PR and the perfect storm

You know you’re dealing with a serious PR crisis when you’re suddenly faced with a wave of complaints, social media chatter and hostile media attention – and all before full information is available to the executive team. Liz Male explains how to navigate your way out of the storm.

Sadly, too many companies are taken unawares by a storm of bad publicity. You have a choice. You can allow others to shape perceptions of you and your actions – usually by doing nothing until the lawyers say it’s OK and all the facts are known – or you can attempt to control the situation by taking an early active role. Whatever strategy you choose, how you deal with such situations is the acid test of your PR and communications. It will have lasting impact on your reputation, and even the survival of your company. My advice is to consider the various stages of your storm and how you will work through them:

Before

Research into crisis communications has proven that success often comes down to two main factors: response time and preparedness.

The first 24 hours of any crisis are crucial. In order to stay in control of a situation you need to be seen to be at the centre of the response. A speedy, comprehensive and calm response that projects a credible, responsible and caring company can sometimes stop a potential storm in its tracks. Any sort of delay, complacency or information vacuum can, and almost always will, lead to false reports and reputational damage. So plan for the worst. Imagine your worst nightmare and get your crisis preparedness plan in place.

During

After many years of handling PR crises in construction, our top ten tips for managing the situation as it unfolds are as follows:

1.	Always be honest and open, but never speculate. Stick to the facts as known at the time. It’s perfectly OK to say, “I can’t answer that question because that information is not known at the moment”. It’s definitely not OK to say, “No comment”.
2.	Tell people what’s going on now and what they should do. Talk about what your organisation is doing to mitigate the problem; don’t get drawn into arguments or focus on what’s already gone wrong.
3.	Put public, customer and employee health and safety issues at the top of your list of concerns and your messages, closely followed by environment, property and money – in that order.
4.	Know when to say you’re sorry. The lawyers may not like this in case it infers culpability. If so, agree upon a form of wording that nevertheless demonstrates empathy and compassion.
5.	How visible the chief executive and other senior spokespeople are is extremely important. Use them strategically to reassure key stakeholders. My strongest advice is that bosses should be exposed to the harsh realities of a crisis before deciding key messages.
6.	Put the incident into perspective. A common strategy is for commentators, competitors and critics to take one incident and try and look for or publicise a cluster of other similar incidents. You need to be able to counter this with verifiable statistics and facts that prove how rare this crisis really is.
7.	Don’t mix your messages, for example saying one thing to the media, another to staff and a third to customers. Any variation in message could prove highly embarrassing and fundamentally damaging.
8.	Written statements are a good tool to use for most organisations new to crisis management, but these must include relevant content (particularly covering ‘the five Ws’: who, what, where, when and why). Go easy on technical detail and jargon, and set up a speedy sign-off system. All your statements should be able to be drafted, approved for use, and distributed very quickly, i.e. in minutes, not hours.
9.	Publish your statements on your website(s), intranet(s), online PR channels etc and distribute them to everyone who might be approached for (and is likely to) comment. Don’t just think about the words – visual messages can also be extremely helpful. Provide your own illustrations, maps, photographs and other visual materials to help communicate what has happened and what you’re doing about it.
10.	Document absolutely everything.

After

When it’s all over, take time to discuss what you’ve learned from handling the crisis. Think about how you’re going to deal with any ongoing recurrence of publicity (such as a later court hearing, HSE investigation, inquest, public inquiry, or the anniversary of the incident).

Your post-crisis PR and marketing strategy must strike a very careful tone, both positive and upbeat but also emphasising that you’re listening. Above all, stay listening. A perfect storm will never take you unawares again.

 

Author Liz Male is Managing Director of Liz Male Consulting, a specialist PR agency working in property, construction and sustainability in the built environment.

 

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