"It takes 20 years to build a reputation and one tweet to destroy it." Aaron Blank joins us to discuss the crucial importance of crisis communications and the proactive measures businesses should take to prepare for potential crises.
Aaron explains how companies can effectively manage their reputations when unexpected situations arise, emphasizing that having a solid crisis plan is not just a good idea—it's essential. He talks about the value of transparency and responsiveness during a crisis, urging leaders to avoid the dreaded "no comment" response, which can harm relationships and reputations.
He highlights the need for thorough planning, scenario mapping, and ongoing communication with stakeholders in a crisis situation. Ultimately, he stresses that investing time and resources into crisis management can safeguard a company's reputation, making it a vital part of any business strategy.
Key Takeaways
- Public relations professionals emphasize the need for crisis communication planning well before a crisis occurs, as it is crucial for effective management.
- Crisis communications require understanding the landscape, including local and global events that could impact a business and its stakeholders.
- Companies should prepare for crises by maintaining a responsive communication strategy and avoiding the use of 'no comment' as a response.
- Establishing a crisis management communications team and defining roles is essential for efficient crisis response and recovery processes.
- The importance of internal communications during a crisis cannot be overstated; keeping the in-house team informed is vital for cohesive management.
- Crisis preparedness involves scenario planning, message development, and regular training to ensure teams are ready to act swiftly when needed.
About the Guest
Aaron Blank is President and CEO of Fearey. He leads the firm’s crisis and issues management work, ensuring the team has the resources and expertise to navigate complex challenges. With more than 23 years of experience, Aaron has managed high-stakes situations across the U.S., from reputational crises following crane accidents and workplace safety issues to data breaches, M&A transactions, and food recalls. He has advised CEOs, government leaders, police chiefs, and mayors during critical moments, including officer-involved shootings and legal disputes affecting both private and public sectors.
About the Host
Abbie Fink is president of HMA Public Relations in Phoenix, Arizona and a founding member of PRGN. Her marketing communications background includes skills in media relations, digital communications, social media strategies, special event management, crisis communications, community relations, issues management, and marketing promotions for both the private and public sectors, including such industries as healthcare, financial services, professional services, government affairs and tribal affairs, as well as not-for-profit organizations.
PRGN Presents is brought to you by Public Relations Global Network, the world’s local public relations agency. Our co-host and executive producer is Adrian McIntyre with Speed of Story, a B2B communications firm in Phoenix....
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
From the Public RelationsGlobal Network, this is PRGN Presents.
I'm Adrian McIntyre.
And I'm Abbie Fink, presidentof HMA Public Relations in Phoenix,
Arizona, and a founding memberof PRGN. With public relations leaders
embedded into the fabric ofthe communities we serve, clients
hire our agencies for thelocal knowledge, expertise and connections
(00:24):
in markets spanning sixcontinents across the world.
Our guests on this biweeklypodcast series are all members of
the Public Relations GlobalNetwork. They will discuss such topics
as workplace culture, creativecompensation and succession planning,
the importance ofsustainability and environmental,
social and governanceprograms, crisis communications and
(00:45):
outside of the box thinkingfor growing your business.
For more information aboutPRGN and our members, please visit
PRGN.com. And now let's meetour guest for this episode.
I'm Aaron Blank, President andCEO of a public relations marketing
firm called Fearey. We'rebased in Seattle, Washington. We're
(01:06):
entering into our 44th year in business.
Holy moly. 44 years.
That's crazy.
I'm guessing in that amount oftime you've come across quite a lot
of opportunity to use yoursmarts when it comes to crisis communications.
It's one of my ... I want tosay it's one of my favorite things
to do, but that makes thatsound kind of weird. But I do howsmart
(01:30):
yougettobewhenyoudocrisiscommunicationsandhowyourely ongutinstinctand
pastexperiences andyoubringalotofyourselfintoconversations whenitcomesto
crisiscommunications. Butoneofthethingswedesperately try totalk
aboutisyougottoplanforthesethingsand youmaynotwanttotalk
(01:51):
aboutthem,butit'ssoimportanttoplanaboutthem.Solet'sgetintoitalittlebit. Youknow,crisiscommsisabigpartofwhat
wedoandsomeconversationswebit. Crisis comms is a bi
You know, Abbie, 44 years, Iwish I owned the company and been
around running the company for44 years. I've been there for half
(02:12):
that. And in time,I'veseensomany differenttypesofcrisis, whetherit'sofficer
it's officer-involvedshootings, crane collapses, hada
doctorsextingintheoperatingroomthatwentnational.Imean,so much
stuffthatI'vebeenapartof.AndI'dsayoneofmyfavoritethingsin crisiscommunications
is whenyouhave theearsofeveryseniorleaderatthecompany you'reconsultingwith
(02:36):
andthey'relistening toyou.AndIthinkthat'swhatIreallyenjoyincrisiscommunicationsis you.
And I think that's what Ireally enjoy in crisis communicationthatsituation,evenmoresothanwhenyourteamsaredoingthegeneralPRpartofit.AndIthinkthat
theblockandtacklepartofcrisiscommunications comestolife.
You know, we always talk aboutthe general category, public relations,
(02:58):
as an investment in yourcompany and your brand and your reputation.
And it's really difficult totalk with CEOs about preparing for
crises. And I think it's alsoimportant to recognize that crises
are those things that happento you, and those are potentially
those things that happenwithin your organization. But it
(03:23):
needs to be considered aninvestment in the same way that any
proactive outreach effort isgoing to be, because you need to
be prepared. So as you'reworking with the organizations that
are currently on your clientroster, as you're putting the conversation
out there, what are some ofthe things you're sharing about this
(03:46):
importance, about investing inthis need way before you're going
to need to bring in thissenior level of counseling.
When it comes to a crisis, Ialways say it takes 20 years to build
a reputation. It takes fiveminutes or less or just now in one
world, in our world, one tweetto destroy it. And it really matters
(04:07):
who is managing yourreputation on the front lines. So
in social media, a lot ofpeople put their interns on it. Small
businesses tend to put themost junior employees managing their
social. And the thing I'd sayis your online reputation, your reputation
is your storefront. Today, alot of companies are virtual. And
so they have to be thinkingabout their businesses as their online
(04:28):
storefront, as their business,as what we used to in our offices.
I say one of the biggestthings in going ahead with sort of
preparing for a crisis, a lotof companies don't think ahead. I
encourage companies to spendthe timeandenergy andhiresomeone,
whetherit'sinhouseorexternally,likeapublic relationsfirminyourmarket,tocomeinandthinkthroughwhatwouldhappen
(04:54):
in anytypeofsituationthatmight occurinyourbusinessandwritethem
down,writedownthescenarios,scenario, plan,
scenariomap,andcomeupwiththetypeofresponsesyoumight wanttoputoutthere.Should,
shouldanytype of crisisorissuecome, you'renotgoingtobeable tothink
ofallofthem,but you'reabletopreventthem.Inatimeof, ofthoughtprocess
(05:16):
andthegiftoftime,inthetimeofcrisis,youdon'thavethe giftof time.Alot
ofcompaniescometoussaying,hey,this justhappened,acranehappened.Acranecollapsehappened
inmy city.I'm aconstructioncompanyandIneed yourhelp.Right.It'dbemuchbetterifa
teamwasinplace. A cranecollapse happened in my city. I'm
(05:36):
understandwhatyourbusinessisabout,who arethekeyexecutivesanddevelopeda
strategic was in place. Wemanagethatsituationfromstarttofinish andalsohelpthecompanydevelopkeyrelationshipswith,
withcommunitycontacts.Soinacaseofacrane collapse,sinceIjustmentioned
that,you'dwant toknowwhothepublicinformation officers areatthe
city.If it'sinacity,youwanttoknowtheneighboringpropertyowners,youwant toknow
(06:02):
the, youwanttoknowthepolice,thefiredepartment,PIOs,the publicinformationofficerand
haverelationshipsbuiltsothatwhensomethinghappens,you'reabletomanagethesituationalotmoreandyou'reabletoprotectthat,that reputationyou
builtfor20yearsanddothatinfiveminutesversushavingitcollapseandnotbeingreadyandtryingtofind someonetohelp
(06:24):
youmanageyour reputationwhen youtalk.
About that planning aspect ofit. So that's getting the internal
team prepared and discussingand analyzing, but also what comes
to mind is really keeping aneye on the landscape. What's happening
around us in our localcommunities, what's happening in
(06:47):
our state and federalgovernments, what's happening worldwide
that may not be an issuespecifically to our business, but
is happening to the businesseswe do business with or supporting.
Certainly we're seeing some ofthat happening here across the US
we're seeing it worldwidewhere decisions are being made and
(07:10):
the trickle down effect isreally creating crises that may not
be of our own making orcertainly if something that is directly
in our own business, but ishappening in the businesses around
us. Crisis planning, crisisdiscussion has to be about analyzing,
you know, the landscape aroundus and what else is going on that
(07:31):
might impact what we're goingto be doing or how it impacts the
businesses that we're in.
Using AI, using trends, usingthe Internet, searching, knowing,
understanding what thecommunity is saying, following the
trends is definitely a bigpiece of that. I think one of the
parts of crisis communicationsthat many businesses don't think
about is what do I say, how doI navigate the situation, whether
(07:55):
it's trend worthy or not. Andwhat I always say is don't offer
the words no comment or noresponse. Being responsive could
be as simple as being sayingwords like "I'm sorry, we're participating
in the investigation and we'llcommunicate what we can when we're
(08:16):
able to." That alone says alot more than saying no comment.
Or not responding. I didn'tsay much there, but I'm acknowledging
and showing empathy and, andbeing transparent and credible in
this situation and being opento receiving some sort of communications
and most of the companies thatI counsel, that I work with in crisis
(08:39):
that do that come out muchbetter in the end than those that
say "no comment." So I thinkfollowing through with words, whether
it's "sorry, "I'mwith you, mythoughts and prayers are with the
family that's been impacted."Whatever situationis,is,is goingtohelp,
(09:00):
is going to be,itcanhelpyoufar greatlyinand weather
thestormintheendthannot.
Well, one of the things whenwe get approached, and this would
be for organizations that weare not currently working with but,
but call us, a crisis is aboutto happen or is happening, we need
your help. And there's a15-minute window there of conversation
(09:23):
that we typically have andthat's establishing a baseline for
what the potential crisis isand whether or not we're gonna be
the right fit for the work.And one of the first things we say
when we're doing thatconversation is if your crisis response
is going to be no comment,then we are not the people to work
(09:45):
with because for us it is thattransparent response. And to your
point, Aaron, even if it iswhat appears to feel like a non-response
response, accessibility, beingavailable, telling them what you
know, when you know it, andthat you will get back to them with
more information as moreinformation is available, goes a
(10:05):
very long way in coming outthe other side. The truth of the
matter is a good reporter orother stakeholders will seek out
that information whether itcomes from you or not. They are going
to find that information andit's always going to be in your best
interest to be the one thatguides the narrative and shares that
(10:27):
information. And to be honest,there have inquirieswherethatwaswhattheywanted
ustodoandwepolitelydeclinedtodo theworkbecausethatis
notourphilosophy.Ourphilosophy istobe,tobeopen
and philosophisto to be, to beopen and transparent. And when debriefs,whichifwecrisis,whatyoudodo,lookbackandthelearningsfromit.OneofthethingsthatalwayscomesoutofthosedebriefingsisthatgratefulnessthatI'msogladyoutoldustoberesponsive.Itwouldhavebeensomuchmoredifficultifwe'dhavekept,youknow,tryingtohideornotanswerphonecallsbecausethey'regoingtocomeandSoI,youknow,Ithinkit'sanimportantpartofthiseffortisyougottatalkandthere'salotofwaystobeabletoberesponsiveandbea,youknow,partofthatconversationinacrisis.
(11:23):
Andsoyoucomeouttheothersidewhenbusinessgetsbacktonormal.
The other part of that too,Abbie, I think is shaping the story.
I don't like to do this a lot,but there is often a time, the role
for a PR person to behind thescenes help shape the story with
the reporter by telling themstuff to help guide and you mentioned
(11:45):
this, guide the process.Right. So you might offer the, "I'm
really sorry this happened"publicly, but behind the scenes you
might coach them along theways that sort of help shape the
story in the way you want to.That's beneficial for the community
because that's our role. Andas long as your clients are on board
with that, that is definitelya piece of the equation. Abbie, I
(12:06):
think there's seven parts ofshaping before someone thinks about
the crisis. There's sevenpoints I'd say that are critical
to shaping what a crisiscommunication strategy should look
like. And so if you'rethinking ahead before that crisis
comes, it's one, appointing acrisis management communications
team, who's going to be onthere. Two, it's determining what
(12:28):
types of problems you mighthave in developing out the situations
and mapping towards that.Three, identifying your goals. What
are your goals for crisis oran issues management team or process.
I think the fourth one isinternal communications. That's just
as important as externalcommunications. So knowing how you're
going to communicate theissue, the crisis that just happened
(12:50):
with the team, that probablyis one of the most impactful teams
that's out there, which isyour in house team and how do you
communicate with them and whathas happened. I mean sometimes you
lose power, sometimes there'sa major earthquake. What do you do
in those situations?hefifthpointisknow your your key
audiences. You mentionedstakeholders. I think that's a big
it'sthemedia,it'sinfluencers,microinfluencers,whoeverthosekeypeopleare,whoare wetalking
(13:16):
toandmappingthatout.Thesixthoneis Ithinkoneof
themostimportant,importantones,whichisjust the
most important messagesforthebrand,thecompany, theorganization,thepeople,whatever
itis,justcreateabaseline,stickitinafolder.Whetherit's onacomputer,Iprintit
outtoo,stickitinafilefolder.Becauseinacrisisyoujustnever know.Youmight
nothavepower.YouMighthaveaccess togettingtowhereverthat
(13:39):
thatfile is. Just never know.You might not have power. You might
not have access to getting towherever that that file is. Just
have it in a space that'sdisseminatingthatand what channels
thatyou'regoingtouse.Ithinkthosearekeysevenpillarsthat anycrisisteamshould
bethinkingaboutandgoingtocreate.Andwhatwedoiswe createthatplan.AndSometimesit'safivepageplan.
(14:03):
Forsomecompanieswehavea50pageplan.Itreallydependsthesizeandscope,whether they'relocal,global,regional,we'vedone
it all.AndIthinkalot ofour Andsometimes it's a five folksreallythinkthroughwhatcould
bein a 50-page plan. It reallydepends the size thenthelastthingI'dsayispractice.
Makesureyoupulloutthatplanevery all.
(14:24):
I lookthrough of our PRGNpartners can help folks really think
writeouttheupdates be inenlisted in that crisis communications
plan. And then the last thingI'd say is practice. Make sure you
pull out that plan everysingle year, look through it, update
all the key personnel thatmight be listed in there and write
(14:49):
out the updates that need tobe happening and then practice it
with key leadership to makesure they know what's going to happen
in a time of crisis. And dothe trainingsa l
And you know, and then one ofthe things on that thinking about
who that team is is itIisn'talways the senior level executives
(15:13):
that have to be on thatinternal team. These are folks that
are the line, you know, theline officers, if you will, the ones
that are in the trenches. Youmay bring in the project manager,
you may bring in someone thatis, you know, specifically because
this is the type of crisisthat's happening and then, and then
determining who yourspokesperson is. And one of the things
(15:34):
that we like to advise as wellis business has to continue while
the crisis is occurring. Sohow do you make sure that your team
is in place to continue to dothe work that you need to do while
you are managing and whatneeds to be halted as a result of
whatever the crisis might be?One of the other things we add into
(15:56):
our plan is that time todebrief, right? You do all the practicing
beforehand. If you do need toimplement your crisis plan to do
the debrief, to find out whatworked what didn't work? What did
you wish you have that youdidn't? And I have found that thank
(16:16):
you notes is an important partof closing that crisis plan. You
know that there were a lot ofpeople involved, and whether that's
your internal team, if it is,you know, media or other stakeholders
that were important to helpingyou come out on the other side of
it, a thank you note goes along way in securing those relationships
because we hope we never haveto need them again. But if you do,
(16:40):
you're certainly glad thatyou've resolved that situation in
a way that everybody iscomfortable and feels good about
it. And in all of this, itreally is. It comes to thinking ahead
and planning for and preparingfor and really thinking of it as
(17:00):
an investment in your businessand in your business's reputation
and in the reputation of thoseindividuals that work with you. And
it's starting thoseconversations well in advance of
needing them is what gets youon the opposite side of a potential
crisis.
Abbie, I think there's oneother part of all this that needs
(17:21):
to be talked about, which isthe role of legal in PR. Where does
legal ... where do the lawyersfit in? And one of the things that
I've often counseled or talkedto clients about is if you want to
protect information that isshared with a PR person, always CC:
you attorney to protect thatattorney client privilege as part
of a crisis situation, ifyou're not CC:ing that we're not
(17:42):
protected or they're in. Andof course a PR professional should
have their own counsel thatsupports it. But from a legal standpoint,
you often want to have them.And then we often let the attorney
weigh in. We'll weigh in onthe communication that the attorney
might draft. But in the end,the attorney far outweighs, you know,
what we say. But we want theirbuy-in on what we say before we put
(18:05):
it out there. In the case of legal.
Aaron, I want to address heresomething which feels a little bit
like the elephant in the room,at least to me, and that is the environment
in which crises happen now haschanged dramatically on so many levels.
irstofall,the natureofmediamedia itself has changed. The channels
(18:30):
consumeinformationandhavefragmented,peoplearegetting informationanddisinformationfromallsortsofplaces.
YoumentionedAI as places. Youmentioned AI as a positive thing.
But of course there are AIdeep fakes that themselves could
create a crisis if they werepurporting to represent the CEO of
(18:55):
a company, you know, sayingthings. And settledinnotjustinNorthAmerica,butinEuropeaswell,there's
seems to have settled in notjust in North America, but in Europe
as well, there's been aresurgence of right-wing populism
that has changed the dynamicsin many places. The voices that are
(19:18):
the loudest these days in somecases are saying the most outrageous
things and the whole thing is,in itself, I wouldn't say it's a
crisis, it's just the natureof things now. paper,maybetheTVstation,
theeveningnews,whathaveyou.Howdoyouthinkaboutwhereweare now?Thisisamacrolevelquestion.Howdoyouthinkaboutnavigatingthismuchmorecomplexandinsomecasesmoreproblematicmediaenvironmentthesedays?
(19:53):
I think in the end it justcomes down to fundamental communications
and you gotta hold true as acompany or as a person. Understand
what your values are and startthere. Integrate what your business
objectives are into that withyour plan and proceed forward. You
shouldn't change the way youoperate or think based on the values
(20:16):
of someone else. You reallyshould be looking at yourself and
identifying what those valuesare and stay grounded and stay true
to yourself. And I'd saythat's the same with companies out
there. And those that do, Ithink, are the ones that are the
most successful in communications.
Thanks for listening to thisepisode of PRGN Presents, brought
(20:37):
to you by the Public RelationsGlobal Network.
We publish new episodes everyother week, so subscribe now in your
favorite podcast app. Episodesare also available on our website,
along with more informationabout PRGN and our members, at PRGN.com.
From the Public RelationsGlobal Network, this is PRGN Presents.
I'm Adrian McIntyre.
And I'm Abbie Fink, presidentof HMA Public Relations in Phoenix,
Arizona, and a founding memberof PRGN. With public relations leaders
embedded into the fabric ofthe communities we serve, clients
hire our agencies for thelocal knowledge, expertise and connections
(00:24):
in markets spanning sixcontinents across the world.
Our guests on this biweeklypodcast series are all members of
the Public Relations GlobalNetwork. They will discuss such topics
as workplace culture, creativecompensation and succession planning,
the importance ofsustainability and environmental,
social and governanceprograms, crisis communications and
(00:45):
outside of the box thinkingfor growing your business.
For more information aboutPRGN and our members, please visit
PRGN.com. And now let's meetour guest for this episode.
I'm Aaron Blank, President andCEO of a public relations marketing
firm called Fearey. We'rebased in Seattle, Washington. We're
(01:06):
entering into our 44th year in business.
Holy moly. 44 years.
That's crazy.
I'm guessing in that amount oftime you've come across quite a lot
of opportunity to use yoursmarts when it comes to crisis communications.
It's one of my ... I want tosay it's one of my favorite things
to do, but that makes thatsound kind of weird. But I do howsmart
(01:30):
yougettobewhenyoudocrisiscommunicationsandhowyourely ongutinstinctand
pastexperiences andyoubringalotofyourselfintoconversations whenitcomesto
crisiscommunications. Butoneofthethingswedesperately try totalk
aboutisyougottoplanforthesethingsand youmaynotwanttotalk
(01:51):
aboutthem,butit'ssoimportanttoplanaboutthem.Solet'sgetintoitalittlebit. Youknow,crisiscommsisabigpartofwhat
wedoandsomeconversationswebit. Crisis comms is a bi
You know, Abbie, 44 years, Iwish I owned the company and been
around running the company for44 years. I've been there for half
(02:12):
that. And in time,I'veseensomany differenttypesofcrisis, whetherit'sofficer
it's officer-involvedshootings, crane collapses, hada
doctorsextingintheoperatingroomthatwentnational.Imean,so much
stuffthatI'vebeenapartof.AndI'dsayoneofmyfavoritethingsin crisiscommunications
is whenyouhave theearsofeveryseniorleaderatthecompany you'reconsultingwith
(02:36):
andthey'relistening toyou.AndIthinkthat'swhatIreallyenjoyincrisiscommunicationsis you.
And I think that's what Ireally enjoy in crisis communicationthatsituation,evenmoresothanwhenyourteamsaredoingthegeneralPRpartofit.AndIthinkthat
theblockandtacklepartofcrisiscommunications comestolife.
You know, we always talk aboutthe general category, public relations,
(02:58):
as an investment in yourcompany and your brand and your reputation.
And it's really difficult totalk with CEOs about preparing for
crises. And I think it's alsoimportant to recognize that crises
are those things that happento you, and those are potentially
those things that happenwithin your organization. But it
(03:23):
needs to be considered aninvestment in the same way that any
proactive outreach effort isgoing to be, because you need to
be prepared. So as you'reworking with the organizations that
are currently on your clientroster, as you're putting the conversation
out there, what are some ofthe things you're sharing about this
(03:46):
importance, about investing inthis need way before you're going
to need to bring in thissenior level of counseling.
When it comes to a crisis, Ialways say it takes 20 years to build
a reputation. It takes fiveminutes or less or just now in one
world, in our world, one tweetto destroy it. And it really matters
(04:07):
who is managing yourreputation on the front lines. So
in social media, a lot ofpeople put their interns on it. Small
businesses tend to put themost junior employees managing their
social. And the thing I'd sayis your online reputation, your reputation
is your storefront. Today, alot of companies are virtual. And
so they have to be thinkingabout their businesses as their online
(04:28):
storefront, as their business,as what we used to in our offices.
I say one of the biggestthings in going ahead with sort of
preparing for a crisis, a lotof companies don't think ahead. I
encourage companies to spendthe timeandenergy andhiresomeone,
whetherit'sinhouseorexternally,likeapublic relationsfirminyourmarket,tocomeinandthinkthroughwhatwouldhappen
(04:54):
in anytypeofsituationthatmight occurinyourbusinessandwritethem
down,writedownthescenarios,scenario, plan,
scenariomap,andcomeupwiththetypeofresponsesyoumight wanttoputoutthere.Should,
shouldanytype of crisisorissuecome, you'renotgoingtobeable tothink
ofallofthem,but you'reabletopreventthem.Inatimeof, ofthoughtprocess
(05:16):
andthegiftoftime,inthetimeofcrisis,youdon'thavethe giftof time.Alot
ofcompaniescometoussaying,hey,this justhappened,acranehappened.Acranecollapsehappened
inmy city.I'm aconstructioncompanyandIneed yourhelp.Right.It'dbemuchbetterifa
teamwasinplace. A cranecollapse happened in my city. I'm
(05:36):
understandwhatyourbusinessisabout,who arethekeyexecutivesanddevelopeda
strategic was in place. Wemanagethatsituationfromstarttofinish andalsohelpthecompanydevelopkeyrelationshipswith,
withcommunitycontacts.Soinacaseofacrane collapse,sinceIjustmentioned
that,you'dwant toknowwhothepublicinformation officers areatthe
city.If it'sinacity,youwanttoknowtheneighboringpropertyowners,youwant toknow
(06:02):
the, youwanttoknowthepolice,thefiredepartment,PIOs,the publicinformationofficerand
haverelationshipsbuiltsothatwhensomethinghappens,you'reabletomanagethesituationalotmoreandyou'reabletoprotectthat,that reputationyou
builtfor20yearsanddothatinfiveminutesversushavingitcollapseandnotbeingreadyandtryingtofind someonetohelp
(06:24):
youmanageyour reputationwhen youtalk.
About that planning aspect ofit. So that's getting the internal
team prepared and discussingand analyzing, but also what comes
to mind is really keeping aneye on the landscape. What's happening
around us in our localcommunities, what's happening in
(06:47):
our state and federalgovernments, what's happening worldwide
that may not be an issuespecifically to our business, but
is happening to the businesseswe do business with or supporting.
Certainly we're seeing some ofthat happening here across the US
we're seeing it worldwidewhere decisions are being made and
(07:10):
the trickle down effect isreally creating crises that may not
be of our own making orcertainly if something that is directly
in our own business, but ishappening in the businesses around
us. Crisis planning, crisisdiscussion has to be about analyzing,
you know, the landscape aroundus and what else is going on that
(07:31):
might impact what we're goingto be doing or how it impacts the
businesses that we're in.
Using AI, using trends, usingthe Internet, searching, knowing,
understanding what thecommunity is saying, following the
trends is definitely a bigpiece of that. I think one of the
parts of crisis communicationsthat many businesses don't think
about is what do I say, how doI navigate the situation, whether
(07:55):
it's trend worthy or not. Andwhat I always say is don't offer
the words no comment or noresponse. Being responsive could
be as simple as being sayingwords like "I'm sorry, we're participating
in the investigation and we'llcommunicate what we can when we're
(08:16):
able to." That alone says alot more than saying no comment.
Or not responding. I didn'tsay much there, but I'm acknowledging
and showing empathy and, andbeing transparent and credible in
this situation and being opento receiving some sort of communications
and most of the companies thatI counsel, that I work with in crisis
(08:39):
that do that come out muchbetter in the end than those that
say "no comment." So I thinkfollowing through with words, whether
it's "sorry, "I'mwith you, mythoughts and prayers are with the
family that's been impacted."Whatever situationis,is,is goingtohelp,
(09:00):
is going to be,itcanhelpyoufar greatlyinand weather
thestormintheendthannot.
Well, one of the things whenwe get approached, and this would
be for organizations that weare not currently working with but,
but call us, a crisis is aboutto happen or is happening, we need
your help. And there's a15-minute window there of conversation
(09:23):
that we typically have andthat's establishing a baseline for
what the potential crisis isand whether or not we're gonna be
the right fit for the work.And one of the first things we say
when we're doing thatconversation is if your crisis response
is going to be no comment,then we are not the people to work
(09:45):
with because for us it is thattransparent response. And to your
point, Aaron, even if it iswhat appears to feel like a non-response
response, accessibility, beingavailable, telling them what you
know, when you know it, andthat you will get back to them with
more information as moreinformation is available, goes a
(10:05):
very long way in coming outthe other side. The truth of the
matter is a good reporter orother stakeholders will seek out
that information whether itcomes from you or not. They are going
to find that information andit's always going to be in your best
interest to be the one thatguides the narrative and shares that
(10:27):
information. And to be honest,there have inquirieswherethatwaswhattheywanted
ustodoandwepolitelydeclinedtodo theworkbecausethatis
notourphilosophy.Ourphilosophy istobe,tobeopen
and philosophisto to be, to beopen and transparent. And when debriefs,whichifwecrisis,whatyoudodo,lookbackandthelearningsfromit.OneofthethingsthatalwayscomesoutofthosedebriefingsisthatgratefulnessthatI'msogladyoutoldustoberesponsive.Itwouldhavebeensomuchmoredifficultifwe'dhavekept,youknow,tryingtohideornotanswerphonecallsbecausethey'regoingtocomeandSoI,youknow,Ithinkit'sanimportantpartofthiseffortisyougottatalkandthere'salotofwaystobeabletoberesponsiveandbea,youknow,partofthatconversationinacrisis.
(11:23):
Andsoyoucomeouttheothersidewhenbusinessgetsbacktonormal.
The other part of that too,Abbie, I think is shaping the story.
I don't like to do this a lot,but there is often a time, the role
for a PR person to behind thescenes help shape the story with
the reporter by telling themstuff to help guide and you mentioned
(11:45):
this, guide the process.Right. So you might offer the, "I'm
really sorry this happened"publicly, but behind the scenes you
might coach them along theways that sort of help shape the
story in the way you want to.That's beneficial for the community
because that's our role. Andas long as your clients are on board
with that, that is definitelya piece of the equation. Abbie, I
(12:06):
think there's seven parts ofshaping before someone thinks about
the crisis. There's sevenpoints I'd say that are critical
to shaping what a crisiscommunication strategy should look
like. And so if you'rethinking ahead before that crisis
comes, it's one, appointing acrisis management communications
team, who's going to be onthere. Two, it's determining what
(12:28):
types of problems you mighthave in developing out the situations
and mapping towards that.Three, identifying your goals. What
are your goals for crisis oran issues management team or process.
I think the fourth one isinternal communications. That's just
as important as externalcommunications. So knowing how you're
going to communicate theissue, the crisis that just happened
(12:50):
with the team, that probablyis one of the most impactful teams
that's out there, which isyour in house team and how do you
communicate with them and whathas happened. I mean sometimes you
lose power, sometimes there'sa major earthquake. What do you do
in those situations?hefifthpointisknow your your key
audiences. You mentionedstakeholders. I think that's a big
it'sthemedia,it'sinfluencers,microinfluencers,whoeverthosekeypeopleare,whoare wetalking
(13:16):
toandmappingthatout.Thesixthoneis Ithinkoneof
themostimportant,importantones,whichisjust the
most important messagesforthebrand,thecompany, theorganization,thepeople,whatever
itis,justcreateabaseline,stickitinafolder.Whetherit's onacomputer,Iprintit
outtoo,stickitinafilefolder.Becauseinacrisisyoujustnever know.Youmight
nothavepower.YouMighthaveaccess togettingtowhereverthat
(13:39):
thatfile is. Just never know.You might not have power. You might
not have access to getting towherever that that file is. Just
have it in a space that'sdisseminatingthatand what channels
thatyou'regoingtouse.Ithinkthosearekeysevenpillarsthat anycrisisteamshould
bethinkingaboutandgoingtocreate.Andwhatwedoiswe createthatplan.AndSometimesit'safivepageplan.
(14:03):
Forsomecompanieswehavea50pageplan.Itreallydependsthesizeandscope,whether they'relocal,global,regional,we'vedone
it all.AndIthinkalot ofour Andsometimes it's a five folksreallythinkthroughwhatcould
bein a 50-page plan. It reallydepends the size thenthelastthingI'dsayispractice.
Makesureyoupulloutthatplanevery all.
(14:24):
I lookthrough of our PRGNpartners can help folks really think
writeouttheupdates be inenlisted in that crisis communications
plan. And then the last thingI'd say is practice. Make sure you
pull out that plan everysingle year, look through it, update
all the key personnel thatmight be listed in there and write
(14:49):
out the updates that need tobe happening and then practice it
with key leadership to makesure they know what's going to happen
in a time of crisis. And dothe trainingsa l
And you know, and then one ofthe things on that thinking about
who that team is is itIisn'talways the senior level executives
(15:13):
that have to be on thatinternal team. These are folks that
are the line, you know, theline officers, if you will, the ones
that are in the trenches. Youmay bring in the project manager,
you may bring in someone thatis, you know, specifically because
this is the type of crisisthat's happening and then, and then
determining who yourspokesperson is. And one of the things
(15:34):
that we like to advise as wellis business has to continue while
the crisis is occurring. Sohow do you make sure that your team
is in place to continue to dothe work that you need to do while
you are managing and whatneeds to be halted as a result of
whatever the crisis might be?One of the other things we add into
(15:56):
our plan is that time todebrief, right? You do all the practicing
beforehand. If you do need toimplement your crisis plan to do
the debrief, to find out whatworked what didn't work? What did
you wish you have that youdidn't? And I have found that thank
(16:16):
you notes is an important partof closing that crisis plan. You
know that there were a lot ofpeople involved, and whether that's
your internal team, if it is,you know, media or other stakeholders
that were important to helpingyou come out on the other side of
it, a thank you note goes along way in securing those relationships
because we hope we never haveto need them again. But if you do,
(16:40):
you're certainly glad thatyou've resolved that situation in
a way that everybody iscomfortable and feels good about
it. And in all of this, itreally is. It comes to thinking ahead
and planning for and preparingfor and really thinking of it as
(17:00):
an investment in your businessand in your business's reputation
and in the reputation of thoseindividuals that work with you. And
it's starting thoseconversations well in advance of
needing them is what gets youon the opposite side of a potential
crisis.
Abbie, I think there's oneother part of all this that needs
(17:21):
to be talked about, which isthe role of legal in PR. Where does
legal ... where do the lawyersfit in? And one of the things that
I've often counseled or talkedto clients about is if you want to
protect information that isshared with a PR person, always CC:
you attorney to protect thatattorney client privilege as part
of a crisis situation, ifyou're not CC:ing that we're not
(17:42):
protected or they're in. Andof course a PR professional should
have their own counsel thatsupports it. But from a legal standpoint,
you often want to have them.And then we often let the attorney
weigh in. We'll weigh in onthe communication that the attorney
might draft. But in the end,the attorney far outweighs, you know,
what we say. But we want theirbuy-in on what we say before we put
(18:05):
it out there. In the case of legal.
Aaron, I want to address heresomething which feels a little bit
like the elephant in the room,at least to me, and that is the environment
in which crises happen now haschanged dramatically on so many levels.
irstofall,the natureofmediamedia itself has changed. The channels
(18:30):
consumeinformationandhavefragmented,peoplearegetting informationanddisinformationfromallsortsofplaces.
YoumentionedAI as places. Youmentioned AI as a positive thing.
But of course there are AIdeep fakes that themselves could
create a crisis if they werepurporting to represent the CEO of
(18:55):
a company, you know, sayingthings. And settledinnotjustinNorthAmerica,butinEuropeaswell,there's
seems to have settled in notjust in North America, but in Europe
as well, there's been aresurgence of right-wing populism
that has changed the dynamicsin many places. The voices that are
(19:18):
the loudest these days in somecases are saying the most outrageous
things and the whole thing is,in itself, I wouldn't say it's a
crisis, it's just the natureof things now. paper,maybetheTVstation,
theeveningnews,whathaveyou.Howdoyouthinkaboutwhereweare now?Thisisamacrolevelquestion.Howdoyouthinkaboutnavigatingthismuchmorecomplexandinsomecasesmoreproblematicmediaenvironmentthesedays?
(19:53):
I think in the end it justcomes down to fundamental communications
and you gotta hold true as acompany or as a person. Understand
what your values are and startthere. Integrate what your business
objectives are into that withyour plan and proceed forward. You
shouldn't change the way youoperate or think based on the values
(20:16):
of someone else. You reallyshould be looking at yourself and
identifying what those valuesare and stay grounded and stay true
to yourself. And I'd saythat's the same with companies out
there. And those that do, Ithink, are the ones that are the
most successful in communications.
Thanks for listening to thisepisode of PRGN Presents, brought
(20:37):
to you by the Public RelationsGlobal Network.
We publish new episodes everyother week, so subscribe now in your
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