In a PR crisis – what should you do?
Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash
No business ever wants to hear that their CEO, staff, or products are part of a PR crisis. The internet moves quickly, and it can take just a second for everything to go wrong.
We’ve seen it time and again where a PR stunt goes wrong; people who should know better say or do things they shouldn’t. And while we know that what is in the newspaper one day is in the bin the next – the internet, however, manages to keep everything going for weeks or months. Holding companies accountable for their mistakes.
And once it is there, it is there forever.
So how can you handle a PR crisis?
Software
You might be surprised to know that software can play a vital role in crisis management. Having a plan that is set up and, if anything happens, can be sent out to the relevant people is a smart move. You can use crisis and emergency management plan software to help you take action quickly.
Response
Aside from the software that can help you take speedy action, you should also have a response team in place. The response team will all have a list of specific tasks that they need to do depending on the situation.
Each team member should already have a relationship with the people they will need to contact to make sure that adjustments, different stories, and more can be the printer to size down the issues.
Message
There is nothing worse than sending the wrong message and chasing up bad news or bad press. Instead, look at the problem and craft a message that reacts to the responses.
The audience can tell when you are saying things just to get things over and done with. No matter what message you are trying to convey, it needs to come from a truthful place.
As we have seen in recent years, some celebrities put out an apology video before the message has been checked and preened. And in some cases, have meant that the celebrity has further embroiled themselves in a mess. And the same has happened for some businesses too.
Honesty is the best policy when it comes to cleaning up PR messes.
Address individuals
If your business has something to hurt individuals, like accidentally copying work, leaking details, lowballing pay, and being outed – it is important that you talk directly to the people. And make sure that everything that happens is transparent.
When all of the media messages are created, it is important to have a team who are writing apologies and a list of actions that will be taken.
Ears to the ground
Stories can have new details thrown in, changed, exaggerated and more. Because just as much as there will be some truth to the rumors and the actions – there will be some people who might take advantage of the situation.
We know that the business world is cut-throat, and if the sharks smell blood in the water, they will be ready to increase the amount of negative publicity.
Make sure that one member of your team is doing everything they can to keep in touch with their media contacts, as well as watching social media for hashtags and others. Doing this will mean that you will be able to stay on top of new issues.
Avoid lashing out
When your business and staff are under attack, it is very difficult not to lash out. Many people naturally have that reaction. But this can make the situation more complicated and a lot more difficult to unpack and smooth out.
While there is room for the right amount of emotion, negative emotions shouldn’t be the driving force behind any action taken.
Avoid saying ‘no comment’
While many businesses feel like no comment is a safe space, it isn’t. No comment means that people are free to fill in all of the blanks as they see fit. Although no comment is better than making things up – it is nowhere near good enough to satisfy people when you’ve done something or been involved in something that has hurt people or businesses.
Timeframe
Responding too quickly will look like you are trying to put out fires (even if you are), but leaving it too long will look like whatever you put out is heavily doctored by your PR people. A premature response means you might respond before you have all of the facts or before your team has thought everything through.
Handling a business PR crisis takes speed and determination to be on the right side of the story.
