Q: When a crisis hits, what’s the best course of action?
To recover from a crisis of public proportion, the temptation is to instantly develop a seat-of-the-pants response that is a departure (clean break) from every message uttered previously. Don’t succumb to the temptation. It is preferable, and ultimately more effective, for an organization’s messaging not to be seen as a dramatic departure from past tone and content. The immediate concerns that sparked the media or public frenzy must be addressed – clearly, accurately and concisely – but efforts to become something you’re not tend to fall flat.
You need to ring true to who you have always been. It is more effective to speak in a voice that is consistent with (or at least not inconsistent with) what has been said and done in the past. If your organization had earned a reservoir of support prior to the breaking crisis, it’s best to sound familiar to customers, clients or business associates – to sound as you did when you built that support. Don’t expect people to rally to your defense if even they can’t recognize who you are.
Q: What’s more important, the headlines or what’s happening behind the scenes?
I describe it as the value of rebounding. Reviewing the stat sheet in a basketball game, one is instantly drawn to the scoring column. Most of us tend to focus on the players who ring up the points. But strategists often suggest that the statistic more critical to a teams’ success is rebounding. You can’t score if you don’t have the ball. And the more frequently it’s in your team’s hands, the better your chances.
No one knows what you do better than you. No one understands the difference your organization makes in its field, or in the lives of its clients or customers better than you. No one cares more deeply about your work, and your organization, than you. So, grab the rebound – take every chance to tell people, individually and collectively, through personal contacts, marketing and media, what your organization is all about. Every rebound is an opportunity to score.
Q: Isn’t it better to be the voice of an organization’s message, rather than taking the risk of what someone else might say?
Not necessarily. It’s often more effective when someone else says you are wonderful than when you do. That’s especially true in the midst of a crisis. While issuing an official response is expected and necessary, it is frequently not your response that will make the difference but the comments of others made in support. It is what they say that will likely determine if you will weather the storm or go down with the ship. Individuals who can credibly affirm who you are and what you stand for, who can speak from experience about your organization, its philosophy, its commitment, its track-record – and who will sound convincingly undeterred by the recent revelation. They must be sincere, not scripted; candid, not canned. And they must believe every word they say. If they don’t, no one else will.
Q: In business PR, some say companies get on a roll, and good news follows good news. Is that usually true?
Less often than you might think. It’s understandable when a PR triumph occurs – with a great story placement or a run of positive coverage – that management and the organization are, let us say, pleased. But odds are it won’t last. However high the flight, what goes up must eventually come down. However long the winning streak, eventually it ends. The same is true with PR. More often than not, organizations or individuals who are built up by positive stories are then ripe to be knocked down a peg. Enjoy the good news, yes, but don’t get too high on the highs, or too low on the lows. Put the effort into extending the good news and limiting the not-so-good, but there will be moments of both. Whether it is human nature or basic physics, the pendulum swings both ways.
