Crisis Management

Our regular Stealable Slide feature looks at a slide Kevin Elliott of Hill + Knowlton Strategies presented during PRNEWS’ Crisis Management Summit in Miami Beach last March. Interestingly, Elliott says the key lesson the slide illustrates is not seen on the slide itself.

When you don’t check the pulse of your surrounding community, you risk losing media opportunities and relationship-building moments that could drive more customers to your brand. And when a crisis arises, community engagement can make or break you.

The opioid epidemic has touched one in three Americans, a new survey from NPR and Ipsos shows. In addition, pharma’s narrative about its role in the epidemic has failed to resonate with a significant majority of the American public. What steps should industry communicators take to rehabilitate pharma’s reputation with the public? Crisis communications provides a possible option.

The media often points to examples of large brands failing to observe crisis-response best practices. The incident at the Topeka Zoo on Saturday (April 20) showed a small nonprofit conducting crisis PR at very high levels. The Zoo not only communicated quickly and transparently, it did so with sensitivity. Some large brands and organizations should take note.

Some PR pros may find it difficult to know exactly what constitutes a crisis. Calls may increase at your customer service center. A company may appear on Google Trends. Or, as Margaret Standing, director, corporate communications at Designer Brands, put it, “you can watch your Apple watch, and see the increase of beats per minute. That’s when you know there is a crisis.” After that, you must decide how to respond. See how crisis experts advised attendees during PRNEWS’ Crisis Management Workshop.

PR pros often focus on the “fun” side of social: the stories, images and conversations that bring a brand to life. Unfortunately, darker forces also exist. Brands face a number of adversaries; from account hacks to bot attacks. Sometimes, brands are their own worst enemy, violating federal regulations that a communicator may not have even been aware of.

PR pros are always ready with a statement for the press. Well…maybe not always. What happens when a situation occurs that blindsides you, like when someone uses gasoline to dry a wet ball field? We asked a group of communicators. Their top response: Never say ‘No Comment.’ Use the opportunity to offer your version of the story or promise to get back to the reporter when you have substantive information.

Knowing how and when to respond to a crisis and having the resources to manage a crisis and not allow the daily business of communications to fall through the cracks were some of the pain points communicators mentioned during a recent roundtable.

In each edition of PRNEWS we highlight takeaways from select articles as well as important notes for subscribers and additions to the PR News Subscriber Resources Center. This month we have takeaways from several articles and a reminder to PRNEWS subscribers to take advantage of the 33 percent discount on all PRNEWS events and webinars.

Sure, air disasters take a long time to investigate, and much of what’s being said now on behalf of Boeing is speculation to mitigate the crisis until they have real answers. Some big companies are wary of admitting their faults, making the need for true oversight all the more pressing. But when it happens, oh how positive the results can be.