Public Relations and Crisis Management
By Ashley Wirthlin author and editor of Public Relations Blogger
In light of some recent celebrity crises, I thought it wise to reiterate the importance of crisis management. Dealing with a potential crisis is crucial to the survival and reputation of your company. Depending on the situation, simply responding can help to alleviate the problem and diffuse the bomb before it goes off.
A crisis can cause an uproar of concern, negative WOM (word of mouth), upset customers, and negative media coverage. All of the above could be classified as negative PR, and there are a few ways that you could avoid it:
- Do not avoid responsibility. In the midst of a crisis is not the time to put the blame on someone else. Until you know the facts, do not assume that the fault is not yours.
- Do your research. Once you’ve established and understand the facts, you can respond appropriately. Do your homework, investigate the claims, and figure out your next steps from there.
- Respond in a timely manner. After reviewing the facts you can know whether or not you need to act, and how quickly. It also depends on your company, the sort of claims that are being made, and the repercussions they may entail.
- Take the appropriate actions. This can include recalls, refunds, medical assistance, litigation, and the appropriate notifications that need to come with each of these actions.
In addition to the above, it is in your best interest (and that of your customers) to act responsibly, morally, and to make things right. Take responsibility if the crisis was in some way harmful to customers or the community, and do what is right.
A great example of a company acting quickly is Odwalla, who’s juices were contaminated. Despite where Odwalla’s contamination took place (though it was found that some of their oranges contained the e coli making consumers ill), they knew they needed to recall their juices. They also changed their methods of making the juice to avoid and lower the possibility of contamination.
Another example of crisis management can be seen by Pepsi who took the time to research and evaluate the next steps. They were accused of allowing syringes to be canned in some of their soda. Instead of first allowing the recall to take place, but while still not avoiding responsibility, they were able to ensure that syringes being canned did not take place in their factories. After time, the claims came out to be rumors, and Pepsi was saved millions of dollars a recall would have cost.
Remember that timing is of the essence, taking responsibility is key, and acting responsibly are vital to overcoming a crisis. As can be seen with Odwalla and Pepsi, the crises are rarely talked about and the brands have survived and gone on to continue being profitable. Consumers still enjoy the beverages either company provide, and they can continue providing them because of the great crisis management they each used.
Plan for a crisis and ensure that the entire company is aware of the situation so that everyone is on the same page. Dealing with a crisis can be stressful; try to keep your cool, and do the above to keep your company honest and do the best thing for your customers and the community. Being a part of a community and having customers who have supported your company, you have a social responsibility to ensure that they too are supported and taken care of.
Ashley Wirthlin is the author and editor of Public Relations Blogger, a free, ~3,000 post large, educational resource for PR, social media, marketing, and everything in between.
Ashley is a marketing and management graduate of the University of Portland, a Marketing Associate of the H Media Group, and creator of the Public Relations Specialist Certification Program (PRS) sponsored and provided by BusinessTraining.com. She plans to launch the PRS program early 2010.
She also just released an 80+ page eBook that can be downloaded for free at http://publicrelationsblogger.com andhttp://publicrelationsbook.com.
(C) 2009 www.media-training.info
