Facing a
high-profile crisis
could have serious
ramifications for your
company for years to
come. When a crisis
situation arises, you
will need to act right
away to put your crisis
management plan into
full swing. Form a
crisis management
Response team in advance
of such a potential
future situation and
conduct the proper
crisis media training.
Here are 5 tips for
training your crisis
management response team
effectively on how to
prepare for interfacing
with the media in crisis
situations:
Tip #1: Mobilize your
media crisis management
response effort as soon
as the crisis arises: In
the era of when
traditional media like
TV, radio and print
dominated, negative
publicity about
companies spread like
wildfire. In today's
wired world of the
Internet, viral videos
and text messaging, such
news literally spreads
at light speed.
With the ability to
produce and spread news
and gossip lying in the
hands of the general
public, it is imperative
that your response team
act swiftly to get out
the right message about
your position on the
issue at hand. The
history of PR is
littered with companies
who waited too long to
respond credibly and
promptly to a crisis
situation and ended up
paying the consequences
with a damaged
reputation and lost
sales.
Tip #2: Understand
first, respond second:
It is important that
your crisis management
team not just fire off a
knee-jerk response or
quickly take an official
position on a
newly-released media
story or viral campaign
that portrays your
company in a negative
light. As any seasoned
crisis management media
veteran will tell you,
perception equals
reality. Stated another
way, in the world of PR
there is no distinction
between perception and
misperception. The way
the public perceives a
breaking story is
precisely the reality
that your message needs
to address.
Tip #3: Get the facts:
Just as it is when
meeting new people, it
holds true for crisis
management that you only
get one chance to make a
first impression. The
last thing you want to
do when making crisis
management media
statements is to come
across as unsure,
nervous, or uninformed
about the facts or about
your official position
on the situation.
Instead, be sure to
spend ample time
separating the facts
from the fiction about a
developing crisis and
how it is being spun in
the media.
Tip #4: Master the art
of the sound bite:
Regardless of how well
you control your crisis
management message and
choose your words in
your public
communications, the
media will find ways to
break it into sound
bites that they can
easily use in
broadcasted news
segments or quote in
print. There are ways
you can learn to
effectively serve up
these sound bites to the
media so that you can
better control the
crisis management
message that reaches the
public. Remember, it is
not what you say to the
media but rather what
they choose to report on
that becomes the news.
Master the art of
creating effective sound
bites in order to gain
better control over how
your crisis management
message is received.
Tip #5: Practice crisis
management media
interviews in advance
with a hands-on
television crew: There
is no better way to
polish a skill than by
actually doing it over
and over again in a
realistic setting. You
cannot get any more
realistic than actually
hiring a professional
television crew to
interview you in
preparation for a crisis
management media
statement. Sound like
overkill? Think again.
Imagine the confidence
your spokesperson will
feel after having
rehearsed your media
statement two or three
times in front of an
aggressive (mock)
reporter while the
cameras are rolling! By
the time the actual
crisis management media
statement is made, your
spokesperson will come
across as cool,
confident, and in
control.
Preparing a crisis media
training plan will
significantly increase
your organization's
ability to position
itself in the
best-possible light. The
control your
organization has over
your crisis management
message all comes down
to mobilizing your team
quickly, understanding
current public
perception about the
situation, separating
fact from fiction,
mastering the art of the
sound bite, and
rehearsing in a
realistic setting.
By: Anthony Barnum
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