I stand with preparation and scenario planning. It is cynical and just plain wrong to suggest that well-considered communications is only for “covering yourself when circumstances go awry. Our PANTCHEK principles are based on being prepared for the right thing to do. You don’t show care and concern for the public – no matter what kind of an organization you have – for the sake of profits. You keep in mind these principles as a bulwark to your own humanity, and your rewards flow naturally.

Though lesser than the Astroworld tragedy and life and death issues, organizations often have much at stake in surviving their crises. And, prior thoughtfulness is key:

Most crises involve smaller entities with limited, innate visibility, i.e., healthcare facilities, schools, law firms, food producers, construction companies, senior care facilities, industry associations, tourist attractions and wineries, to name a few. 

Crisis planning and best practices in communications for these small, mid-size, and even big businesses are critically important. People who successfully manage these businesses prepare for the predictable: rogue acts by bad actors, accidents, food safety mishaps, worksite injuries, etc. But a good crisis plan is not a template product marketed to the masses. An effective crisis program prepares an organization for likely scenarios, available resources and “eye-on-the ball” priorities. An evolved, current crisis plan includes real-time social analytics, content promotion, and metrics that are custom developed for an organization’s nuanced approach and shareholder needs. That includes public welfare. There is nothing “template” about effective crisis planning.

During a crisis, the CEO and executive team depend on the preparation, forethought, insights and analyses of their key team members across disciplines: technical specialists, quality control, sales, operations, regulatory affairs, and communications. The CEO’s priority is to ensure the crisis is managed effectively, humanely and resolved with as little damage to the company’s reputation as possible. Much of that happens behind the scenes. During the intensity of a crisis, the company’s core team must be in action mode, focused on handling their individual roles confidently and efficiently. A solid crisis preparedness program allows companies to plan for the worst when they are not in the headlines.

After more than 30 years of helping consumer food and beverage brands, construction and real estate firms, nonprofits, associations, schools, communities and care facilities, I can tell you that organizations must plan for predictable scenarios given the nature of their specific businesses. That preparation will most certainly help them, too, in the event of unpredictable occurrences.

When entities find themselves in trouble, the challenges of social media notwithstanding, it is still important to demonstrate humanity, express words of genuine concern and practice sound public relations principles. Most crises are not handled best as conflicts by political types used to dealing in adversarial posture. Even on the larger stage of world conflict, diplomacy is the first art of practice to which the world turns. Organizations might not be best served by selecting a wartime-style advisor to weather a crisis. Experience proves time and again that turning down the heat works best with calm rhetoric and reasoned, good faith decision-making. It is counter-productive for a brand that has invested years of building equity as a “good (corporate) citizen” with strong values to suddenly show hostility, denial, defensiveness and self-righteousness to its publics. Yes, a brand needs to tell its side of the story, but we all know there is more than one way to articulate a point of view. Self-serving verbiage should not be one of them.

There are different solutions to different crises or challenges. It’s true that “crises aren’t orderly affairs in which everyone speaks when it’s their turn and plays by pre-set rules.” Crisis mode is often chaotic and frustrating. And, as is stated in the story linked above, it is important to identify the adversaries and the allies, but marshal your friends in advance of these occasions.

That process is called planning. In crisis planning, we do not attempt to control but to provide a measure of vaccination against shock and awe and to deter appearances of defensiveness, all of which only compound the damage.

The public wants to know who they can trust. In matters of crucial human health issues and public safety, people should be confident the issue is fully resolved with the highest degree of care and concern for their communities and families. During a period of extreme volatility and anxiety, it may not be natural for leaders under siege to realize this responsibility. Long term recovery requires a company to do the critical work of evaluating its processes during a period of relative calm and rational thinking.

As a longtime crisis counselor, I proudly uphold the merits of crisis planning for any organization or leader that values integrity and a hard-earned, trusted reputation.

For more insights on Fineman PR’s approach to crisis management and crisis planning, visit: https://finemanpr.com/crisis-communications/

Getting your crisis communications plan into shape

It is never too late or too early to update your crisis communications plan.

And, it doesn’t have to mean that you need to overhaul the entire plan you may have in place. I recommend pinpointing areas of your plan for updates throughout the year. In my experience, most crisis communications plans can be improved with realistic scenario plans, robust measurement systems and training.

REALISTIC SCENARIO PLANS

Effective crisis communications plans are dynamic. The media landscape is ever-changing, technologies come and go, public attitudes shift, organizations adapt. A crisis communications plan should reflect the zeitgeist.

Are you ready for hot-button issues? Conduct a thorough and honest threat assessment. When you hear about the latest corporate scandal, ask yourself if your organization can find itself in that same situation. If the answer is yes, keep a close eye on the situation as it unfolds and integrate your learnings into a scenario plan.

Most organizations face challenges whether it be Covid communications with their workforce, sexual harassment and assault, online defamation, diversity and inclusion, or security breaches. These issues can arise in any organization. Do you know your company’s record on these issues? Are your policies current, and can they withstand the glare of the media spotlight?

How quickly can your team mobilize? Most organizations understand, in theory, that they need to respond quickly to crises. But in practice, convening a team, fact-gathering and decision-making can be agonizingly slow. While I advise against knee-jerk responses, I also caution against leaving a void that can be filled by voices other than your own. Have a good understanding of how quickly your team can make decisions and plan accordingly. Every minute counts in a crisis.

ROBUST MEASUREMENT SYSTEM

Does your crisis communications team have a system in place to monitor news and social media in real-time? Monitoring news and social media is an active role. It’s not enough just to follow coverage. The monitoring team is responsible for flagging inaccuracies in coverage and ensuring corrections are made before misinformation spreads. The monitoring team should work together with the measurement team to analyze if the messaging strategy is working and determine if adjustments are necessary.

If you’re facing a deluge of media coverage and social media posts, an automated measurement system is important. But it’s even more crucial to have a team to interpret the data gathered.

Do you know what to measure? Tracking communications outputs such as volume of news articles, social shares and website hits is helpful. But, in order to truly gauge impact, a measurement program needs to go deeper and measure outtakes and outcomes.

You must quickly be able to answer basic questions such as how many news outlets are reporting on the issue, how many times your video has been viewed, how many people visited your microsite. Who was reached and how. Did your communications reach your target audiences? Which communications vehicles are effective? Which messages are resonating with your audiences? Did your response to the crisis satisfy your stakeholders? Did you retain or recover customers and partners?

Does your measurement system provide perspective? Having perspective helps set realistic expectations. The best-case scenario is for a crisis to be quickly addressed, then forgiven and forgotten by an organization’s audiences. But depending on an organization’s history and the severity of the situation, that may not be achievable in the short-term.

Some questions I ask to help clients gain perspective:

• How did other organizations weather similar situations? Use your measurement system to analyze crises outside of your organization. If you’re faced with a similar situation, you can set performance benchmarks for your crisis response.

• How much goodwill have you built among your audiences? Frequent offenses have a compounding effect, and it will be harder to bounce back after each subsequent crisis.

TRAINING

Crisis plans need to be updated, but so do the skills of the people in charge of executing the plan.

Are your spokespeople comfortable speaking with reporters? Speaking with media, especially during a crisis, can test anyone’s mettle. Media training teaches important skills such as staying on-message, steering conversations, avoiding missteps and effective interview techniques. Conduct mock interviews where your spokespeople practice handling tough questions. Study interviews to learn some Do’s and Don’ts.

Most importantly, study your team’s performance during the mock interviews. Do your spokespeople sound confident? Do they stay calm under pressure? Are they able to deliver messaging effectively?

Put your plan to the test. Don’t wait until a real crisis to test your crisis communications plan. Conduct a tabletop drill with your team to identify weaknesses in your plan. Are roles and responsibilities clearly delineated? Are your protocols efficient? Does your team know what information needs to be collected and shared in order to facilitate good decision-making?

Most importantly, a tabletop drill will test your team dynamics. Can your team work together effectively under duress? Can they stay organized and focused during intense situations? Are adjustments needed to your team structure so it’s more efficient and functional?

Crisis communications plans often languish in unopened folders on people’s hard drives. They’re onerous and intimidating. But facing a crisis with an outdated plan can be downright scary and costly.

The post Crisis PR: Can a strong CEO trump crisis planning? appeared first on Fineman PR.

Whether you represent a large urban school district or a single-site private school, you will confront times in which your communications must convince your audiences of the worthiness of potentially controversial initiatives or the validity of your positions and policies. Be it changes to student or staff policies, funding initiatives, curriculum changes or sexual harassment on campus, these circumstances are rarely smooth or pleasant. Vocal school audiences – including staff, parents, or the surrounding community – want to feel they are part of these major resolutions. In planning these communications, school decision-makers should not overlook the following best practices.

AUDIENCES

Though the impact of your news will necessarily weigh heavier on one or more of your stakeholder groups than all others, it is critical to consider the impact and messaging required for each segment, so they feel heard and understood. Any one of these audiences can inflame a situation or make your job easier, depending on whether your tone and messaging win their confidence.

We all know life is complicated and change is difficult, so understanding the issues from diverse points of view is critical to the outcome. You cannot summarily dismiss the concerns of others to have your own way or make a situation disappear. Balancing the pros and cons of any given initiative, showing that you heard and considered other voices, and communicating the process of how and why you came to your decision, will often pay dividends by demonstrating your good faith efforts.

THE MESSAGES, BOTH FACT-BASED AND VALUE-BASED

Remember to communicate more than information and data. No matter what, your values will be front and center, and evaluated as part of any approval or disapproval of change or news taking place. It is, therefore, important to help your readers understand the principals for which your organization stands.

TIMING AND TRIGGERS

No matter the final decision, there must be different messages for different audiences, and that means customized communications for each. However, there are some audiences that must be prioritized over others for timing purposes. Create a timeline for all communications.

Take, for example, a head of school who wants to get out in front of a damaging issue that will certainly make news (the trigger). He or she will want to show integrity, transparency, urgency and care for the audiences who will feel the highest impact from a negative or difficult news event. The head of school will want those audiences to get the full and honest story directly and first from the school. If the news will appear on a certain or approximate date, prioritized audiences must be informed before that date. Specific circumstances will differ, but the timing must be planned carefully in consideration of premature or inappropriate leaks. The board, the school’s major benefactors, its legal counsel, and the local authorities, in many cases, must know first, followed closely by the affected parties, i.e., any or all students, parents, alumni, teachers, staff, and front desk administrators (on the front lines of public inquiry). Then there’s the news media which, in many cases, can be brought in to hear the story with an embargoed dateline to assure accuracy and fairness in reporting the school’s point of view.

THE VERBIAGE, THE SEQUENCE OF THOUGHTS, THE EASE AND CLARITY OF YOUR WORDS

Don’t wing it. Avoid the stream of consciousness approach in a moment of urgency. As a community leader, your thoughts must be orderly, reasonable, clear, professional and as comforting as possible. The most critical component of the news should come first. Don’t wait for two paragraphs to set the stage because you are panicked or worried your audience will panic. Remember the rules of journalism: who, what, when, where and why. No obfuscation, hedging or convoluted terms. Get help in proofing and editing. Know what your audience needs to hear. Address safety concerns decisively. What happened? What is being done about it? Have the authorities been alerted? Is the situation contained? Are there ongoing threats? Who is at the helm and taking responsibility? What is being done to assure it doesn’t happen again? Next steps?

LEGAL

Be sure your legal counsel reviews all communications. Don’t make the situation worse with libel, defamation, hearsay, non-essential information, etc.

TONE, POSTURE OF COMMUNICATIONS

Your communications need to be poised and show care and concern; nothing harsh, polarizing or incendiary. Promote confidence. Demonstrate your values and how you prioritize the care you are taking to address the affected parties.

EXPERTS, ENDORSERS

Plan ahead to enlist third parties who can attest to the efficacy of your approach and the expertise guiding your decisions. Be sure you have medical specialists you can call on for advice and support, psychologists, researchers and academics, community leaders, law enforcement, workplace health and safety, Red Cross and disaster preparedness contacts at the ready.

COMMUNICATIONS VEHICLES

Understand the specific nuances of your organization and community and how they get their news. Which websites, forums or notification methods do they use and trust? How do your audiences prefer to receive urgent communications? These may include emails, text groups, listservs, one-on-one conferences, group meetings/assemblies/town halls, press releases, social media platform posts, website, campus emergency notification system, internal communications trees. Know how to use these vehicles, and understand their limitations, efficiencies and effectiveness in getting your information and messages across.

SOCIAL MEDIA

Monitor for what is being said across social channels, especially those that are public-facing such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Correct inaccuracies know which responders have a credible, vocal audience and which do not. Do not give added credibility and volume to potential detractors who lack a following. Direct social media to your website and/or to any trusted web or phone sources for additional information and to take the conversation offline

WHY WAIT TO PLAN?

Ensure your school has the basics to announce negative news in a strategic way. Consider developing a scenario plan to address high-risk issues; create crisis checklists and document templates for media, parents, students, shareholders, community and alumni; update expert resource lists and ensure you can readily call upon contacts for public support.

Every school community is defined by the involvement, interests and values of its members. Maintaining trust and ensuring collaboration, even amid change, is a defining opportunity for school administrators and executives. Take pride in bringing your organization to the next level with a thoughtful communications approach. Be prepared.

Read more: https://finemanpr.com/expertise/

The post Education: Communicate Challenging News Effectively; What Not To Overlook? appeared first on Fineman PR.

Fact gathering, of course, is the first step in managing a crisis or potentially damaging reputation issue. Most agencies and risk management professionals will provide clients a checklist to quickly obtain the facts, assess the crisis and craft an accurate, efficient response.

But providing reassurance to clients and leaders who are navigating a crisis requires more than just the facts. When an executive has opted to bring in a crisis management or communications specialist, she is inviting an audience inside the inner circle for sensitive collaboration, intuitive reassurance and substantive counsel. While the facts matter, the vulnerabilities of a company and its executive team have a critical bearing on the positioning and sensitivity required to fully address the needs of the organization. Often, the most important revelations of a crisis strategy come out of thoughtful conversations guided by questions outside of the typical “fact” gathering approach. It helps to have established trust and rapport with your client before going there, but, often, these questions will help establish trust in a new relationship. Ask with interest and listen carefully:

1. What is your greatest fear? For the brand? For the company? For you (or leadership at your organization) professionally?
2. Where are your organization’s grittiest vulnerabilities?
3. What action(s) are you taking to address these concerns in this crisis and generally?

Regardless of the specific issue, drilling down to perceived risks and fears from the leader of the organization allows us to tackle a crisis from a truly human perspective. Crises do not always have textbook solutions, they require genuine care and concern from committed leaders who must demonstrate credible, thorough resolution. Moving past “just the facts,” is where the heart of a solid crisis strategy begins. Executives who are open to this level of conversation demonstrate a deeper attachment to their business, their consumers, to the bigger picture and long term. Messages, commitments and resolution strategies will reflect this level of depth and dedication. Go there.

(Fine print: In any crisis, care and concern for human life, health and safety come first and foremost. Proactive communications emphasizing the facts and providing reassurance comes next. Revisit our crisis recommendations with our memorable guide, PANTCHEK.

The post Go there: Three Tough, but Necessary, Questions to Ask Crisis Clients appeared first on Fineman PR.

Most crises involve smaller entities with more limited visibility, i.e., healthcare facilities, schools, law firms, food producers, construction companies, senior care facilities, industry associations, tourist attractions and wineries, to name a few. Though lesser than Boeing-sized crises in generating public interest, these organizations often have more at stake in surviving their crises.

Crisis planning and best practices in communications for these small, mid-size, and even most big businesses are critically important. People who successfully manage these businesses prepare for the predictable: rogue acts by bad actors, accidents, food safety mishaps, worksite injuries, etc. But a good crisis plan is not a template product marketed to the masses. An effective crisis program prepares an organization for likely scenarios with the resources and flows that work for each specific client, based on their business and unique priorities. An evolved, current crisis plan includes real-time social analytics, content promotion, and metrics that are custom developed for an organization’s nuanced approach and shareholder needs. There is nothing “template” about effective crisis planning.

During a crisis, the CEO and executive team depend on the preparation, forethought, insights and analyses of their key team members across disciplines: technical specialists, quality control, sales, operations, regulatory affairs, and communications. The CEO’s priority is to ensure the crisis is managed effectively and resolved with as little damage to the company’s reputation as possible. Much of that happens behind the scenes. During the intensity of a crisis, the company’s core team must be in action mode, focused on handling their individual roles confidently and efficiently. A solid crisis preparedness program allows companies to plan for the worst when they are not in the headlines.

After more than 30 years of helping consumer food and beverage brands, construction and real estate firms, nonprofits, associations, schools, communities and care facilities, I can tell you that organizations must plan for predictable scenarios given the nature of their specific businesses. That preparation will most certainly help them, too, in the event of unpredictable occurrences.

When entities find themselves in trouble, the challenges of social media notwithstanding, it is still important to demonstrate humanity, express words of genuine concern and practice sound public relations principles. Most crises are not handled best as conflicts by political types used to dealing in adversarial posture. Even on the larger stage of world conflict, diplomacy is the first art of practice to which the world turns. Organizations might not be best served by selecting a wartime-style advisor to weather a crisis. Experience proves time and again that turning down the heat works best with calm rhetoric and reasoned, good faith decision-making. It is counter-productive for a brand that has invested years of building equity as a “good (corporate) citizen” with strong values to suddenly show hostility, denial, defensiveness and self-righteousness to its publics. Yes, a brand needs to tell its side of the story, but we all know there is more than one way to articulate a point of view.

There are different solutions to different crises or challenges. It’s true that “crises aren’t orderly affairs in which everyone speaks when it’s their turn and plays by preset rules.” Crisis mode is often chaotic and frustrating. And, as is stated in the story linked above, it is important to identify the adversaries and the allies, but our clients marshal their friends in advance of these occasions.

That process is called planning. In crisis planning, we do not attempt to control but to provide a measure of vaccination against shock and awe and to deter appearances of defensiveness, all of which could only compound the damage.

The public wants to know who they can trust. In matters of crucial human health issues and public safety, people should be confident the issue is fully resolved with the highest degree of care and concern for their communities and families. During a period of extreme volatility and anxiety, it may not be natural for leaders under siege to realize this responsibility. Long term recovery requires a company to do the critical work of evaluating its processes during a period of relative calm and rational thinking.

As a longtime crisis counselor, I proudly uphold the merits of crisis planning for any organization or leader that values integrity and their hard-earned reputation.

For more insights on Fineman PR’s approach to crisis management and crisis planning, visit: https://finemanpr.com/crisis-communications/

The post Crisis PR: Can a Strong CEO Trump Crisis Planning? appeared first on Fineman PR.

The New Year brings typical resolutions to eat healthy, get in shape, refresh and reboot – on both the personal and professional fronts. In true form, this year I have embarked upon the Whole30 Challenge.

The gist of this program involves eliminating virtually every pleasurable culinary element from your daily life for 30 days straight – sugar (later Specialties cookies, ketchup and pretty much every condiment), alcohol (so long Margarita Monday and Wine Wednesday), legumes (bye bye burritos and peanut butter), grains and dairy (ack, no aged gouda!).

When I announced this to my team, they had a look of panic on their faces. You see, I had gone down this unpleasurable path last summer and my officemates, well, they (kind of) suffered. Granted, I was just a weee bit cranky; that and I wanted to chew off my own arm I was so hungry.

Today is day 24 of 30 and I have to say that this same group is doing a happy dance because (thankfully) I learned from my experience and I applied those learnings to everyone’s benefit. As I was thinking about this new effort it became clear that takeaways from my first Whole30 challenge very much apply to preparing for and communicating in a crisis:

PLANNING AND PREPARATION ARE KEY

Better to be ready for a crisis and in a proactive position where you feel prepared, confident and armed with the tools to be successful than in a fire drill where it makes it more difficult to make informed/thoughtful choices. What are your organization’s vulnerabilities? What issues are hot buttons in your industry/within your company? Identifying potential scenarios – and creating a plan for these scenarios – puts you in a better position with a greater chance for a successful outcome. So, pack your bag with approved messaging (and compliant snacks), and you’ll be ready to face nearly any challenge.

GET YOUR HOUSE IN ORDER

Assemble the facts. Gather as much information as possible to inform your approach. What is known and what happened (or when will this happen if issue brewing)? Who is involved (or who will be affected)? Damages or severity of issue/crisis so far? Imminent risk for further exposure or backlash against your organization/the individual? Cause(s)? Or, in the case of Whole30, clearing your house of tempting foods and being clear on the do’s and don’ts of the program.

RIP OFF THE BAND-AID

It may be painful, but getting all bad news out at once is more apt to get it over with in one fell swoop and, in most cases, eliminates a prolonged news cycle. In the case of Whole30 if you tried to eliminate foods one at a time it would be more like the Whole150, and who wants that? My team would run for the hills!

HATERS WILL BE HATERS — ESPECIALLY ON SOCIAL MEDIA

There are true believers out there on any given subject who will never be satisfied no matter what you do or say. And they will be loud about it. Recognizing detractors for who they are, not trying to win a losing battle and moving on is often the best course.

STAY THE COURSE- BUT PLAN FOR CONTINGENCIES

Sticking with consistent messaging and approach will help avoid distractions and the temptation to get “into the weeds.” That doesn’t mean that if a situation seriously changes, and there are major new developments, that you cannot change the game plan. This happens often in crises. Preparing for multiple potential scenarios helps in addressing contingencies that arise – before they do. Another reason why I carry approved foods in my purse is that I never know when my son’s game will go into overtime, and that is most likely the time that the liquid cheese nachos from the snack bar start to look pretty darn good.

PROGRESS CAN REQUIRE PUSHING OUT OF THE COMFORT ZONE

While tempting to hide or think a crisis or issue will go away, facing it head on often helps get ahead of the curve. It may not always be comfortable, but better to be ahead of the issue versus taking a reactive or defensive position. Getting to where I am today required leaving my comforting food/drink rituals (a.k.a. unhealthy habits) at the door.

LEARN FROM YOUR MISTAKES

When the dust has settled, it’s time to take stock of what worked and what didn’t and to apply learnings and protocols to ensure the issue/crisis/situation will never happen again.  This is all part of the reputation recovery. I know I certainly used learnings from my last Whole30 go-around to ensure that my husband and I would be far more prepared and far less cranky. And, as of day 24, I can report we are feeling great with our eye toward the finish line.

Are you prepared for your next crisis? Take a look at the crisis check list to see how prepared you or your organization might be.

The post Crisis Communications Lessons from the Whole30 Challenge appeared first on Fineman PR.

The start of a New Year is typically a time of introspection. It’s time to look back at the past year’s challenges and achievements and then set resolutions and goals for the upcoming year. Hopefully, that includes an update of your crisis communications plan.

Instead of a system overhaul, I recommend pinpointing areas of your plan for updates throughout the year. In my experience, most crisis communications plans can be improved with more realistic scenario plans, robust measurement systems and training.

REALISTIC SCENARIO PLANS

Effective crisis communications plans are dynamic. The media landscape is ever-changing, technologies come and go, public attitudes shift, organizations adapt. A crisis communications plan should reflect the zeitgeist.

Are you ready for hot-button issues? Conduct a thorough and honest threat assessment. When you hear about the latest corporate scandal, ask yourself if your organization can find itself in that same situation. If the answer is yes, keep a close eye on the situation as it unfolds and integrate your learnings into a scenario plan.

In 2018, many organizations faced challenges related to sexual harassment and assault, diversity and inclusion and security breaches. These issues can arise in any organization. Do you know your organization’s record on these issues? Are your policies current, and can they withstand the glare of the media spotlight?

How quickly can your team mobilize? Most organizations understand, in theory, that they need to respond quickly to crises. But in practice, convening a team, fact-gathering and decision-making can be agonizingly slow. While I advise against knee-jerk responses, I also caution against leaving a void that can be filled by voices not your own. Have a good understanding of how quickly your team can make decisions and plan accordingly. Every minute counts in a crisis.

ROBUST MEASUREMENT SYSTEM

Does your crisis communications team have a system in place to monitor news and social media in real-time? Monitoring news and social media is an active role. It’s not enough just to follow coverage. The monitoring team is responsible for flagging inaccuracies in coverage and ensuring corrections are made before misinformation spreads. The monitoring team should work together with the measurement team to analyze if the messaging strategy is working and determine if adjustments are necessary.

If you’re facing a deluge of media coverage and social media posts, an automated measurement system is important. But it’s even more crucial to have a team to interpret and dimensionalize the data gathered.

Do you know what to measure? Tracking communications outputs such as volume of news articles, social shares and website hits is helpful. But in order to truly gauge impact, a measurement program needs to go deeper and measure outtakes and outcomes.

Output measures what’s been produced. It answers basic questions such as how many news outlets are reporting on the issue, how many times your video has been viewed, how many people visited your microsite.

Outtake measures who was reached and how. It answers questions such as did your communications reach your target audiences? Which communications vehicles are effective? Which messages are resonating with your audiences?

Outcome measures change in behavior and perception. Did your response to the crisis satisfy your stakeholders? Did you retain or recover customers and partners?

Does your measurement system provide perspective? Having perspective helps set realistic expectations. The best-case scenario is for a crisis to be quickly addressed then forgiven and forgotten by an organization’s audiences. But depending on an organization’s history and the severity of the situation, that may not be achievable in the short-term.

Some questions I ask to help clients gain perspective:

• How did other organizations weather similar situations? Use your measurement system to analyze crises outside of your organization. If you’re faced with a similar situation, you can set performance benchmarks for your crisis response.

• How much goodwill have you built among your audiences? Frequent offenses have a compounding effect, and it will be harder to bounce back after each subsequent crisis.

TRAINING

Crisis plans need to be updated, but so do the skills of the people in charge of executing the plan.

Are your spokespeople comfortable speaking with reporters? Speaking with media, especially during a crisis, can test anyone’s mettle. Media training teaches important skills such as staying on-message, steering conversations, avoiding missteps and effective interview techniques. Conduct mock interviews where your spokespeople practice handling tough questions. Study interviews to learn some Do’s and Don’ts.

Most importantly, study your team’s performance during the mock interviews. Do your spokespeople sound confident? Do they stay calm under pressure? Are they able to deliver messaging effectively?

Put your plan to the test. Don’t wait until a real crisis to test your crisis communications plan. Conduct a tabletop drill with your team to identify weaknesses in your plan. Are roles and responsibilities clearly delineated? Are your protocols efficient? Does your team know what information needs to be collected and shared in order to facilitate good decision-making?

Most importantly, a tabletop drill will test your team dynamics. Can your team work together effectively under duress? Can they stay organized and focused during intense situations? Are adjustments needed to your team structure so it’s more efficient and functional?

Crisis communications plans often languish in unopened folders on people’s hard drives. They’re onerous and intimidating. But facing a crisis with an outdated plan can be downright scary and costly.

Michael Fineman is President of Fineman PR.

The post Getting Your Crisis Communications Plan into Shape appeared first on Fineman PR.

Not everyone is cut out to handle a crisis. The deluge of cynical media coverage, a rise of brand detractors and a surge of social media haters can overwhelm even seasoned PR pros.

Fortunately for your brand, that’s not you. Unfortunately, not everyone is like you, and that’s a problem with lasting implications, especially among team members unfamiliar with crisis communications.

Sensitive situations — e.g., injuries, fatalities, criminal investigations, litigation, product recalls, sexual misconduct, activist protests and corporate malfeasance — can trigger negative publicity. While PR pros tend to focus on turning the tide of media coverage, the lack of a cohesive multi-channel response can keep the story rising from the dead, long past the news cycle.

Internal communications usually intensify during and immediately after a crisis. Because employees and board members are often your most effective ambassadors, if you wait until a crisis strikes before developing and managing strategic internal communications programs, it’s too late. Once the crisis passes, consider revamping your internal communications processes to build trust among employees and board members and prepare the ship to weather the next storm.Internal communications, social media, reputation management, SEO, executive positioning and stakeholder engagement all play critical roles in crisis response and reputation recovery.

Social media mavens are generally wired to promote good news, but a bad review or menacing troll, let alone a crisis, can short circuit their reactions. Cookie-cutter responses and canned messaging don’t sit well with people who follow and react to crises on social media. So, just as with internal communications, if you haven’t built relationships with your social media communities, you’re already behind the curve. Work now to earn influencers’ favor. Use content lulls to lift the veil on transparency initiatives and tout advances and investment in safety, training and technology. Brand loyalists will take note and respond to trolls on your behalf — when they’re equipped with the tools to do so.

Google Search is the well-heeled stranger lurking in the shadow of every crisis.

Every PR pro knows a negative story, especially a salacious one, attracts far more clicks than puff and fluff. Lesser-known brands — even those with strong reputations — are not immune to damaging stories following a crisis. Without a robust reputation management program, negative stories will keep garnering clicks and persist. Don’t believe claims about “scrubbing” negative stories. High-credibility sources, such as major daily newspapers, will continue being favored by Google and other search engines. Rebuilding your online reputation will take time, but you can’t do it without a focused, proactive program that ties into all your external communications channels to drive relevant traffic to — and boost the search rankings of — favorable content.

In a high-profile crisis, the voice of the CEO and other organizational leaders lets audiences know the situation is receiving top-level attention. A head-in-the-sand approach cannot calm fears or address concerns. C-suite executives should reach out to priority audiences to get your story across. With proper executive positioning among industry associations, regulatory agencies and other critical groups, your voice will be not just heard, but well received. Remember, when the CEO speaks, put it in writing and make sure it is fully optimized for search engines; this content is evergreen and can improve your rankings.

Your credibility can come into question in a crisis. By reaching out to key external stakeholders, you can inject credible, third-party voices into a troublesome story. For example, academic experts are go-to media resources in a crisis. If such experts know your organization and leadership and are comfortable backing your position, it will go a long way toward balancing negative coverage and helping quiet the crisis. Consider reaching out to them in times of crises, or better yet, beforehand.

Brands must align in-house teams with external agency partners to ensure an integrated crisis response. If you have separate teams for PR, marketing, website, social media and/or SEO, and their responses to a crisis are siloed and uncoordinated, it could actually create more damage. Consider consolidating into a streamlined agency team. All channels need to work together in harmony — whether you’re in a crisis or not.

Here are some tips to ensure that all channels work together, unsiloed, in a crisis.

Preparedness is not merely effective. In the long run, it’s cheap. We have found that organizations that develop a realistic crisis response plan covering myriad scenarios and test it with drills are far better prepared than organizations without such a plan. While planning has an up-front cost, handling a crisis by the seat of your pants usually requires more time and money to repair reputational damage that could have been minimized with planning a rehearsed — and integrated — response.

Create an online hub to focus crisis-related content. For major crises, consider creating a microsite to fully address the issue and provide a locus for audiences to track developments, key facts and progress. This will allow customers to maintain their regular experience on your website while providing crisis junkies a venue that steers negative traffic away from your website.

Divert negative search traffic to credible sources. SEO normally promotes keywords to drive traffic to your website. But in a crisis, negative search terms are widely used, so consider developing an online reputation program targeting negative search traffic that drives interested people to your microsite or a special landing page.

Strengthen your social media presence. Social media can drive higher search rankings for shared content, but if you don’t have an active and engaged community on your social media pages, you’ll miss the benefit. Authentic, timely, consistent engagement with social media followers builds trust over time and strengthens brand loyalists who can weigh in during a crisis.

Build a rapid response team. The first minutes of a crisis are critical. Make sure your team, including external partners, is up to speed on your crisis plan and has been drilled. Consider simulation training, table-top exercises and crisis media training to stress-test your plan — and make sure everyone is on the same page. No silos!

Stay on top of trends. One organization’s problem can affect an entire industry. Monitor social and traditional media to assess trends and developments that could affect you. Adjust planning accordingly.

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Travis Taylor is EVP of Fineman PR, a San Francisco-based crisis and consumer public relations agency, and Chris Raniere is President of 46Mile, a Hearst-backed, full-service marketing consultancy and ad agency. 

Travis Taylor (L) and Chris Raniere

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The most crucial communications rule is to show compassion and concern for human life and those personally affected, genuinely, in both content and tone (often, delivery can be more important than content). It is critical to stick to the facts or what is known, avoid speculation and correct misinformation. Over the years, our agency developed a tongue-in-cheek acronym (PANTCHEK) designed to be instantly memorable for its users in handling business and operational crises. However, those rules (as well as any) seem blithe against the magnitude of the Las Vegas tragedy or Puerto Rico’s post-Hurricane devastation. I suspect any “lesson learned” following such an event would feel similarly flat. Inhuman events require a human response, disciplined approach, and evidence of collaboration for the greater good.

Communicators must not be distracted by peripheral chatter:  Naysayers and talking heads rarely have full access to the privileged details, nor are they in the position of delicately and deftly resolving the matter in the public eye. Unfortunately, though, it is human nature to speculate and fill the void when the facts are still unknown. A rush to judgment is inevitable. Crises give the self-righteous, the all-knowing and conspiracy theorists their time in the sun.

From our experience, we know that communications dynamics change when law enforcement, regulatory agencies, and large investors are involved. The pressure from the public for answers can be crushing, and there certainly is an obligation to keep affected audiences informed. But keep in mind, you are under no obligation to respond to every media inquiry that comes your way, nor are you under any obligation to respond in the manner that is demanded. We know all too well that some news coverage will be agenda-driven regardless of the content of the information or availability of multiple credible sources. Remember: the part of the communicator is to educate, inform and keep the conversation as objective and elevated as possible.

The core approach to our practice is this: leaders and authorities who act in good faith for public safety and public interest, who communicate proactively and consistently and responsibly, stand to be remembered (and appreciated) for their strength and resilience over time.

The post When There are No Rules: PR Considerations for Mass Tragedies appeared first on Fineman PR.

We’ve also heard from the well-known wine blogger Alder Yarrow on Vinography and Bloomberg’s wine writer Elin McCoy that the best ways to support the Northern California wine regions are to buy California wines and to visit Napa, Sonoma and Mendocino.

This was echoed by Karissa Kruse, president of Sonoma County Winegrowers, on SF Gate. As she noted, “More than ever, we need folks to come and support tourism here. This week, everyone is sending money to the Red Cross and emergency services. Next week, if you want to help, buy our wine.”

And choosing to buy California wine will certainly help, but that alone in not enough. As noted on SF Gate, one in four jobs in Napa and Sonoma are connected to wine and tourism. The restaurants and hotels (and the cooks, servers, dishwashers, housekeepers and front desk staff that work at them) also need support. Not only that, but most small- to mid-sized wineries don’t have much wine in distribution, and they depend on direct to consumer sales.

October and early November are typically among the region’s busiest times of year for tourism, with the buzz and excitement of harvest and usually ideal weather. At least anecdotally, the tourists haven’t come back yet. Just yesterday, someone with a close read on the Napa wine industry told me, “It’s surreal, this is normally the most vibrant time of the year for tourism and no one is here.”

So, what can we as Northern Californians do to help our regional wine communities as they continue to struggle with the aftermath of the fires? Yes, buy California wine, but more significantly plan a trip to the wine country, if not this weekend, then soon. Go to your favorite winery, or try a few new ones. Consider staying the night. Buy sandwiches at a local shop for a picnic, and dine at one of the many renowned restaurants for dinner. But most importantly, just visit.

Visitor resources:

Napa – www.visitnapavalley.com

Sonoma – www.sonomacounty.com

Mendocino – www.visitmendocino.com

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What an organization says and does in the first hours of a crisis can make all the difference. Southwest defused the situation while United fumbled and added fuel to the fire.[Click on image for the full size infographic]

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