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Crisis Communications in 20 minutes or less

Martha Wells shares her more than 20 years of professional communications experience in nonprofit, corporate and agency work about building a crisis communications plan:

Anything that has to do with sex, money and food can create a crisis.

Lawyers worry about the court of law, but public relations works with the court of public opinion.

A crisis plan is only useful if it's accessible and people have to be familiar with it. Is your media list only in your office? Is your crisis plan on-line or only in a binder locked in some one's office?

There should be a significant communiations component to the crisis management plan, but they are not the same thing. If you don't have that, please develop it. Outline everything - don't assume common sense is common. Determine everything from who contacts board members to when news briefings are scheduled, even if there isn't a new update to the crisis.

How to prepare a crisis communications plan:

1. Define what kind of crises your organization may face
2. Name your internal audience
3. Name your external audience
4. Plan for which groups receive information at what point, in what way and from whom
5. Define crisis team members
6. Define roles for members of the team
7. Define your main messages for positioning during a crisis (both internal and external communications)
8. Identify locations for command post
9. List components and equipment needed for the Command Post
10. Identify the training needs of team members
11. Practice!
12. Review and evaluate the process to keep your plan current and useful

Martha Benaroya Wells is the vice president of communications for Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium.

 

Communicating with the Communicator

Mark Gordon of the Gulf Coast Business Review shares his thoughts on the best ways for public relations professionals to work with members of the media.

1. The most important thing a reporter needs is access. Even if you have the best press release, a reporter needs to get a hold of someone immediately to develop the story.
2. Also, have an understanding of the publication that you're pitching to or soliciting. Mark receives 20 - 30 pitches a day, and at least half of them don't understand his publication's audience, which is not consumers, but business owners.
3. To engage the media, develop relationships. Obviously email is a first contact, but you need to develop a relationship with reporters, perhaps through phone or in-person meetings.
4. One pet peeve: don't ask to review the story prior to it printing/posting.
5. Follow up. Just sending a press release isn't going to work. Reminders and follow up phone calls are appreciated.

Seven Ways to Control Your Message

Brad Phillips, President of Phillips Media Relations, joins us this morning at Polo Grill in Lakewood Ranch for advanced media training for spokespeople and senior leadership.

Journalists are storytellers. Their job is to find the most interesting, dramatic story they need.

Our job as spokespeople is to get our messages out: sell a product, idea, gather volunteers, raise funds or something similar.

Now we need to find a way to work together so that everyone is happy.

Here are Brad's tips to avoid being misquoted at the worst, or being off message, at the best:

• Stop Saying So Much. You don't need to tell the public everything you know. Focus on what you want people to remember and then repeat it, frequently. Studies show we need to hear things an average of seven to 15 times to react to them.
• Repeat, repeat, repeat. Every answer in an interview should have your message in it. But don't sound like a politician on "Meet the Press" who spins and spins.
• Support Your Message. Stories, Stats and Soundbites support your one-sentence message. Try to balance your approach between stories and statistics. Example: 4.5 million people are affected by Alzheimer's Disease, either as a caregiver or patient. Or, imagine 2,400 sold out Ed Smith Baseball Stadiums. That's how many people are impacted by Alzheimer's Disease.

          About Soundbites: you have about 7 seconds for a soundbite, or 22 words.

          Good sound bites include metaphors, rhetorical questions and pop culture references.

          Before your interview, write out your varied responses that will support your message.

• Get Back to Your Message. There is no such thing as the "right" question from a reporter. Your message is your lifeboat. Remember this regardless if the reporter is aggressive or "nice."
• Do your ABC's. Answer, Bridge, Content - this is the formula for answering difficult questions. spend 20% on A and B and 80% on C. Remember, this isn't a conversation and you don't need to give a balanced answer; you ned to stay on message.
• Don't Open Doors. Even subtle variations in your answers can create a bigger story than what was intended. Example: Discovery Channel Building hostage situation.
• Watch Your Tone. What people get the message from: Words (7%), Voice (35%), Performance (55%). In difficult questioning, greet difficult questions like your best friend. "Thank you for asking me that difficult question so I have an opportunity to respond to it."

Audience questions:

Q: What is your two-minute training for executives who "don't have time" for media training:

A: Don't let them get away with not doing it or they're going to bomb. They won't get back to their message and they're trying to have a conversation. Remember that the audience is on the other side of the screen, not the interviewer.

Q: How do you tell a good story?

A: Do it in 7.3 seconds, which is really hard to do. Shorter is better than longer, and consider the anecdote as a future source for the reporter.

For more media training and presentation tips, visit MrMediaTraining.com.