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
response crisis media
team in advance of such
a potential future
situation and conduct
the proper crisis media
crisis media training.
Here are 5 tips for
crisis media training
your response crisis
media team effectively
on how to prepare for
interfacing with the
media in crisis
situations:
Tip #1: Mobilize your
media crisis 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 crisis media
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 media 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
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 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 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
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 message is
received.
Tip #5: Practice 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 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
media statement is made,
your spokesperson will
come across as cool,
confident, and in
control.
Preparing a crisis media
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 message all comes
down to mobilizing your
crisis media 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 link