Author: Jonathan & Erik Bernstein

Can you survive a crisis?

Every single business has potential problems, and the difference between whether they sink or swim in the aftermath of a crisis can often be determined in the critical 24 hour period right after it breaks.

On March 1, Jonathan Bernstein will present, “Communicating in Crisis: The First 24 Hours,” a Communitelligence webinar. Focused on this period that is full of both danger and opportunity, Jonathan will lend his decades of crisis management experience to speaking about the biggest mistakes in crisis communications, how to speak to stakeholders, the importance of holding statements, how to pick the right spokesperson, and more.

We’d also like to thank you for being readers, so enter the code, “bernsteincrisis” at checkout and you’ll receive a 20% discount.

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For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
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[Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc. , an international crisis management consultancy, and 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]

Still not ready??

While social media continues to grow and users welcome it into most every aspect of modern life, few businesses are truly prepared to launch a social media crisis management campaign. Check out these telling figures, from a recent SmartBlog on Social Media survey:

If a social media public relations crisis were to hit your brand tomorrow, do you think you would be prepared to respond effectively? The results:

• We have the capacity to respond, but there’s no formal plan in place: 63.81%
• We wouldn’t know it was happening until we read about it in the media: 15.24%
• Yes, we have a well-documented social media crisis-control strategy: 15.24%
• We’re monitoring social channels but lack the capacity for a response: 5.71%

It was shocking to see only 15.24% reporting a well-documented social media strategy, especially given the fact that this poll was directed towards those that use social media for business, as well as the monumental amount of coverage received by both positive and negative social media situations over the past year. Of those 63.81% that claim the “capacity to respond, but there’s no formal plan in place,” it would be a solid bet that the majority of those have absolutely nothing except a dead Twitter stream and a sporadically updated Facebook.

A 2011 Burston-Marsteller survey found that 79% of business decision makers believe they are only 12 months from a potential crisis, and a full 43% of those expected the crisis to revolve around social media. We aren’t saying that getting involved with social media isn’t a big step, but we are saying that you’ve GOT to take the plunge, invest the money, and get involved.

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For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
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[Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc. , an international crisis management consultancy, and 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]

Play your cards close until the time is right

Veteran reporters are wily creatures, and when it comes to determining whether the juicy lead they’ve got about a breaking crisis at your company is legit, they can read volumes from a simple phone call. A recent Pro Sports Communications blog post by Martine Charles took at look at how this plays out, and gave some solid advice on how to…

Keep Your Cool

Under the circumstances you may feel under attack. Your first instinct may be a sarcastic or hostile answer, or a succinct “no comment.” Both are knee jerk reactions. The first creates an adversarial situation and the second, often implies guilt. However, if you remain calm and respond in a professional manner, you can begin to establish rapport and garner the information you need to get back to the reporter once you’ve analyzed the situation. Remember, your words and demeanor are powerful. How you answer the phone and respond can provide immediate insight to a reporter seeking verification of a story.

It’s important to remember, a primary goal of reporters is to grab reader’s attention, and they have no duty to present your company in a positive light. While it’s important to get facts out when a crisis is discovered, the goal is to control the flow of information. At the same time, you do want to maintain a positive relationship with the media.

How do you manage this? It’s easier than you think. Tell them you’d love to share more information, but have to wait until you’ve got the facts together. Given a reasonable time frame for a response (work with your crisis management team to determine this before you pick up the phone), most reporters will delay a story to get your full participation.

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For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
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[Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc. , an international crisis management consultancy, and 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]

Not your fault? Let the people know!

Additional fees for air travel have been a topic of increasing unpopularity in recent years, so when new federal regulations pushed airlines to conceal government taxes in fares, budget line Spirit fought back with the ultimate in transparency.

By sending an email with the following headline to its customer base, Spirit made it clear to stakeholders that it’s still 100% committed to being a low-cost airline:

The letter goes on to explain exactly why the new fees have been included, why Spirit does not support the policy, and even includes a call-to-action, complete with links to locate and contact representatives in the House and Senate, all in a concise 150 words.

It would be quite easy for airlines to just shrug this off and assume customers were educated about new changes to the fare structure, and, judging by the thundering silence from just about everyone else in the industry, that’s exactly the choice they’ve made. By thinking about how its customers would feel, and meeting them with the information they want the very second they realize they want it, Spirit set itself apart, and in that action likely gained customers for life.

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For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
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[Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc. , an international crisis management consultancy, and 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]

Big announcements require major crisis prevention planning

Twitter on Thursday announced that it is now able to block tweets that run afoul of certain countries’ restrictions on speech, but that has prompted backlash from users who fear the micro-blogging service will honor takedown requests from repressive regimes.

In explaining the move, Twitter mentioned France and Germany, which ban pro-Nazi speech. But many users questioned how this might play out in the Middle East, for example, where social networks like Twitter and Facebook played a key role as organizational tools during last year’s Arab Spring uprisings.

As a result, the term #TwitterCensored is now a trending topic in the United Arab Emirates. Many angry users have also pledged not to use Twitter on Saturday, Jan. 28 in protest of the move, much like the anti-SOPA/PIPA Internet blackouts here in the United States.

We were as shocked as anyone to hear the news contained in this quote, from a PC Magazine article by Chloe Albanesius. Twitter, which grew from techie tool to worldwide phenomenon on the back of natural disasters and revolts against oppression, appears to be acting against the very freedom which made it a social media icon.

What was even more surprising to us as crisis management professionals was that Twitter seemed seriously underprepared for the highly predictable backlash, issuing a cryptic statement explaining that if “we receive a valid and properly scoped request from an authorized entity, it may be necessary to reactively withhold access to certain content in a particular country from time to time.” While you may be able to puzzle through that one, to the layperson it may as well be Greek, and that makes Twitter look shady. You absolutely have to use the language of the people, or your words will be chalked up as deception.

Belatedly, the folks at Twitter published this blog post, which is actually solid, and very much along the lines of what we would have recommended.

The biggest question that arose in our minds as we discussed Twitter’s announcement was…why now? SOPA/PIPA was just stalled after a massive uproar came from the web, so why in the world would you decide this was a great time to announce improved censorship capabilities for your net-based service?

Perhaps they’ve never heard the phrase, “timing is everything?”

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For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
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[Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc. , an international crisis management consultancy, and 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]

Manage a crisis AND run a business? Are you ready?

When a major crisis hits, it can feel like the bottom just fell out of your whole organization. Energy is focused on response and recovery, communication and crisis management, and it can be easy to set daily duties aside. While obviously you have to assign considerable assets to handling the situation, it’s too easy to forget that you still have stakeholders, customers, and employees who expect your business to continue operating. What are you to do, and why should you care about business as usual in the midst of a crisis situation? Check out this quote from a PR Studio Boston blog post:

Don’t stop moving FORWARD!

This is the “one size fits all” tactic in a crisis. Do not let a crisis consume every aspect of your public relations. Even if it is a major crisis and you are consumed, designate someone on the PR team who is the ‘business as usual’ person. Don’t stop issuing information on positive happenings just because you are inundated. Bad news is contagious and once you are in a crisis you will be subject to a pig pile mentality. The only way to get out from under is to keep moving forward with the other aspects of your organization. Even if reporters do not want to hear about anything other than the crisis, too bad… it is your job to keep telling them any way and to try like heck to break the chain. If you allow the crisis to define your organization then it will.

Yes, you should still put more than enough resources into your crisis management team to handle the job, but keep the business machine running in the meantime. Of course, the level at which you’re able to do this depends on the size of your organization, along with your available resources, but even one-man operations should be able to some extent. If you’ve got to dip into your pocket to hire on a temporary receptionist, or keep legal counsel on call for a week or two, then spend the money. The ability to maintain through adversity will inspire trust from stakeholders, and keep the money coming in.

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For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
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[Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc. , an international crisis management consultancy, and 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]

What do you want out of social media?

Every successful voyage needs a defined goal that justifies the inherent risks. Similarly, when embarking on using social media to bolster crisis management, your organization must establish specific goals. These goals can be social, economic and political in nature.

In the course of our practice we have encountered companies that are using social media without having taken the time to integrate social media into their strategic goals. This approach is bound to result in a less than satisfactory outcome because the use of social media must be in alignment with relevant business objectives.

This quote, from a Disaster Recovery Journal blog post by Gideon For-mukwai, should be mandatory reading for every exec hatching a social media plan. While it is vitally important for businesses to have a social media presence, blindly stepping out there will often lead to frustration and wasted money.

Now, we’re not saying that you need a ten-page plan for this, not at all. What you do need is to sit down with your organization’s leadership and determine your goals as far as social media goes. A typical list might read:

1. Improve customer service
2. Protect our reputation from negative conversation
3. Marketing new products or services

With your priorities straight, you can determine how to accomplish your goals. On this list customer service is number one, so you would likely want to designate specific employees to monitor and respond to direct messages and mentions of your organization. Although obviously things can get as complex as you want, this is plenty to get a solid start.

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For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
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[Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc. , an international crisis management consultancy, and 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]

Bernstein Crisis Management will not be active online today in protest of the proposed PIPA and SOPA laws.

Oops!

The New York Times thought it was sending an email to a few hundred people who had recently canceled subscriptions, offering them a 50 percent discount for 16 weeks to lure them back.

Instead, Wednesday’s offer went to 8.6 million email addresses of people who had given them to the Times.

That was the first mistake. The second came when the Times tweeted this: “If you received an email today about canceling your NYT subscription, ignore it. It’s not from us.”

But the Times did send the original email, Times spokeswoman Eileen Murphy said.

This quote, from an AP article, published by MSN Money, describes the trouble The New York Times found itself in at the tail end of December.

What was probably a simple mechanical mistake, one person selecting the wrong list when preparing the email campaign, led to an undisclosed loss for The New York Times, not to mention some reputation damage.

As far as the initial email goes, it was an honest mistake, and choosing to honor the offer for the better part of the day was a smart PR move. The Tweet though, is inexcusable. There is little doubt that whoever authors the NY Times Twitter account was well aware of the situation when they made that post, and whether it was a genuine attempt at deflection or humor gone terribly flat, it looked like a lie. People don’t want to get their news from an organization that lies, and that’s where the Times took an unhealthy amount of reputation damage.

Will this break the Times? Obviously not. Was it damage that could easily have been avoided? Absolutely. Especially in markets as competitive as that of bringing news to the public has become, opponents will take advantage of every slip you make. Stay honest, double (triple, quadruple, whatever it takes!) check before sending important messages, and hold on to every advantage you’ve got.

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For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
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[Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc. , an international crisis management consultancy, and 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]

Going against convention boosts J&J’s brand reputation

Apologies are supposed to be serious. If you’re joking, then you don’t really mean it, right?

Johnson & Johnson, whose handling of the infamous 1982 Tylenol tampering murders and ensuing crisis management still stands as a “how-to” case study today, begs to differ, and did so in style with a hilarious video apologizing for shortages in a particularly popular brand of tampon.

Why’d it work? Larry Kahaner explains in this quote from a McGowan Fund blog post:

Just like the Tylenol incident which has become a standard case study in B-Schools (I included it in my own book Say It and Live It.) this event will be studied as well because it goes against the conventional wisdom that says to never use humor in a apology. The danger of the joke fall flat can be devastating to a company’s reputation and brand. This time, however, humor works perfectly. Why? For one thing, nobody died. Second, it’s personalized in a way that seems downright magical. Third, the company makes fun of the shortfall in a way that is not mean spirited but jests, ever so slightly, at the personal affection and loyalty women feel for this product. J&J has found the perfect mix of ‘we’re truly sorry,’ and ‘gee, we didn’t realize how much you cared.’ They show that they appreciate the ardor women have for the product but also make a bit of fun at how overzealous this love can be. They’re also making light of romance novel and cheesy nighttime drama stereotypes. It’s a balance that is nearly impossible to pull off, but they did.

The topper is that they offer a free coupon for the product at the video’s end. Nothing says sorry like free.

As Lara explained, the key to this working was that the apology wasn’t really needed at all. A shortage of one particular product on a flooded market isn’t a major crisis management concern, but spotting the opportunity to create positive online buzz regarding a returning product and brand in general? That’s the type of move that separates the good from the great.

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For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
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[Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc. , an international crisis management consultancy, and 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]