concerns prevent you from creating your own plan— do what you can now. If you put in the effort to create a solid plan, you can then consider contacting a PR firm to see if they could give you a good rate to just look through your plan.
For PR concerns other than crisis planning, it is great to be a member of an overarching organization like ISPA, where you have yearly conferences that can give skills in these areas and offer webinars on PR-related topics.
4.
While every PR crisis is unique, there are common responses that determine the future of the brand or company’ s reputation. What are some of the known and tested responses that may help avert an“ all hell breaks loose” scenario? The overarching philosophy is to release as much information as soon as possible with minimal delay, and to focus media attention on the future rather than the past. If you accept the problem for 20 seconds, then spend five minutes talking about how you will fix the problem and be the best on this particular issue in the future, it will be a successful interview.
Your goal should also be to put a face on your organization— the public often resents money-making institutions but can have sympathy for an individual. If someone was harmed in your crisis, be sure to lead with a sympathy message no matter what the media asks you— typically something like“ Our hearts go out to those who have been hurt...”
Another phrase to remember is“ I have nothing for you on that.” This is a great way to delay while you are gathering facts, as it doesn’ t make your( temporary!) ignorance obvious.
Finally, remember the word“ appropriate.” No one can argue with a statement like“ we are taking appropriate actions” whereas if you spell things out, the media will more often than not find an expert to refute your process.
5.
Because credibility is the first thing that gets attacked in a PR disaster, how can leaders and executives maintain a sense of credibility amidst handling a crisis? Credibility is acknowledged trust, so the essential thing is not to lie, not to skirt the issues, and to stay sincere. Probably the most difficult thing is to have credibility in the first place, which is gained by being a responsible organization before the crisis, showing yourself to be concerned with good causes and not just profit, and being prominent in your local community.
Once again, proper crisis planning is key, as that will ensure you have done all the actions a responsible organization could do to avoid the crisis. Proper planning may also include ensuring you have a media-trained spokesperson so that you can explain the good things you have done and get your messages into the media bloodstream.
6.
What’ s the worst thing businesses can do in the middle of a PR crisis? The worst crises are not created by circumstances but by poor crisis handling. The public will judge you as much on how you handle a crisis as on the crisis itself. The worst thing you can do is be slow to respond, hide damaging details, not speak to the press or forget to have a heart for people in your haste to protect your organization. ■
CRISIS UNDER CONTROL:
Learning from the Tylenol PR Crisis
THE CRISIS: A classic example of a large-scale successful crisis intervention is Tylenol which, in 1986, discovered their capsules were poisoned with lethal cyanide, killing seven people. Parent company Johnson & Johnson immediately spent $ 300 million recalling all product from the shelves, and then proceeded to develop and introduce the tamper-proof medicine containers we use today. They were quick to talk to the press to express their sincere sympathy and concern as well as their determination to resolve the crisis and protect the public. Messages of courage and heroic leadership were clearly broadcast, and the company’ s reputation and market share were greatly boosted due to the incident. THE LESSON: Spa owners should note the prior planning to have a trained spokesperson, and the priority given to the public’ s safety even above the company’ s bottom line. If your company offends someone or injures them, don’ t try to clean it up with words first; instead, act first to set things right and then use words to get out your positive messages. PR is mostly incapable of solving crises— it takes good leadership to solve the crisis, and then good PR to explain how your action was appropriate.
WITH SOCIAL MEDIA and the Internet changing the PR landscape, how can businesses use these very same media to their advantage to help avert or control a PR crisis? Find out what Kerr has to say. Read digital Pulse at experienceispa. com.
March / April 2012 ■ PULSE 51