Some organizations treat every media inquiry as a crisis. This need not be the case. By following these general steps, you can avoid having a media inquiry blow up into a crisis:
Prepare for a future crisis right now: Plant closings, layoffs or substantial price increases on products or services are three of the more common examples of business decisions that will lead to media interest and possibly a media crisis. Start preparing for a media crisis as soon as the business decision has been made. The first year I worked at Ovations, we had to substantially increase premiums on Medicare supplement insurance for almost 3 million customers across the country. To prepare for the media onslaught, I put together a fact sheet which explained the reasons for the price increase in non-insurance jargon and included information on some new features we were adding to the product to mitigate the impact of the increase. We still got hammered in the press, but were able to minimize the damage because our explanation for the increase and our new product features were mentioned in most of the subsequent news stories.
Invest in a formal media crisis plan: A good PR firm can help you draft a crisis communications plan. Choose among the most likely crisis scenarios and put together a set of general talking points and fact sheets for each. Pre-assemble a small media crisis team that includes the company spokesperson, a decision-maker (usually the CEO or President), the general counsel and at least one subject matter expert for each issue that could devolve into a crisis. Identify methods for bypassing the press and getting your story directly to customers, either through blogs, text messages, advertisements, e-mail or direct mail. Identify other key audiences to communicate with, including shareholders, key business partners and clients. And don’t forget about your own employees.
If you are caught by surprise, don’t panic: A reporter just called to claim that a small child has been harmed by a cute little stuffed rabbit manufactured by your company. What do you do? First, talk about your company’s focus in ensuring the safety of the children using your products, and spell out the specific steps you’ve taken in the past to ensure these safety measures. Second, admit that you are unfamiliar with the specific case he is writing about and ask for the details as he understands them. Finally, ask him when his deadline is and promise a call back before the end of the day. After you hang up, find out the facts. Prepare a response which focuses on the safety of your customers first, but still complies with any advice provided by legal counsel. Get back to the reporter as promised. Eventually, you may have to admit a mistake was made. Don’t be afraid to apologize. Publicly catalogue the efforts underway to make sure the mistake doesn’t happen again and move on.
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