When PR Goes Bad - How To Deal With Bad PR
So far every newsletter has been rosy-nice and talked
about successful ways of carrying out your marketing and
public relations. Sometimes things don't always go
to plan though and you get media attention for all the
wrong reasons.
I have worked for a number of companies that have been
very high profile for all the wrong reasons, from utility
companies that kept causing power cuts in residential
areas, right through to fast moving consumer goods (FMCG)
companies whose products were being sourced from outside
the UK by retailers and therefore not conforming to UK
safety or quality standards.
In my experience the worse thing you can do when things
go wrong is bury your head in the sand, and never just
say, "no comment!" It makes you sound guilty
straight away.
If you have never dealt with angry or aggressive media
and you have the budget to do so, you may want to get
specialist help from a PR company or freelancer (say for
example, I dunno, someone like 10 Yetis - you would
be surprised at how inexpensive PR services are), but if
your budget won't allow for this, then hopefully
this newsletter will help.
The worst situation is where you did not have a clue what
is about to happen and a journalist rings you out of the
blue. Quite often they will leave it till fairly late in
the day to give you the bad news as they work till late
and they will expect you to do so to. No matter how much
they pressure you for an immediate response, don't
give it to them. Try to remain calm, get all the facts of
the story that they have so far, and then ask them what
their deadline is.
Undoubtedly they will say, "ASAP", but if you
press them for a time limit you will usually have at
least 15 minutes, and with most regional media they may
have already gone to press so you have plenty more time.
Some people try to convince them that there is no story
there in the first place. On some occasions it may be
true, but most journalists will dig deeper if you say
that as they will suspect something is going on.
As soon as you get off the phone write down all the
questions they have and then start putting together your
response, contacting all the necessary people. A lengthy
but handy thing I suggest to all clients is; when you
have that quiet period, even if it is just for 5 minutes
a week, try to put together an excel workbook called an
"A-Z of Potential Questions". This workbook
should have all the questions, good and bad, that you
think your business may ever be asked as well as the best
response. If you already have one of these when that
nasty call comes you can use it to great effect.
Before you get back to the journalist have all the points
you want to make about the situation written down in
bullet point format. Also, have a list of around 5 things
that you classify as Unique Selling points (USP's)
about your business so if the opportunity arises you can
try to turn it on its head and maybe even get some good
points across.
When talking to the journalist don't be afraid of
saying, "no I don't agree with what you
said", or words to that effect. In the PR world we
refer to a statement like this as a bridging point. A
bridging point is a dismissive start to your response to
a question that allows you to then revert back to a
positive point about your business. I will try to give an
example using a real life media interview I once did
defending a utility company I represented;
Q: With 23,000 residential areas off supply as we speak,
would this not suggest that your company has not invested
enough in its electricity network and that those who said
the American company who bought the business are only
interested in asset stripping?
A: No, I don't agree with that (bridging
statement), what I would say is that we are doing
everything we can to get the electricity back on to those
residents as quickly as possible and we will achieve this
by using new equipment that has recently been invested
in.
This is called an "open statement" as it
tries to set up an obvious follow up question for the
journalist which is to ask about the new equipment. This
would then allow me to wax lyrical about all the money
spent by our new company and avoid further questions that
draw attention to the company's negative
side.
Quite often if the enquiry has come from a print
journalist they will accept a comment via email. I always
make my statement response really clear by either typing
it up in Word and attaching it with no other text in the
Word doc, or, by putting "START OF STATEMENT"
and "END OF STATEMENT" around the statement
itself in the email.
If you are asked to call the journalist back then, unless
you know the journalist well, don't go off on a
tangent in your discussion. Keep it to the agreed points
and don't add any personal comment or feelings. The
old adage about, "nothing being off the
record" is very true. I never go off the record
unless the journalist asks me to, or unless I know the
journalist very well.
If you have the pleasure of an enquiry from a radio
journalist, again, don't panic. It is very similar
to print in that you should be given time to prepare a
response. Radio journalists are not allowed to go
straight into a live on air interview without giving you
reasonable prior warning.
Once everything has blown over, and it undoubtedly will
(unless you do a "Ratner"; and say your
products are rubbish), take the time to try and go back
to the media and ask them what they think you could have
done better and what they thought. Again, when I worked
for a utility and we came under heavy criticism for
lengthy power cuts following a storm, after the event
when all had settled down, we arranged to meet the
various journalists and ask them for feedback. Be
prepared for the truth!
So just to sum up, when things don't go to
plan:
Don't bury your head in the sand
Hold your hands up if it is an obvious mistake
Don't try and cover things up un-necessarily
Use your A-Z of potential questions and answers
Remain calm and definitely don't get angry
Never say, "no comment"
Make statements clear and short
When all has settled down, ask for feedback from the
media
Well, enough from me. As ever I hope this helps and
remember if you have any special requests for future
newsletters or are looking for advice and help with
Marketing and Public Relations, please don't hesitate to get in
touch... it is not as expensive as you think!
For more information email andy@10yetis.co.uk.
p.s. This month I am supporting a small venture called Connect Via Books it is kind of like an extreme book club where people can network and find like-minded individuals for social or business reasons--- librarians need not apply (unless you are on of those funky librarians). Go take a look; what have you got to lose?