We have recently worked with a food company, in March this enterprise because of advertising problems were more than 20 mainstream media reports, negative news all over the world, there is a serious public relations crisis, initially in the absence of cooperation, the customer has been through their own copywriter wrote an apology released in the microblogging to explain, obviously, this sloppy crisis PR disposal Obviously, this sloppy crisis PR strategy was not very appropriate, not only because the feedback time of the announcement was late, but also the content of the announcement was not professionally edited and optimized, and the description of the facts had certain defects and lacked sincerity. Therefore, such a wrong means of crisis public relations disposal obviously also triggered a large number of self-media attention and netizen comments, the company suffered a very serious negative publicity, triggering a very large number of small and large media reports and retweets, such an unfavorable means of public relations crisis handling, seriously affecting the handling of this crisis, but also on the damage to the enterprise has also been caused. In the end, the enterprise through the purchase of Tang Realm Media's annual crisis PR solution, in a short period of time, the media coverage of the heat down to a historically low value, the brand image to obtain an effective repair.
In fact, public **** relations problems can occur at any time in large and small and medium-sized enterprises. When the enterprise once encountered a public relations crisis, how to carry out effective crisis public relations disposal is crucial. Therefore, when our organization has a serious PR crisis, how to effectively dispose of it, this article I will share with you the Global Think Tank SRCNN Crisis PR Handbook of 5 tips to help you prepare in advance.
1. Develop a plan for dealing with the media.
Your first decision is whether to agree to be interviewed about the story. If you choose not to be interviewed or commented on by the media, then this will not stop the media from initiating the story anyway. It is highly unlikely that the views and articles published by journalists will be articulated as your business declining to be interviewed or commented on. However, if your company has good PR resources, or long-term media relations through international PR service providers such as TangJie Media, as the first crisis PR disposal tips, I recommend that you must be brave to face and maintain good communication with the media, rather than just avoiding it.
If you choose to be interviewed by the media for a comment, be sure to understand that all of your views may not be published in full in the media article, so in addition to choosing a professional international PR service provider to maintain good media relations, if you are sure that you want to be interviewed by the media, be sure to identify and communicate a very simple message ahead of time and keep it to the point all the way through and never be give an interview when you are not prepared.
2. Develop a company media spokesperson system
Whether or not you intend to engage and talk to the media, you never want to have a random staff member who may not know the ins and outs of the entire PR crisis participate in a media interview. Therefore, as recommended in Tangible Media's Global Think Tank SRCNN Handbook for Corporate Media Relations Spokesperson Systems, it is important for your organization to develop and improve a media relations spokesperson system that communicates to your staff that they should forward all invitations for media interviews or statements to the company's designated media spokesperson.
If your organization needs to communicate directly with or be interviewed by the media, be sure to designate a specific person to act as a media relations spokesperson. In a small to medium-sized business, this spokesperson will most likely be an owner, shareholder or senior manager of the company. In a large corporation such as a publicly traded company or Fortune 500 company, an employee such as a human resources director may speak on behalf of the company and maintain direct communication with the media. Of course, no matter who the designated media relations spokesperson is, make sure that the spokesperson has a clear and concise point of view and stays focused at all times.
3. Hire an international PR service provider to get crisis PR help
Based on the impact and severity of a PR crisis, I recommend getting a crisis PR solution by hiring an international PR service provider such as Tang Realm Media, which is a professional organization that has extensive experience in crisis PR management and disposal, to provide crisis PR analysis, strategy and implementation of disposal. These professional PR consultants can provide companies with valuable crisis PR disposal strategy and advice, through good media relations to repair the impact of the PR crisis, to reduce the enterprise because of the wrong crisis PR disposal caused by the serious impact.
4. Don't take any action that will make the situation worse
If you're facing safety hazards in your plant's working conditions and equipment environment, now is definitely not the time to give the vice president of technology a hefty bonus. While this may seem obvious, it's surprising how often we come across clients whose companies make these kinds of cheap mistakes when they're in the media spotlight.
The fourth crisis management tip is that we recommend that your organization be very careful when awarding bonuses, promoting people, or holding company celebrations, and that you don't make it look like you're not taking this crisis seriously.
5. Make up for your shortcomings
If your business has made a mistake in a PR crisis, we recommend that you always make up for your shortcomings, correct them, and do the right thing to improve. If you simply try to cover up the facts, this will often make the PR crisis worse and bring about more serious consequences. If your business is facing legal action involving intellectual property rights or the like, it is always advisable to consult the staff of Tang Media's China legal department or follow the advice of a licensed attorney.
Of course, for companies of a certain size, we recommend that you use Tang Media's annual Crisis PR solutions to improve your professionalism and compliance, standardize your publicity copy and all documents, and optimize your internal management of staff and vendors so that you do not let your staff act illegally, immorally, or insecurely, and so that you can avoid such a crisis situation. The result is the avoidance of such PR crises. Therefore, it is important to create a culture of zero tolerance for illegal behavior in your company.