team to make sure that the priority issues are being dealt with.
It is also a point to note that other stakeholders of the organisation need to be aware of all the facts. Every organisation will have different stakeholders, so part of a crisis management plan would be tailored to them - depending who are involved for that particular organisation.
Recovery
PR professionals should be constantly informing the media, public and other stakeholders what they are doing to turn everything back to normal. Information should be frequently relayed to all parties. Various PR tools can be used such as media relations, newsletters, websites, etc to ensure the message is delivered across various channels.
Evaluation
After the crisis has been fully dealt with, it is imperative to find out what was lost (and gained) through it all. Public opinion is important to establish how good an organisation’s reputation is and should be measured by way of other PR tools such as, focus groups, questionnaires, surveys etc.
Not only this, the PR team can evaluate how effective the CCP was through the situation. They can find out what worked, what did not work, what could be improved and what else could have been done to make the plan more efficient.
Why?
We repeatedly hear in the news about “PR blunders”, “PR nightmares” and “PR gaffs”. Truth is, nine times out of ten, if good PR was involved from the beginning, the blunder, nightmare and gaff would not have happened.
To some people, PR is often seen as an inferior discipline in comparison with advertising and other marketing elements. What they fail to recognise, is that good PR, consistant communication and ethical practice can indeed enhance reputation, increase share price, and create a better understanding between an organisation and its publics.
Credit:
University of Sunderland
Technorati tags:
crisis, crisis+management, crisis+pr, reputation, public+relations, pr, stephen+davies
Tip: Get to know your feeds better
Posted Wednesday, March 29, 2006 at 8:08pm in Blogging | 4 Comments
I don’t know about you, but I’m a ‘face’ person. I’m pretty good at recognising faces I haven’t seen for years. Honest. You know when you’re with friends and you see a person who some of you can vaguely recognise but can’t recall a name or place where you met him/her? Well I’m the person who can remember everything. No really.
Even if the only time we all saw that person was for some obscure 10 minutes three years ago that wasn’t even worth remembering, I’m the one that says: “Oh yeah, can you remember the time when we were in a bar and he asked where the toilets were?” Yip, that’s me - the loser with a weird long-term memory. If only the short-term were the same. What day is it?
However, what I am terrible with, is names. Don’t know why, but I’m terrible. Really, someone can tell me their name three times and I can forget it within minutes. I must have weird brain cells that are programmed with something along the lines of: “Remember what you had for lunch on July 14 2001 for no apparent reason, but if you’ve been interacting with someone for less than 24 hours then forget! forget! forget! Stephen!” Well not that bad but you get the idea?
Okay, back to the post’s topic…what was I talking about? Oh yeah, names. One thing I do find irritating in the realm of social media and online interaction is the lack of names in my RSS reader. Just adds to the confusion of my disfunctional-name-rememberance-xyia or DNR for short.
Frequently, I will subscribe a new blog to my RSS reader, only for it to show up in my feeds as the name of the blog. This is no good to me. If I’m reading a blog I want to see the names behind it. The DNR is an irritation, but one that must be met head-on, so I’ve painstakenly edited the majority of my Bloglines subscription feeds so the bloggers’ names appear instead of the name of the blog. Make sense? Well it does to me. I bet some of you frequently read a blog without knowing the blogger’s name?
Social media is what it says it is: Media that allows you to be social. So if you use blogging as a way to socialise and network then you have to become familiar with bloggers’ names first and foremost. I’ve been testing this out for about three weeks now and it works - well at least for someone with DNR it does. Try it - you might get to know your feeds better.
Book review: Paul Arden
Posted Sunday, March 26, 2006 at 2:52pm in Blogging | 4 Comments
In a previous post, I mentioned as a side note that I have been reading a book by ex Saatchi and Saatchi executive creative director, Paul Arden. The book is rather inspirationally titled, It’s Not How Good You Are, It’s How Good You Want To Be. In its own words it “is a concise guide to making the most of yourself - a pocket bible for the talented and timid to make the unthinkable thinkable and the impossible possible.”
Now, I’m not a believer in self-help books that claim to dramatically change a person’s life or way of thinking in one read. Claims by such people like Paul Mckenna who say they can give you Instant Confidence, Make You Thin or Change Your Life in Seven Days are, in my opinion, just predatory methods to lure fragile individuals seeking social assistance.
I do, however, think that this book has some great tips and pointers that can be applied first-hand in the real world, or more specifically, the world of PR. Although, it does claim that it is applicable to anyone who aspires to succeed, my opinion is, it would be more useful to media types.
Quite clearly, Arden is a little of-the-wall, shall we say. He tends to look at things a little differently compared to the normal lateral thinkers of the world and I suppose it was this type of thinking that kept him at the forefront of one of the top ad agencies for 15 years. In the book he is described as a creative genius, albeit a wayward one; his own colleagues even reference him as a prototype man created by God some 60 years ago, but after God had seen what he had done, he quickly destroyed the mould.
The book itself is of pocket size and the page count is relatively low at 127 pages. No page looks the same and it tends to use illustrations throughout to make a point or to back-up an idea or notion.
Arden tends to look at negative points as positive and positives as negatives. For example, he looks on making mistakes as a positive advance forward in one’s life, career or whatever. He knows that failures and false starts are a precondition to success and gives reference to working at Saatchi and Saatchi where a person would not be fired for being wrong but would be fired for not having initiative.
He says that being right is wrong and claims that knowledge comes from the past, so it is ’safe’. Which means it is out-of-date, thus, the opposite to originality. Being right, he claims, means you are set in concrete - you cannot move with the times or with other people.
Being wrong, on the other hand, Arden says anything is possible. You are in the unknown - there is no way of knowing what can happen. It is risky, but risks are a measure - people who don’t take risks want to preserve what they have.
Was it wrong to use this architect?
Some of Arden’s points are, what some people would say, common sense. But it is his drawing from past experiences and using useful examples to demonstrate them that makes the book an exceptional read.
Working with the best, he says, is hard - they tend to be single-minded, tunnel visioned and reluctant to compromise. But it is these traits that allow an person working with such individuals to excel in their chosen career. His page titled “Get Out Of Advertising” (or in this case, PR) relates to how the majority of advertisers get their inspiration from other advertisers or advertising books. Thus, the work is recycled or copied and not original in thought. His advice is to seek inspiration and knowledge from unexpected sources.
Arden clearly has vast experience of dealing with clients. In the book he equates the difference in what you think is right and what the client actually wants. In one instance, he references a client pitch he and his colleagues had worked on for three months. In the running with four other agencies, his team was told they had not made it to the final three. After asking the reasons why they quickly assembled a second presentation and presented the following day. They won the account.
Other points in the book could be pertinent to blogging. His “Do Not Covet Your Ideas” page where he says “give away everything you know and more will come back” is highly appropriate to the blogging idealism. Just like blogging, if you give away all your ideas then it forces you to look further and deeper into your reserves.
There are numerous examples in the book to draw upon - some common sense; some a little wayward and some controversial. His claim that being fired from a job can be a positive career step can be disputed somewhat. His idea that headhunters find it an asset because it shows initiative is what I believe to be an artificial idea and one that stands at a loss more than a gain. Never-the-less, in his five dismissals from previous jobs he claims his career took a step forward with each.
All-in-all, this book will prove to be a crucial read for those who are eager to learn how one of great creative minds of the advertising industry thinks and works. One such audience I had in mind would be wannabe students hoping to break into a particular media industry.
One has to wonder though, now that postmodern advertising is becoming less effective in the 21st century due to dissolvement and saturation of the message, and also consumer culture’s built up barrier to the message, will this book become less of a must-read to advertisers themselves?
Happy birthday Wet Feet PR
Posted Friday, March 24, 2006 at 9:06pm in Blogging | 1 Comment
Congrats Blake
PR Week gets down with the kids
Posted at 8:44pm in Blogging, Business, Media, PR General, Technology | 4 Comments
Drew B broke it first then Antony Mayfield added further information to the affair. PR Week has finally caved in to the pressure and is adding a dedicated weekly page to all things tech. Antony mentions that there will also be a column covering news from tech PR blogs. No official word yet but this info comes from two reliable sources.
Well well, looks like PR Week are finally joining the blogosphere. And with this news, I hope we see a bunch of new UK PR bloggers on the scene. They really will wonder what they’ve been missing out on.
I wonder, is this a tactical move following the news that PR Business is going to be a more tech orientated publication? Or maybe they had a good response from the blogging article featured not too long back? I know I did - two PR students have since emailed me with regard to starting a blog. One of whom has just landed a year-long graduate job with Chime! (Congrats Ros! And yes, this blogging thing is addictive! 
)
Nice to see a front page tech article in this week’s edition also (yes, still receiving my freebie, thanks). For anyone that hasn’t read it, it’s about News International’s plan to further expand MySpace in Europe. Wow! What an account to win.
The article also mentions which agency handles the US operations of MySpace. Won’t mention it but www.myspace.com/micropersuasion is still available Steve.
Page 22 has a feature on the PR Week, PRSA and CIPR young professionals of the year, where CIPR Y.P.o.t.Y, Kath Pooley of LEWIS says that PR pros should be embracing blogs and other forms of new media communication channels to push the profession forward. Quite right too.
Letters Page - page 19, head of production at Ogilvy, Mark Jones writes in with another reason why PR pros should be focusing online. His reasons are mainly video-centric but he’s a production guy, they’re bound to be.
Page 17 has a profile on chief of staff at Hill & Knowlton, Sally Costerton (is it just me are H&K in PR Week **every** week?) who stresses that she wants to increase the diversity of work among graduates to find out which role suits them best. Good call!
This post wasn’t meant to be a PR Week roundup but I got a little carried away. It doesn’t half seem like exciting times to be in the tech PR sector, no?