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Archive for the ‘Crisis communications’ Category

15 Minutes of Fame

Friday, August 27, 2010 — 

 

People envy you. People talk about you. People put you down. This is what happens during your 15 minutes of fame, if and when you get it. Is there ever a right way to handle it? Can you be prepared for it in advance? And with today’s “faster than a speeding bullet” news delivery, can you ever react fast enough?  What would you do if you were the JetBlue flight attendant?  Conversely, YouTube is betting our online attention span has gotten longer and recently upped their video maximum to 15 minutes (New York Times Bits Blog).

There are so many intricacies surrounding 15 minutes of fame, even though it sounds like it should be simple. Here’s a list of people I’ve compiled (via memory and a little Twitter help). I think most of these people, who got famous for a variety of reasons, got a bum rap.

Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher – Joe the Plumber
James Frey – A Million Little Pieces book controversy
Ken Jennings – long-running Jeopardy winner
Larry Platt – Pants on the Ground
Spencer and Heidi Pratt – The Hills
Susan Boyle – sang “I Dreamed a Dream” on Britain’s Got Talent
William Hung – sang “She Bangs” on American Idol tryout

Individuals are seldom ready for an onslaught of attention, but most organizations prepare for the good and the bad sides of media for years in advance. And this preparedness shows when businesses or people handle their 15 minutes well. The tricky part is making the time count, with the right balance of storytelling and personality. And my big thought and question is: does that right balance really exist?

Now for the interactive portion (which I think has the potential for some really great debate!):

1. Can you think of a person or organization that had 15 minutes of fame and benefited from it without any backlash?
2. Is your company or organization ready for 15 minutes of fame if it happens?
3. Personally, how would you handle all the fame?

Erica Gordon is currently interning at Clear Verve and works part-time at a Milwaukee area nonprofit. She recently received her Communication MA from Marquette University.  Follow Erica on Twitter @erica_g.

Address, React & Recover

Wednesday, May 19, 2010 — 

 

Last week, I attended the Waukesha County Women of Distinction event at the Country Springs Hotel in Pewaukee. I am always inspired by this event and the positive things the women honored have done in our community as well as the work of the Waukesha Community Foundation.  Overall, the event was very well done including the raffle packages, information shared on the group and especially speeches by each award recipient.

This was my second time attending the event and this time around I got a little more than I bargained for – a nasty novovirus that affected about a hundred people at the event.  Its amazing how fast these flu viruses spread – within a little over 24 hours.

I have to commend the Country Springs Hotel on how they handled this situation.  It is not the type of PR a banquet facility likes to have.  They had their crisis plan in place and gave statements to the media right away when a bunch of reports came in that people who attended the event were sick.  They addressed the situation and reacted to what they were going to do to prevent future illnesses including sending home staff and thorough cleaning of the kitchen area.  Now comes the recovery part. This location is one of the best places for large events in the area.  There are still people that are a little skittish about the illness, but the Waukesha County public health department did a good job getting information out via the news media.  The one criticism I would make is that they also should have called back those that reported they were ill and attended the event – this may be something in the works though.

Susan Schoultz is Client Service Director at Clear Verve Marketing and works with clients to plan, create and execute marketing campaigns.  Follow her on Twitter as @clearverve2.

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Honesty & Integrity in Communications

Friday, April 9, 2010 — 

 

Being honest can be tough for some organizations and individuals – especially in difficult situations.  But is it okay to lie?

Some organizations choose to stretch the truth versus being honest when faced with the choice to tell the truth or lie.  This can get them into a lot of hot water.

When communicating news that is not easy to share, here are our some helpful tips for crafting messaging to retain integrity in tough circumstances.

1. Make sure your internal and external messaging is consistent and everyone involved knows how to respond. Draft a messaging plan with key messages for all levels of your organization. Be sure that everyone understands how to respond to be on the same page when answering concerns/common questions.  You should create a key message document and a backgrounder with all the facts that individuals can have on hand.

2.  Cut to the chase and don’t beat around the bush.  If something went wrong, find solutions to fix the problem, and share the solution(s).  If you do not have a solution, indicate when you expect to have a solution and a timeline as to when the solution will be ready. Do your best to correct it quickly and work to regain trust with customers.

3.  Do not lie. Stick to the facts.  If you do not know an answer, be honest and say you need to look into it.

4.  Be proactive. If your organization does not have a crisis communications plan in place, start one.  It can be general in scope but should include some basic components:

  • Possible disaster scenarios (e.g. natural disasters, being sued, how to address negative press/customer comments, etc.)
  • Outlining how individuals in your organization will respond and who will be responsible
  • Key messages
  • What information is released and how quickly
  • Crisis plans should include contact lists, information packages, and clear descriptions of how potential disasters might be handled

This is a quick list, do you have any other tips to share on integrity in communications?

Susan Schoultz is Client Service Director at Clear Verve Marketing and works with clients to plan, create and execute marketing campaigns.  Follow her on Twitter as @clearverve2.

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