Page 195 - Crisis Communication Practical PR Strategies

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1 176 Crisis Communication
tives, video clips and animated graphics explaining complex technolo-
gies. A crisis response site needs dynamic resource links and click-to-
phone links to the senior communication professional. Yet today, most
websites don’t even list a phone number for their PR contact, just an
arm’s length ‘PRContact@companyABC’ e-mail link. In the internet
age, that’s the same as providing a ‘No comment’.

Crisis communication – engagement
versus pronouncements

Managing a crisis in an internet-empowered environment demands
that we think and act differently than the crisis communication models
of just a decade ago. While communication, by its nature, is always
two-way, the internet requires that our communication and response
during a crisis are more of a conversation than a statement. It’s more
of an engagement than a pronouncement. Traditional crisis communi-
cation models talk about ‘getting out our story’, and marshalling our
spokespeople and third-party experts to project our point of view. On
the internet, it’s all about engaging with our stakeholders, the new
lords of social media.
So, in the middle of a crisis, how do we engage with our supporters
and detractors alike? Let’s take a lesson from the interest groups and
advocacy stakeholders who do such a good job in engaging their com-
munities. To begin with, make it personal. Get rid of the corporate
speak and (dare I say) PR-polished prose. Get your senior executives
out in front, have them open their blogs, engage in in-person and
online town meetings, and craft their messages that say, ‘We under-
stand, here’s what we’re doing’ and maybe more important, ‘Here is
how you can help.’
There’s certainly a risk here. All communication on the net involves
risk. We invite people to respond to our blogs, but what might they
say? Can we control the message? Will whatever we say, with the best
intentions, get twisted and manipulated by the opposition? Probably.
Yet the internet, for all its liabilities, offers a new venue for presenting
an open and honest response and, regardless of a company’s position,
its innocence or culpability in a crisis, the public will respond to a
direct and open dialogue with a company. The internet offers both
tools and opportunities for this new dialogue.