Page 145 - Crisis Communication Practical PR Strategies

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1 126 Crisis Communication
Depending upon the incident and your reaction, negative coverage
can be a one-day news story with minimal impact; or it can go on and
on, spiralling into more serious and long-term damage.

Building bridges toward recovery

Regardless of how long-term or short-lived the coverage is, it is impor-
tant to build bridges with important audiences, especially if your cred-
ibility has suffered. After you have survived a barrage of bad coverage,
your organization can reconstruct its image in the following ways:

Survey key groups. Conduct professional quantitative or qualita-
tive research to gauge the impact of the damage on your
employees, customers or shareholders.
Develop a series of long-term objectives based on recovery. Establish
measurable goals that respond to recurring issues. Objectives could
include rebuilding employee morale, re-establishing market share,
or cementing the reputation in the community.
Focus on core audiences with strategic programmes and outreach.
Demonstrate your willingness to listen to key groups and respond
to their issues with a series of targeted strategies. Whether it
involves outreach programmes, or focused communication ma-
terials, this will require the consistent repetition of messages.
Maintain positive positioning of the company by developing
advertisements and editorial coverage within publications that are
important to your audiences. If your organization upholds a sus-
tained level of paid visibility and positive media coverage, a bal-
anced perspective emerges, which means that the impact of
negative coverage is not as severe or long-term.
Measure the planned objectives to ensure successful recovery.

Conclusion

A crisis or other issues that lead to negative news about your organiza-
tion can be an excruciating experience. However, many credible com-
panies have recovered and gone on to soar once again following a
seemingly catastrophic torrent of negative news. Your ability to
recover is directly tied to your ability to plan and communicate proac-
tively. Every organization can make mistakes or be subject to scrutiny.
But, ultimately, lessons in business mirror lessons in life. It is not what
happens to you, it is how you handle it that makes the difference.