A CRISIS BY ANY OTHER NAME… We all know the importance of having a crisis communications plan. I'm not going to rehash the same advice you've already heard (too many times, probably). Instead, here are some short takes to help you consider the topic in a different light. -BOB "For many executives, a crisis is something that happens to someone else." Bill Patterson, Public Relations Journal "In the end, the client's destiny is in [his/her] own hands." Jim Lukascewski, crisis management consultant and author By the numbers Here are a few numbers that speak volumes from a survey of 251 firms by BtoB magazine. Thirty-nine percent of the firms were service providers, 41% were small or family-run businesses, and 21% were Fortune 1,000 companies. 57% did not have a crisis communications plan 53% experienced a business crisis resulting in negative news coverage, declining sales or reduced profitability 23% said it took three months to a year for their brand to fully recover from a crisis 13% said it took more than two years to recover 18% said they had still not recovered after two years What constitutes a crisis? Crises come in many shapes and sizes. Here are just a few examples of situations that might prove to be calamitous (there are oodles more).  There is a fire  An employee embezzles  A worker is injured (or killed)  The computer system crashes (or is hacked)  Many employees are laid off  A discrimination lawsuit is filed  A product is recalled  An investor sues  A customer makes a public allegation The litmus test Unsure if what you're facing is really a crisis? Ask yourself this: Could public knowledge of the situation damage my organization's ability to function effectively? Think carefully. If the answer is "yes," you have a crisis on your hands and should proceed accordingly. Who you gonna call? Well, probably not Ghostbusters. Seriously, do the people on your team know who to call if a crisis occurs? A crisis is stressful. The luxury of time often does not exist. Consider producing a wallet card depicting your organization's crisis communications phone tree, and distributing it to every employee. Make sure your employees know to refer media calls to the designated contact instead of trying to answer any questions themselves. When it's okay to be funny Taking a humorous approach isn't generally recommended in a crisis. But sometimes it's okay to be a little lighthearted. The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services sponsored a video contest to address the H1N1 (swine flu) outbreak, and some of the entries were a real hoot. Debunking a few myths My organization will never experience a crisis. Are you really sure you want to take that bet? We can handle anything that comes our way. Of course you can. And a Democrat filling the Senate seat in Massachusetts was a slam dunk. A competitor affected by a crisis is good news for my organization. Hmm. Not sure those in the banking industry would agree with this one… I can protect my business by refusing to talk to the media. Actually, if you don't talk with them, the media will find someone who will. And who knows what that someone might say? I'm always available during working hours when a crisis may occur, so there's no need to prepare others in my organization. That's just plain silly. Crises have no respect for an 8 to 5 day. The buck stops here When it comes to crisis communications, being deceptive or misleading never works. Think Toyota. Tiger Woods. Bernie Madoff. Rod Blagojevich. And a whole host of others who chose to deny or obfuscate, and ended up with negative coverage that went on and on. On the flip side are the likes of Domino's Pizza and Tylenol. Both cases illustrate how quickly a crisis can be averted and/or brought to a close when honesty and accountability guide the communications process. Public exposure Private firms don't have a corner on the crisis market – public entities experience their fair share of crises. For public agencies (governments, schools, health departments, etc.), these crises most often deal with, well, the public. Issues like King County's Howard Hanson Dam, Seattle's 2008 winter storm, and Portland's Mayor Sam Adams require expert handling. On a much larger scale, occurrences such as the Haiti earthquake, 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina underscore the need for effective crisis communications. Social media: a powerful tool Social networking tools can very effective during a crisis. Consider Domino's Pizza. When a video of a Domino's employee preparing sandwiches in a disgusting, unsanitary manner was posted to YouTube, the massive response threatened to significantly damage Domino's business. The company responded with a video of its own featuring president Patrick Doyle. Doyle explained what Domino's was doing to protect food quality and safety. The company also set up a Twitter account to handle customer questions. The speedy response by Domino's helped mitigate the crisis, while the use of social media increased the company's credibility among younger consumers (a key target audience). Frause news Baby congrats to senior account executive Laura Gese, who gave birth to son Frankie (Franklin James Marchisio) on November 25, 2009. Professional congrats to Sue Gillespie, promoted to senior vice president; Krista Hildebrand, promoted to vice president; Laura Figueroa, promoted to vice president; and Nicole Phelan, promoted to account supervisor. A very warm welcome to new Frause senior associate Carolyn Duncan, and to Amy Graham, newly hired as an assistant account executive. Kudos to Richard Kendall, selected by the Washington State chapter of NAIOP as 2009 Member of the Year, and to Erika Schmidt, who received the 2009 Hugh Smith Community Service Award from the Public Relations Society of America/Puget Sound chapter. Finally, we are very proud to announce that Bob Frause has been elected to sit on the national board of directors for the Public Relations Society of America.   UNSUBSCRIBE :: 1411 FOURTH AVE, SUITE 1210, SEATTLE, WA 98101 838 SW FIRST AVE, SUITE 400, PORTLAND, OR 97204