Your Statement Seriously Needs Some Seasoning

Lauren Hannaford

I am always interested in learning about the new words that have been officially added to the dictionary each year, although many times I’m left wondering how on earth they could have reached the conclusion to add such silly expressions. Additionally, every year us PR folk can expect to see a fresh list of popular public relations and marketing expressions that have been deemed unfit for continued widespread use. (Next year I fully expect “storyteller” to be on the list. Ugh, gag.)

Recently, while driving into work one morning, I was listening to 98.9 News Talk when one of the hosts read a media statement regarding a serious accident in which someone was killed. The official statement from the company went something like, “We are deeply saddened by this tragedy, and our thoughts and prayers are with the family of the individual killed.” Oh give me a break. Is that the best they could do? In that moment I knew my next blog post had to be about phrases that have lost their meaning and sincerity.

I know that when a crisis hits, most companies are probably rushing to their crisis plans (if they have one) to pull whatever was pre-written and approved for a specific situation. However, it just can’t be this way. A well-crafted statement takes a little extra time and should never be a canned response. Why? Because your statement will end up being essentially the exact same as everyone else’s and will lose all sincerity.  The Oxford English Dictionary contains 171,476 full entries, 47,156 obsolete words and about 9,500 subentries for derivatives. Try to utilize all those words and put something together that speaks very specifically and uniquely to the situation.

While these statements may be true, they certainly have lost their believability.

• “Your safety is very important to us.”
• “We take this matter very seriously.”
• “We’re taking steps to ensure this doesn’t happen again.”
• “We’re doing everything we can to resolve this issue."

Three PR-Real World Parallels You’ve Probably Never Thought Of

Kerri Guyton

PR is on my brain almost all the time, even when I’m not at work. I think about applying aspects of PR planning to different situations in my personal life (see my post about my holiday family PR plan), and I think about different scenarios and symbols that well-represent good PR principles (see my post about If PR were an animal, it would be a…). In this post, I want to continue my PR-real world parallels with three specific ones related to PR services and everyday items or occurrences. Have you ever thought of these?

Media Relations and Marriage

I’ve been married for 15 years now. I married my college sweetheart during my senior year of college, so we’ve actually been together for 18 years.  I wouldn’t say I’m a marriage expert, but I’ve certainly been analyzing our relationship/marriage – and how to make it work for the benefit of both of us – for nearly two decades. And, while it’s no secret that communication is the key to success in any relationship, knowing how to communicate in a marriage is particularly important, especially when you are married to someone who works a lot and has limited time to communicate with you. I’ve learned that similar rules apply to media relations, as reporters and editors are similarly busy and often lack time for us “PR people.” 

In communicating with my husband, I know that there is a certain way to deliver messages to him. I have to speak his language, use as few words as possible and make sure those words capture his attention in the short time I usually have with him. I also know that there are good and bad times to engage him in conversation, and because he is so busy, most of the time that means only bringing up topics that really matter to him. I take a similar approach to media relations by knowing the best time to contact reporters with a story idea or news item, as well as keeping my pitch clear, concise and targeted to what their audiences will care about.

Additionally, ongoing relationship building is valuable in both marriage and media relations. In either one, it shouldn’t be about what I can get from them but what value I can bring to the relationship so that it’s mutually beneficial.

Crisis Communications and Cutting the Grass

Yes, they are related. Let me show you how. For starters, a well-maintained yard comes from regular upkeep. Keeping the grass at an acceptable level prevents you from being the shame of the neighborhood and the target of homeowner association penalties. Not to mention that when you let too much time go in between trims, it can start getting out of control, resulting in a little more effort and a lot more trimmings to clean up. And, you certainly don’t want to wait until you can no longer see your sidewalks and landscaping, as that may require additional tools and much more time and work on your hands.

Just as you don’t wait to pull out the lawnmower until the grass is out of control, you should never wait until a crisis happens to have a crisis communication plan. Crisis communication planning is ongoing and should deal with the maintenance of processes within a company that could potentially lead to a crisis. A well-prepared crisis communication plan should also ensure that you have the right “tools in the shed” should a crisis occur. If the potential “weeds” within a company are toxic employees, include ongoing training programs in your crisis communications plan and develop an immediate plan of action for appropriate discipline or termination should an employee situation turn to crisis mode.   

Social Media Strategy and an Ice Cream Sundae

The staples of a good ice cream sundae usually include vanilla ice cream, chocolate or caramel syrup, whipped cream and sprinkles. Consider that the definition of a standard social media strategy – one that if you ate it every day, might get a little old. Now, think about a great ice cream sundae, which may include a couple of different ice cream flavors and select toppings to complement each scoop. For example, a chocolate scoop might be covered in banana bites; a strawberry scoop could be topped with chocolate chips; and a butter pecan scoop is drizzled with caramel. Let’s complete the vision with a dollop of whipped cream and a cherry on each scoop. Now, that’s one interesting and delicious frozen experience. 

In my opinion, a great social media strategy utilizes a select collection of platforms to speak to a brand’s various audiences, and for each platform, a complementary strategy should be put in place that is specific to that audience. It’s important to use variety in your content to keep audiences engaged – not just the same posts over and over. I think it’s also important to note that you don’t have to have a presence on every social media platform, especially if your audience isn’t on that platform. Choosing the right platforms and content strategy can make the difference between your audiences eating and enjoying your sundae or letting it sit and melt.

Just Stop... Stop the Lying.

Crissy Lintner

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford got himself into hot water in November when he denied, denied, denied, then finally admitted that he was in fact using crack-cocaine in a publicly released video that showed him using drugs. I don’t need to go into the details of the story – you probably all saw the headlines, the video, the subsequent run-ins with media and the news conference… and the most recent development on Nov. 13.  

As I was watching the story unfold over several weeks, I already mentally replaced “denied” with “lied.” Forget the illegal act associated with the situation. Proof was right there and caught on camera – the public isn’t blind – and yet, he lied about it. And while Ford may surprise everyone and win re-election based on his eventual confession (running on the ticket that he is only human, a great example for the “down and out” and inclined to making mistakes), his reputation is tarnished. I wouldn’t be surprised if he is not re-elected. He certainly may not keep his position much longer past the posting of this blog! 

The best advice any PR professional (or otherwise trusted adviser) can offer to somebody in a position of leadership is this: always be transparent and truthful no matter the situation. If I sound like I’m repeating something you’ve already heard on this blog, it’s probably because we strongly believe in transparency and truthfulness for our clients and ourselves. Politicians, high-level executives, actors – all are caught in lies on a regular basis it seems. They deny (lie) when evidence is fairly damning against them, and the truth might have been better than the lie. I tell my kids this all the time. The punishment is always lighter if you tell the truth first rather than digging your hole deeper and deeper.

So, if you are in the unfortunate position of facing the choice to come clean or try to cover things up (especially if there’s evidence like the video in Ford’s situation), whatever you do, don’t deny (lie). You will be more likely to come out of a crisis of this nature – or any negative scenario – on a positive note if you are forthcoming and honest. 

The Speed of the Crisis Communication Game

Thomas Whitehead

On Oct. 28 during the Tennessee-South Carolina football game, South Carolina’s All-SEC running back Marcus Lattimore suffered only what can be identified as a gruesome leg injury in the second quarter. For the sake of the squeamish, I have not included a link to this clip. You can find it very easily if you haven’t already seen it.

Just a little background: Marcus suffered a season-ending injury last year, but still returned this year to pursue his dream of playing in the NFL. His performance this year so far reinforced the suggestion that he was still capable of playing professionally. In addition, by all accounts, he was a model student-athlete and was very popular among college football fans, even if their team was on the opposing side of his touchdown runs. Despite all the upsets and close games this day, Marcus Lattimore’s injury was the top story of the college football world. His career pretty much ended, and many are praying that he will even be able to walk again.

Once this injury happened, which was around noon CST, the social media world blew up, as we have become accustomed to in this day and age. His name was trending, and the video of the injury was already posted on YouTube. Again, none of this is surprising in 2012 and is generally expected. People comment and share instantaneously. We get it.

But, there was one more movement to this story that really surprised me. I noticed at 12:45 p.m. CST, some South Carolina fans had already created a Pray for Marcus Facebook page. I clicked on it, and it already had 20,000 likes. My mind was blown away by this. An hour earlier, this man was still dodging tackles, and now, there was a page offering up prayer requests for him with the online population of a small town. AND THE GAME WAS STILL BEING PLAYED!

The game ended around 2:30 p.m., and I decided to check the Pray for Marcus page. It had ballooned to 40,000 likes. As of this writing, the page is just over 73,000 followers.
I am sure there are other examples of pages being created almost instantaneously, but this was my introduction to it. And this should be a huge eye-opener for companies, brands and organizations especially during crisis communication situations.

I can see other examples of this occurring, especially in situations that might be more controversial than that of the career-ending injury of a beloved football player. This might be seen as a threat to companies in times of crisis, but rather, perhaps it should just be seen as another layer of opportunity to monitor your message and communicate with your audiences.

In any valid crisis communication plan, you have delegated responsibilities to monitor media, address frontline calls from the public affected and provide communication to all shareholders involved. These plans generally will encompass all lines of communication, electronic and otherwise. 

HOWEVER, this serves a good reminder to not only monitor your own social media platforms, but be mindful that others might create them on their own. Yes, many people will use a company’s official page to share their comments, but nothing limits individuals from sharing only on a company’s preferred platform.

I predict that the immediate creation of Facebook pages in reaction to specific events and moments will continue to be a trend for the next year at the very least. It will be a quick way for people to express how they feel at that exact moment.

Again, this should not be treated as another element in which your company has no control over because you didn’t really have control to begin with regarding the situation. Rather, see this as a chance to be more aware and proactive that the existence of publicly created pages regarding your brand can exist and this should be added to your crisis communication plan.