Month: June 2013

Posted on

Social Media Crisis Management Musts

a-manager-supervising-and-controlling-a-department

Like it or not, social media is all but guaranteed to play a role in your next crisis.

Sure, you could bury your head in the sand and pretend it doesn’t exist, but not having a Twitter or Facebook account won’t prevent your stakeholders from venting about, or attempting to reach you via those services. At best you’re missing out on the most popular communications platforms, hosting the largest communities, currently in existence, and at worst you’re creating further ill-will by not having a presence because people can’t get in touch, a troll is hard at work trashing your name, or any number of other potential ugly situations.

To make things easier, here’s a list of social media crisis management “musts” to get you started on the right track:

You must monitor. It’s not enough to put info out there, you need to monitor social media to catch wind of incoming crises, gauge the tone of conversations about your brand, calculate the impact of your own communications, and provide good old fashioned customer service.

You must respond. A huge chunk of low to mid-level crises would never be a problem at all if organizations actually took the time to respond to irked stakeholders. Jay Baer recently reported that 42% of consumers who use social media expect a response within 60 minutes, with 32% expecting that in 30 or less, and a full 57% expecting that same response time in the middle of the night, on a weekend, whenever. Bottom line, you need someone ready to respond to important social media messages as close to 24/7 as possible.

…most of the time. Wait, but you just said “you must respond” crisis guy! What’s gives? Well, a good portion of ‘net users get an awful lot of satisfaction out of trolling, or blatantly insulting, various organizations, often when they’re already taking a beating in the court of public opinion. It can take experience to separate the extremely upset from the trolls, but if you can split the two groups you can avoid giving those looking to get a rise any reason to continue their behavior.

You must behave. We get it, you love your brand and are passionate about defending it. Thing is, crisis management is not an effort of passion, but rather one of calculation and careful planning. You can not afford to let your emotions rule your responses, and you absolutely, at all costs, MUST NOT stoop to name calling or other irrational, immature means. Nothing on the net goes away forever, and you can bet that any slip-ups will be screenshotted and cataloged by a host of people for use across social media, in blogs, or simply as future ammunition against your organization. We know it’s stressful to take the abuse that comes pouring in during a crisis, and there’s no shame in admitting you’re overwhelmed. If you’re getting too worked up, let a colleague step in for a while to share the load.

You must train. Have you ever handled hundreds of tweets at once, or attempted to control a Facebook page that’s so flooded with comments you can hardly figure out where to start? If not, then how do you expect to do it well in the middle of a stressful crisis situation? Whether you’re using in-house people with other responsibilities, or have created a full social media team, put them through their paces with simulations and tabletop exercises before you ever get to the real thing.

As you can see, handling social media crisis management well requires a heavy dose of people skills, a special mindset, and as much experience as possible. Take these musts to heart, and wade on into social media knowing you’re well-prepared for what may come.

——————————-
For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
——————————-

[Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc., an international crisis management consultancy, author of Manager’s Guide to Crisis Management and Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training. Erik Bernstein is Social Media Manager for the firm, and also editor of its newsletter, Crisis Manager]

Posted on

Stop Procrastinating! Start Doing!

young-man-employee-working-with-laptop-office-desk-grimacing-playing-hair-procrastinating

Most of us procrastinate at least occasionally and some of us do it consistently and problematically. So procrastination may be human but it’s not very rewarding in the long run for our leadership, business or career success.

So why do we procrastinate?

According to The Procrastination Equation: How To Stop Putting Things Off and Start Getting Things Done by Piers Steel – a procrastinator himself at one time – suggest there are three types of procrastination.

1. Expecting Too Little
When we have low expectations about the outcome- either getting rejected or not doing well – we tend to put off the experience. Then a vicious cycle ensues: we don’t do it – we feel bad about it – our confidence goes down and we keep saying I’ll do it later.

What are you postponing because of fear of rejection or low performance? What would be the benefit to do them today instead of waiting until tomorrow?

2. Devaluing the Task:

When we fail to value a routine or unengaging task properly, we allow ourselves to defer necessary crucial chores that are important but routine-and reinforce a dangerous tendency to ignore the basics – like paying your bills, doing expense reports, getting the car serviced, etc.

Everyone has routine tasks that need to get done but are put off until later? What are yours?

3. The Deferred Gratification Problem:

The rewards and goals that can be achieved right now often seem far more appealing than those that require us to wait. It seems most of us are wired for short-term satisfaction. For example, responding to emails immediately, clearing every minor item off our to-do lists, checking the news, watching the funny video on You Tube, etc.

What things do you do impulsively that give you short term gratification, but hinder your long term goals?

Start Breaking the Procrastination Habit

  • Identify what you put off. When you find yourself ignoring or delaying task, ask yourself why. Knowing what you tend to delay can help break the cycle and prevent future procrastination.
  • Build your confidence. Practice “success spirals,” small steps of achievement that take you outside your comfort zone-such as trying an adventure sport, or learning a new skill through a course
  • Complete little things before moving on to big things. For a particularly daunting project, start with a mini-goal or easily doable or enjoyable task to ease into the difficult terrain. By completing it, you will be warmed up for the more complicated or demanding aspects.
  • Avoid boredom and get the juices flowing. Make tasks more challenging through competition. ‘When you are competing against your colleagues, almost any task can become a race to finish first or to get the most work done.
  • Use blatant bribery. Kids get stickers for going to the dentist. Why shouldn’t you get a reward for doing something you don’t want to do? When you knock off your dreaded task by the set deadline, treat yourself to a coffee break, have ice cream for lunch or even a long walk outside. Whatever will give you a positive feeling..for me it’s the ice cream.

Are you a procrastinator? What can you do right now to break the procrastination habit? What have you found helpful to get you moving?

Management Success Tip:

For some situations procrastination may be okay. For example, when starting a big project take the time to plan it out or work out potential solutions. But if procrastination is hindering your performance, causing relationship problems (boss, colleague, spouse, etc) or affecting your personal satisfaction, then it’s time to stop, examine possible causes and potential solutions. If you don’t deal with it now, then when?

Do you want to develop your Management Smarts?

Posted on

Choosing a Nonprofit Database

A nonprofit database

A Guest Posting by Ken Ristine
(The first of two perspectives on this subject, by two guest writers. The second piece will post this Thursday.)

Ever since desktop computers became common, nonprofits have found it a challenge to evaluate and adopt new technology. During the early years my major questions of organizations requesting grants for computers were: What software do you plan to use, and how is it applicable to your operations?

That was important because few software products really worked well for nonprofits and, more critical in those days, not all software worked on all computers.

All too often the answer revealed that not a lot thought had been given to those questions, and that many nonprofits got caught up acquiring technology before they really understood how they were going to use it.

Today hardware is much more flexible, so the major concern is software. And with the “new normal” that’s emerged in the last several years, the key software for nonprofits tends to be fundraising-related.

But, when choosing fund raising software (a database), many organizations fail to consider what information they have, what information they can gather, and what they will do with that information.

I’m in the final stage of helping a small organization, where I’m a board member, to adopt a fund raising database. I say final stages because there have been several key steps.

First, this organization’s key volunteers, such as the board, had to understand the basic changes facing the organization. In our case it is the decline of foundation and corporate grants and the need to grow individual giving.

Second, it was critical make key changes to the board’s monthly financial reports to clearly reflect those revenue sources and trends. The new reporting made the trend clear and has allowed the board to see the changes over time.

This understanding was critical to the third step, a commitment to our future.

The organization has chosen a path for where it needs to be in 3 to 5 years. That plan, and the organization’s commitment to it, tells us what kind of information we are going to need in 3 to 5 years. Knowing that, we know what information we need to be capturing and putting into a database today.

That commitment is critical; information doesn’t fall into a database by itself. It takes work; it requires mundane things like forms to capture information, and data entry. It means a commitment to taking the time and effort to collect and enter that information into the database.

It also takes a commitment for an organization to keeping that information stored and to retrieving it in meaningful ways. That commitment means paying attention to computer backups, report designing/writing, report running, and security issues—as in what information are you going to collect and who is allowed to see any-or-all of it.

Do you want to host your own database? Should it be on a network server? Should you look at a cloud-based system? You can only provide the best answers to those questions for your organization if you have looked at your past and your present, and made a commitment to the future.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Ken Ristine is a senior program officer with a private family foundation in the Pacific Northwest. He has worked in nonprofits for over 35 years with experience in program development, fundraising, organizational development, and technology. He writes Ken’s Corner, a blog for the Puget Sound Grantwriters Association and can be reached at kenristine@hotmail.com

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Have you heard about
The Fundraising Series of ebooks ??
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

If you’re reading this on-line and you would like to comment/expand on the above, or would just like to offer your thoughts on the subject of this posting, we encourage you to “Leave a Reply” at the bottom of this page, click on the feedback link at the top of the page, or send an email to the author of this posting. If you’ve received this posting as an email, click on the email link (above) to communicate with the author.

Posted on

FDA Simplifies Crisis Management

Govt agencies surprise by making crisis management simple, web-based

Crisis management isn’t just for business. There are plenty of risks in daily life, and the more equipped to help prevent crises in our personal lives we are, the better off we’ll be.

In recent years, several government organizations have really outdone themselves by becoming the go-to resource for the issues they were created to combat. The CDC is one excellent example, as is the FDA, whose MedWatch safety reporting system is actually celebrating its 20th anniversary.

Much as the CDC has done, the FDA is embracing the web to both educate, and gather crisis information from, the public. Accompanying MedWatch’s 20th anniversary is a new learning tool, MedWatchLearn, aimed at teaching students, health professionals and consumers the most effective way to report problems with medical products.

Perhaps even more surprising is that the FDA has actually SIMPLIFIED one of its most commonly used forms. Its new consumer reporting form, the FDA 3500B, features less technical language than the old form, marking what we (and probably all of you) sincerely hope is a growing trend among government agencies.

Simple, easy-to-use, and web-based, just the way we like our crisis management tools.

——————————-
For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
——————————-

[Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc., an international crisis management consultancy, author of Manager’s Guide to Crisis Management and Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training. Erik Bernstein is Social Media Manager for the firm, and also editor of its newsletter, Crisis Manager]

Posted on

How to Creatively Market Your Brand (Without Annoying the Consumer)

Branding and Marketing Text on a White Surface

Guest Author: Joyce Smith

In today’s saturated market, it’s becoming harder and harder to make your company stand out. Brands have become virtually indistinguishable from each other.

That’s why it’s so important to advertise outside the box. You have to think of innovative ways of reaching your target audience without inundating the consumer. Ads in traditional media like TV and print just don’t cut it any more.

Core Principles

To truly establish or expand your brand, your company needs to focus on these core principles:

  • More community engagement
  • Incorporating branding into daily logistics
  • Creating brand ambassadors

If you would like to be established as an industry leader, follow these simple steps to cement your company’s public image and gain a competitive edge.

Swag

If you’re trying to make a lasting impression on a potential client, give that person a branded item that he or she won’t immediately throw away. Or recruit staff to become your “brand ambassadors” by wearing or using the swag in the community.

Affordable, fun ideas for potential company swag are hats, wristbands, temporary tattoos or cell phone cases. If you have the budget, you could also manufacture an extensive line of branded apparel (company swim trunks, anyone?).

Whatever swag you choose should be something your brand ambassador can use or wear and distribute to others. Avoid obnoxious branding and opt for a subtle logo instead. People are more inclined to ask questions if isn’t already spelt out for them.

Community Sponsorship

Building a public image is more than just throwing up a website and a few paid ads and commercials. It’s about molding the public’s perception of your business and what it represents.

Little league sports teams. Charity runs or walks. Fundraising concerts. If your company sponsors any of the above, you’re guaranteed to boost your public image. And all those involved – the baseball players, run organizers, etc. – become your brand ambassadors by sporting your logo.

With whatever cause you attach your company’s name to, encourage your staff to volunteer in record numbers. A team show of support will cement your reputation as a company who cares.

Branded Shipping

Like many business logistics, outsourcing your transportation needs has made shipping product a lot more convenient and manageable. Most fleet management companies will pick up the supply, warehouse it and make sure it’s delivered according to your schedule.

Trucking companies can also benefit your business in a way that most people wouldn’t think about – creative branding. Fleet companies adopt their clients’ branding while they ship their product from point A to point B. They plaster their trucks with your logos, and outfit their drivers in colors that match your branding.

Branded transportation (be it trucks, hot air balloons or trains) is like mobile billboard advertising – difficult to quantify, but guaranteed to be seen by many.

Guerilla Advertising

Guerilla advertising is a strategy that uses unconventional methods (flash mobs, street art, interactive demonstrations, etc.) to promote a brand. It can be highly effective and even newsworthy, but it has to be done right.

In homage to street artists like Banksy, you can use guerilla advertising to infiltrate city streets, public parks, zoos, aquariums, etc. The backdrop of your street “ad” should be relevant to your business in order to truly make a statement.

Your ad should include limited contact information, like your company’s name and website. A little mystery will help to intrigue passer-bys, who are essentially your target consumer audience.

If you implement the above tactics, you’re guaranteed to build a name for your company. Or, if your brand’s already entrenched in the consumer psyche, than you’ll generate buzz that will elevate you far above the competition.

Author Bio:

Joyce Smith has over 10 years of work experience in PR and marketing. She’s a part time yoga instructor and full time Leafs fan. Joyce also does consulting for Canada Cartage Systems, a leading trucking company in Canada.

Posted on

Developing Financial Information for Grants: A Team Effort – Thank Goodness! (Part I)

A team developing financial information for grants

I admit it: program budgets, operating budgets, budget narratives, budget justifications, and audited financial statements are not some of my favorite things. Fortunately for me, and possibly many grant managers, developing program budgets and other financial information needed for grant proposals is a team effort.

Previously, I outlined the financial information to include in your grant proposals: your line-item program budget; sometimes a budget narrative and a budget justification; and always a statement of program sustainability; and, as attachments: your operating budget for the current fiscal year; your audited financial statement for the most recently completed fiscal year; your IRS Form 990; and, a list of your foundation and corporate grantors, including grant award amounts.

This posting focuses on how you – and the other members of your team – can prepare this information for grant proposals.

• Program staff: your NPO’s program staffers are the experts on the programs you are describing in grant proposals. They know the staff, volunteers and other resources necessary to carry out their programs, and you must work closely with them to develop the program budgets you include in grant proposals.
• Finance manager/staff accountant: The individual responsible for financials at your NPO may or may not be a CPA; they may be a paid staff member, a contract position, or a consultant. When it comes to developing financials for grant proposals, it doesn’t matter. They are on your team and critical to developing accurate financials you will need when submitting grant proposals and reports.
• Database manager: This staff member has their finger on the button, OK buttons. They can provide a list of foundation, corporate, government, and individual donors (and donation amounts) that you will need to submit with some grant proposals.
• Audit firm: You will need to submit your audited financial statement for the most recently completed fiscal year, and these folks can provide you with this document, along with your NPO’s IRS Form 990 (if your organization asked them to prepare this along with your audit).
• Development director: Depending on the culture at your NPO – and the personality of your DD – they may want to be integrally involved in the preparation of financials needed for grant proposals, or they may delegate this responsibility. Better to ask permission than beg forgiveness ☺

As I wrote in my December 6th post, a growing trend among grantmakers is the adoption of a common grant application. I have used the Missouri Common Grant Application and the budget templates they provide – these are available for download on the website of the Gateway Center for Giving.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Lynn deLearie Consulting, LLC, helps nonprofit organizations develop, enhance and expand grants programs, and helps them secure funding from foundations and corporations. Contact Lynn deLearie.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Look for Lynn’s ebook on Grants & Grantsmanship. It’s part of The Fundraising Series of ebooks

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

If you’re reading this on-line and you would like to comment/expand on the above, or would just like to offer your thoughts on the subject of this posting, we encourage you to “Leave a Reply” at the bottom of this page, click on the feedback link at the top of the page, or send an email to the author of this posting. If you’ve received this posting as an email, click on the email link (above) to communicate with the author.

Posted on

Prepare for a Great Presentation Part 2: Organizing your Content

A group of clapping to a businesswoman after presenting

next stepsThe day of your big presentation is fast approaching. You have been amassing plenty of facts, thoughts, photos, charts and graphs, enough to fill a large file. Now the big question is how do you organize it?

One great way to proceed is to start from a big-picture viewpoint. What is the point of this presentation? What does the audience need to hear? What do you want them to remember, think, feel or do? Write this down. Yes, really. You might have a sense that you know the answer, but until you capture it in words, you can’t be sure you really have it. If you would like, try saying it out loud. Once you have it, write it down, quickly, before you forget what you said.

Here are versions of a theme or message you might use to begin a presentation.

Version One: “Today’s topic is blogging.”

Version Two: “By creating and contributing regularly to a blog, you will be able to connect with your customers in real time, provide them incentives to purchase, and establish yourself as a responsive partner.”

Which one did you like better? If you are interested in blogging in the first place, the first version told you that you were in the right room, but not much more. The second one gave you reasons to listen, and clearly spelled out some of the benefits you might enjoy from starting a blog.

How could you make it better? If you know your audience well, you can make your message more specific. If you don’t know them as well, or if there is a mix of attendees, you might need to make your message broader. But don’t forget to always give reasons to listen, and benefits of doing the action you are recommending.

Version Three (Broader): “Blogging is an easy, simple way to connect with more people and share your knowledge.”

Version Four (Narrower): “As brand-new bloggers, today you will learn how to avoid some of the pitfalls new bloggers often fall into and how set yourself up for success.”

We could go on all day creating different versions of the message, but you know your audience and your material best, so create the message that fits the situation and compels your specific audience to want to hear more. Starting with your message will definitely inform your organization.

So now on to organizing all the supporting data you have been collecting. The next step is likely to be narrowing it down. Take a look at your content and see how each piece of information supports the message you have created. If it does not, put it aside; it isn’t needed for this presentation. Save it for another day, perhaps, but don’t squeeze it in just because it is “nice to know.”

Step two will be sorting through all the data that remains, and organizing it into chunks or buckets of information. Which of these methods appeal to you?

Mind map. I like to draw a “picture” of my presentation in the form of a modified mind map. I use an oversized sheet of paper and in the middle write out my theme or message. I then start to branch out from the middle, thinking about the important topics rather than individual facts. (If I am creating a training program or interactive presentation, I also write what learning methods will be used for each topic. You might think about what stories or examples you would use for each section.)

Story board. To create a story board, create a series of boxes that look like a comic book or comic strip. You can use oversized sheets of paper or flip chart paper if you like, or draw it on a large whiteboard. Start your story with your message. End it with your message. Now, think about how you are going to get your audience from where they are starting to where you want them to be at the end of your presentation. You might even select headings such as, “the current state of blogging, benefits of blogging, steps to setting up your blog, and what you might expect as a new blogger.” Once you have your headings, fill in your facts and date under each heading. Voila! You are not only organized, you are also moving your audience logically from Point A to Point B, a key component of storytelling.

Sticky notes. Many speakers put each fact on a sticky note, and then arrange the notes on a wall or whiteboard. With this method, you can easily move things around until you get them into the right category. You might be able to see that you have too much information in some areas and not enough in others. Or that you have way too much data and will have to streamline even further. This method also allows you to visualize the whole presentation, and play with it over a few days or longer, if you can leave your notes on a wall to keep referring to.

3×5 card sort. A more hands-on variation is to write the information on a number of 3×5 cards. You can move them around on a table until the main chunks are sorted out and you like the sequence. This could be a good method if you are creating the presentation with others, as they can each add to the stack of 3×5 cards. And again, you can easily discard cards that aren’t going to be used.

Outline. If I am “writing” the presentation on the computer or my tablet, I might use an outline format. This is very convenient when you want to draft a presentation at a coffee shop, on the train, or on your patio. Just be aware that outlining isn’t quite as “whole brain” as some of the other methods discussed above, because it relies so heavily on sequencing rather than free-form thinking. That said, one advantage of outlining this way is that you can dump your outline onto PowerPoint and have more or less an instant slide show. I would recommend this method only if you are very familiar with your content and need to create your presentation rapidly.

Organizing your presentation doesn’t have to be a drag, but be sure to allow yourself enough time to do it well. Experiment with different methods. Think about how your audience likes to have information presented, and go from there.

Please let me know which methods you have tried and how they have worked for you. Are there others you would recommend? And all best wishes organizing your next presentations.

Author Gail Zack Anderson, founder of Applause, Inc. is a Twin Cities-based consultant who provides coaching and workshops for effective presentations, facilitation skills for trainers and subject matter experts, and positive communication skills for everyone. She can be reached at gza@applauseinc.net.

Web site: www.applauseinc.net

Blog: www.managementhelp.org/blogs

twitter: @ApplauseInc

Posted on

Who Dreams Up This Stuff?

A dream cloud

An e-mail sent to me recently….
“I have read that when setting a donation goal for each major donor prospect you should project 10x their largest single gift. Is this a good rule of thumb?”

This is yet another of the several similar hard-to-believe instances over the years when someone cited such an unfounded and useless “rule.”

I strive to be respectful of my colleagues, but there are times when I cannot abide by what some of them sometimes say is “Gospel” – what they suggest as a “standard,” or a “rule-of-thumb.” Anyone promoting such a “formula,” clearly has no idea how the process works – prospect identification, assessment, rating for giving potential, and the subsequent asking process.

No such (10x) arbitrary extrapolation could/should be presented to any donor, be it a granting foundation, a corporation, or an individual. If you apply that, or any other formula, to any donor source’s largest single donation, and you come up with an ask not based on reality – it can only cause distress and dismay from your prospects. They will know that the organization making such an ask did not do its homework.

When talking about granting foundations or corporations, you simply start by understanding their range of giving, to look, possibly, at their median gift when considering an ask amount. Factor in which types of organizations were favored for their bigger donations, and determine if those organizations have missions and/or constituencies similar to yours?

What kind of reactions and suggestions do you get from your board members as they look over the list of the foundations and corporations – complete with the names of those entities’ officers and top staff? Can you find any friendship and/or business links they might have with foundation and corporate leaders? Can your board members use those connections to help you to determine the appropriate ask amounts?

For an individual who has a history of giving to your organization, you’ll know what their largest gift was. Even then, if I was a donor to your NPO and my biggest donation to you in recent years was $1,000, it would make no sense to arbitrarily peg my next ask at $10,000.

Using the 10x factor, and asking me for that dollar figure would greatly damage your credibility. People in your organization would/should know enough about me to suggest a number based on their perception of my giving capability.

Suppose I could give much more than $10k? You would miss out. Or, suppose my $1,000 gift was a real and hard stretch for me in the first place? I would be uneasy, maybe even embarrassed, to be asked for such a large donation well out of my range of giving, and then having to refuse.

It would be better if people from within the organization did do their homework, so they can ask for a more sensible and defensible gift.

You must do your best to “know” each and every prospect. A made-up multiplying factor, simply will not work, and can be damaging to your relationship with your donors and to your fundraising program.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Have a question or comment for Tony? He can be reached at Tony@raise-funds.com. There is also a lot of good fundraising information on his website: Raise-Funds.com
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Have you seen The Fundraising Series of ebooks ??
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
If you’re reading this on-line and you would like to comment/expand on the above, or would just like to offer your thoughts on the subject of this posting, we encourage you to “Leave a Reply” at the bottom of this page, click on the feedback link at the top of the page, or send an email to the author of this posting. If you’ve received this posting as an email, click on the email link (above) to communicate with the author.

Posted on

Reputation Risks of Celebrity Spokespeople

Business-colleagues-discussing-in-an-office

Actions of those who represent your organization can result in a need for crisis management

Celebrities are commonly used as spokespeople for everything from sodas to cars to underwear, but they certainly make for risky investments. As a quick look at the TMZ website (warning, not always SFW) shows, celebrity seems to breed controversy in a large percentage of people who achieve it, as a recent Ameritrade article article by Quentin Fottrell pointed out when it documented six deals gone bad, including this example:

Aflac hired comedian Gilbert Gottfried to provide the voice for the insurance company’s animated duck, but the jokes he tweeted about the Japanese earthquake last year fell flat — and cost him. After a contract that lasted 11 years — likely in the low-six figures per year, Tuchman says –Aflac terminated its contract.

“Gilbert’s recent comments about the crisis in Japan were lacking in humor and certainly do not represent the thoughts and feelings of anyone at Aflac,” the company said. (Aflac declined to comment on the terms of the agreement.) Gottfried apologized “sincerely” for his tweets and regretted any offense caused. But it was too little, too late: Aflac gets most of its revenue from Japan and, as such, had no option but act swiftly, says Jonathan Bernstein, president of Bernstein Crisis Management.

As Jonathan explained, organizations often must act quickly in order to distance themselves from suddenly-controversial celeb spokespeople like Gottfried. Sure, he apologized, but while it’s easy for Aflac to snag another mid-level celeb spokesperson with its six-figure budget, it would probably require a concentrated (and costly) crisis management campaign in order to rehab Gilbert’s image, something for which no employer wants to be responsible.

——————————-
For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
——————————-

[Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc., an international crisis management consultancy, author of Manager’s Guide to Crisis Management and Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training. Erik Bernstein is Social Media Manager for the firm, and also editor of its newsletter, Crisis Manager]