Ashley McCown, owner of Boston-based PR agency Solomon McCown, recommends a staple of crisis communications when handling great news: “Always have a good monitoring system in place to keep a finger on the pulse of the story,” she says. Admittedly the “sports nut” of the agency, McCown offers a Jeremy Lin-inspired basketball playbook for effectively handling great news:
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Run and Gun: Ride the wave for as long as you can. Make the story available to the press as much as you can and pitch it everywhere. “Here in Massachusetts there has been a lot of local coverage on Lin and Harvard,” says McCown.
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Pick and Roll: Package related stories to show the impact of the story or proof points. Sales of Jeremy Lin jerseys are through the roof, and Twitter chatter has never been greater (for Lin Twitter numbers, see the chart), for example.
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Fan Fest: Create opportunities for stakeholders to share in the great news. Online or live events—such as a rally—will engage current fans even more.
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Full-Court Press: By using all the channels available to you— events, social media, digital PR and more—you can effectively bring in and engage new fans, says McCown.
Read more about how to handle a fortunate problem—making the most of great news in "With Linsanely Great News Comes Great PR Responsibility."
Follow Scott Van Camp: @Svancamp01