How can you ensure media success when a calamity (fire, embezzlement, change of ownership or leadership, workplace accident, sexual harassment, or similar events) strikes your business and catapults you into the spotlight?
Cultivate relationships beforehand. Every organization needs to cultivate media during normal times. In an emergency, you don’t want to be questioned by strangers, but by people who know you and your organization’s culture. Build relationships through tours, briefings, regular press releases, and invitations to major events. Think of these steps as “partnering with the media.”
Train your people. Write and distribute a crisis communication plan. Explain procedures for emergencies. Announce who will speak on behalf of the organization. Put your staff through mock press conferences, videotape them in action, and critique them to find where they need improvement. Make sure new employees receive this training.
Take the initiative instantly. When a crisis occurs, never wait for media professionals to come to you. Take aggressive action. Remember, delay breeds mistrust. Call your media contacts before they call you.
Highlight your CEO. Put the CEO at the forefront as a spokesperson. While CEOs may justifiably delegate other functions, they must assume maximum visibility during a disaster. Readers and listeners don’t want to hear that she’s “unavailable for comment.”
Be sincere. Tell the truth, without diluting or withholding. “Little white lies” mushroom into a big loss of confidence. Even one misleading comment starts a “feeding frenzy” not only among the media, but also among the general public.
Avoid estimates. Do not estimate dollar damages, injuries, or loss of life. Lawyers, insurance companies, and others will make you wish you hadn’t. That’s why CEOs say, “We need to make sure families have been notified” or “We’re still collecting estimates.”
Chorus of “No comment”. Never say “No comment”. Whatever your intention, the interpretation is that you are being evasive. Try: “I’ll have to get back to you later, after we’ve gathered the relevant information.” Of course, make sure you keep that promise.
Control press meetings. Take control of press conferences. You have the right to say where, when and who will attend. Instantly assert leadership and don’t give it up. Video record press conferences. The tapes will become valuable when someone later uploads: “I know what you said on TV.”
Make a complete and public follow-up. After the subsidy crisis, inform your colleagues. Evaluate what you did well and what you can do better next time. Also, keep the public informed about how you resolved the situation: through interviews, tours, letters to the editor, civic club speeches, special letters to shareholders.