In my last article, I discussed what a Public Relations firm does. One of those tasks, which I hope you never need but is important to understand, is crisis management. Not every company is going to go off the deep end like Amy’s Baking Company, or something worse. BUT, most companies will experience crisis of varying degrees throughout their business’s lives. So, whether you use a Public Relations firm or not, I thought this article might be useful in guiding you towards successfully handling and minimizing any damage.

Create a Plan Before Taking Action!

This is extremely important as many companies react without considering the ramifications of those actions. Assemble all your management staff and analyze the situation. Decide just how damaging the crisis could be and make sure, before anyone leaves, that there is a plan in place and everyone knows it. If you have a Public Relations firm, make sure that they are involved and help guide you. Ensure that everyone knows the official response, but choose one person to be the spokesperson for this crisis and stick with it. Just like the game of telephone, the more people you have answering questions, the more likely it will be that things get changed. After this initial management meeting, hold a company-wide meeting and mandate that nobody is to speak about this to any media, or address it in any way. Let them know who the spokesperson is and tell them to refer any questions to that person.

Discover the Problem

Make sure you identify the true problem, not just the reason for the crisis. Identify where it began, what went wrong and why.

Take Action – Fast!

In today’s world of social media, news can, and will, spread like wildfire. Be prepared to act fast. The longer you take to act, the more oxygen you allow to fuel the fire. Reassure the public that you are aware of the problem and are addressing it. Make sure that you are accurate and honest in your response and the information included. If you’re not, people will find out and you’ll only make matters worse. Your statement should also be brief. There’s no need to elaborate or write a thesis. Say what needs to be said but do it as concisely as possible.

Do Not Neglect Online Activity

Make sure that you are monitoring every social media channel, blogs and any media coverage regarding the crisis. Make sure that your statement is heard on all of them. There are many free tools available that will monitor the Internet for your company’s name and other relevant keywords that you can use to assist you with this. Overall, you should always be doing this; but it’s especially important during a crisis situation.

Hopefully, you’ll never face a crisis that warrants this type of attention. That being said, even the smallest of issues, in the hands of the wrong person, can be blown out of proportion. For example, something may have happened to a customer, or a friend of a customer that you may consider small, or may not even be aware of. However, this customer is extremely upset and feels the need to make this known. This customer could ,have the knowledge and ability to spread the story, and it can damage your reputation above and beyond any negative online review ever could. People can be extremely vigilant and ruthless in their quest for “justice”.​

I hope that the tips provided above are helpful.  The most important lesson to learn is to be prepared and to react analytically with a cool head and well formed plan. 

​Many people really don’t know exactly what a Public Relations firm does. The common answer is “write press releases,” but I can guarantee you public relations firms do not sit around all day and just write press releases (or at least good ones). So what, exactly, do we do?

As defined by the Public Relations Society of America, Public Relations is all of the following:

• “Anticipating, analyzing and interpreting public opinion, attitudes and issues that might impact, for good or ill, the operations and plans of the organization.

• Counseling management at all levels in the organization with regard to policy decisions, courses of action and communication, taking into account their public ramifications and the organization’s social or citizenship responsibilities.

• Researching, conducting and evaluating, on a continuing basis, programs of action and communication to achieve the informed public understanding necessary to the success of an organization’s aims. These may include marketing; financial; fund raising; employee, community or government relations; and other programs.

• Planning and implementing the organization’s efforts to influence or change public policy. Setting objectives, planning, budgeting, recruiting and training staff, developing facilities — in short, managing the resources needed to perform all of the above.”

That’s all well and good but HOW do we do all of this?

A good public relations firm will leverage its relationships and networks to gain a client exposure through all avenues available in free media; which includes the writing of press releases, pitches and speeches.

It will assist clients with promotional campaigns, media interviews, and help mitigate damages in a company crisis.

It utilizes social media as a means to help craft your company’s personality and gain exposure to your existing audience, as well as to penetrate their networks.

It assists clients with content writing, from something as simple as a compelling product description, to something as complex as an in-depth article for publication.

And, most importantly, it will craft compelling stories and use them to get your company maximum attention by leveraging influencers and their media contacts. There are many public relations firms in existence and you should be careful when selecting one. Make sure that they are in tune with your industry and “get” your company voice….

Oh, and do more than just write press releases.

​Many people really don’t know exactly what a Public Relations firm does. The common answer is “write press releases,” but I can guarantee you public relations firms do not sit around all day and just write press releases (or at least good ones). So what, exactly, do we do?

As defined by the Public Relations Society of America, Public Relations is all of the following:

• “Anticipating, analyzing and interpreting public opinion, attitudes and issues that might impact, for good or ill, the operations and plans of the organization.

• Counseling management at all levels in the organization with regard to policy decisions, courses of action and communication, taking into account their public ramifications and the organization’s social or citizenship responsibilities.

• Researching, conducting and evaluating, on a continuing basis, programs of action and communication to achieve the informed public understanding necessary to the success of an organization’s aims. These may include marketing; financial; fund raising; employee, community or government relations; and other programs.

• Planning and implementing the organization’s efforts to influence or change public policy. Setting objectives, planning, budgeting, recruiting and training staff, developing facilities — in short, managing the resources needed to perform all of the above.”

That’s all well and good but HOW do we do all of this?

A good public relations firm will leverage its relationships and networks to gain a client exposure through all avenues available in free media; which includes the writing of press releases, pitches and speeches.

It will assist clients with promotional campaigns, media interviews, and help mitigate damages in a company crisis.

It utilizes social media as a means to help craft your company’s personality and gain exposure to your existing audience, as well as to penetrate their networks.

It assists clients with content writing, from something as simple as a compelling product description, to something as complex as an in-depth article for publication.

And, most importantly, it will craft compelling stories and use them to get your company maximum attention by leveraging influencers and their media contacts. There are many public relations firms in existence and you should be careful when selecting one. Make sure that they are in tune with your industry and “get” your company voice….

Oh, and do more than just write press releases.

Writing a well-constructed press release is a challenge in and of itself. There are many reasons you should be writing them and using them in your company’s marketing plan. Simply writing one isn’t enough though. To maximize the exposure your organization can get through press releases, not only must they be well written but they must also be positioned in such a way to get as much exposure as possible.

In the past, I’ve given you tips on how to utilize press releases to increase SEO, now I want to take it a step further and show you how to further optimize a press release to take your releases to the next level.

There are thousands of press releases published every day. Unless you are paying for a premium distribution feature available on popular press-release sites, you have a lot of competition for exposure.

Here are some tips that could help take your press release to the next level.

1. Make sure you’re including all of the components I mentioned in my previous post, including appropriate research, use and placement of keywords. Search engines are particularly fond of the headline, subhead and lead paragraph when indexing. 
2. Include deep-links to relevant content on your (or your partner’s) website anchored to appropriate text. Do not link straight to your home page or use anchor text such as “click here”. Search engines are looking for relevance between the anchor text and the linked content.
3. Utilize images in your press release. Images make your release stand out to readers and relevant industry reporters. Search engines are also indexing your image files and your picture’s inclusion in Google Images could actually drive traffic back to your release. For this to be effective, however, you must make sure that the image’s name includes the keywords you are targeting. Don’t leave the image named IMG-123.jpg, rename it to include your keyword(s). This establishes relevance between the image and the keyword for the picture. Images could be of key people in the organization, the new product, company logos, or a myriad of other things.
4. Include multimedia in your release when possible. If your release is about a person, include a short interview. If it’s a product launch, you could include a short demo or ad.
5. Make sure to distribute your release for optimum effectiveness.

According to PR Newswire, “multimedia press releases that include photos, videos or audio generate more views, shares and clicks than text-only press releases. Adding a photo to a press release increases engagement by 14 percent; adding a video and a photo actually doubles the engagement rate. Press releases that contain photos, video and audio generate the most engagement, with 3.5 times more engagement than text-only releases.”

A properly written press release, that includes images and videos that are also optimized for search, creates a release that is more likely to be read and distributed. The combination of text, photos and videos are very powerful and it gives you three times the SEO potential as a text-only release. Give your release the tools to maximize its exposure and reach by using these techniques consistently and the results will be apparent.

Writing a well-constructed press release is a challenge in and of itself. There are many reasons you should be writing them and using them in your company’s marketing plan. Simply writing one isn’t enough though. To maximize the exposure your organization can get through press releases, not only must they be well written but they must also be positioned in such a way to get as much exposure as possible.

In the past, I’ve given you tips on how to utilize press releases to increase SEO, now I want to take it a step further and show you how to further optimize a press release to take your releases to the next level.

There are thousands of press releases published every day. Unless you are paying for a premium distribution feature available on popular press-release sites, you have a lot of competition for exposure.

Here are some tips that could help take your press release to the next level.

1. Make sure you’re including all of the components I mentioned in my previous post, including appropriate research, use and placement of keywords. Search engines are particularly fond of the headline, subhead and lead paragraph when indexing. 
2. Include deep-links to relevant content on your (or your partner’s) website anchored to appropriate text. Do not link straight to your home page or use anchor text such as “click here”. Search engines are looking for relevance between the anchor text and the linked content.
3. Utilize images in your press release. Images make your release stand out to readers and relevant industry reporters. Search engines are also indexing your image files and your picture’s inclusion in Google Images could actually drive traffic back to your release. For this to be effective, however, you must make sure that the image’s name includes the keywords you are targeting. Don’t leave the image named IMG-123.jpg, rename it to include your keyword(s). This establishes relevance between the image and the keyword for the picture. Images could be of key people in the organization, the new product, company logos, or a myriad of other things.
4. Include multimedia in your release when possible. If your release is about a person, include a short interview. If it’s a product launch, you could include a short demo or ad.
5. Make sure to distribute your release for optimum effectiveness.

According to PR Newswire, “multimedia press releases that include photos, videos or audio generate more views, shares and clicks than text-only press releases. Adding a photo to a press release increases engagement by 14 percent; adding a video and a photo actually doubles the engagement rate. Press releases that contain photos, video and audio generate the most engagement, with 3.5 times more engagement than text-only releases.”

A properly written press release, that includes images and videos that are also optimized for search, creates a release that is more likely to be read and distributed. The combination of text, photos and videos are very powerful and it gives you three times the SEO potential as a text-only release. Give your release the tools to maximize its exposure and reach by using these techniques consistently and the results will be apparent.

A few weeks ago, Ford managed to accomplish a task that many brands dream about but never achieve… to have an ad go viral. You might think this is a good thing except for the fact that this particular ad went viral for all the wrong reasons.

JWT India, Ford’s ad agency in India, was holding an inter-company contest for ad creativity. One of the designers came up with an ad showing 3 women gagged and tied up in the trunk of a Ford Figo. The first concept showed Italian Prime Minister Silva Berlunsconi with three women and the second derivation (which seemed aimed for an American audience) showed Paris Hilton with the Kardashians tied up in the trunk.

Ford never commissioned, approved or even knew of their existence until they saw them where the world did… on the Internet. The ad agency decided to post the contest entries on the Internet for judging purposes and, as we all know, once its on the Internet, it never goes away.

Ford could’ve handled this many ways but they chose to handle it the way that all companies should -- by accepting responsibility. 

The lesson to be learned here is to choose your partners wisely. JWT India had a track record of producing some tasteless and offensive ads in the past, which had resulted in the loss of some large American corporate accounts. Even though this was a contest within the company and these concept ads were never meant to see the light of day, the fact remains that they did.

You are responsible for anything that bears your branding regardless of whether you created it, authorized it or knew it existed. The consumer doesn’t know who authorized what or not, they simply see your branding and assume that it was company sanctioned. Your branding is your business’s most important asset.

When considering a partnership that would allow another entity to use your branding, be just as diligent in choosing that partner, as you would be in vetting a babysitter.

A few weeks ago, Ford managed to accomplish a task that many brands dream about but never achieve… to have an ad go viral. You might think this is a good thing except for the fact that this particular ad went viral for all the wrong reasons.

JWT India, Ford’s ad agency in India, was holding an inter-company contest for ad creativity. One of the designers came up with an ad showing 3 women gagged and tied up in the trunk of a Ford Figo. The first concept showed Italian Prime Minister Silva Berlunsconi with three women and the second derivation (which seemed aimed for an American audience) showed Paris Hilton with the Kardashians tied up in the trunk.

Ford never commissioned, approved or even knew of their existence until they saw them where the world did… on the Internet. The ad agency decided to post the contest entries on the Internet for judging purposes and, as we all know, once its on the Internet, it never goes away.

Ford could’ve handled this many ways but they chose to handle it the way that all companies should -- by accepting responsibility. 

The lesson to be learned here is to choose your partners wisely. JWT India had a track record of producing some tasteless and offensive ads in the past, which had resulted in the loss of some large American corporate accounts. Even though this was a contest within the company and these concept ads were never meant to see the light of day, the fact remains that they did.

You are responsible for anything that bears your branding regardless of whether you created it, authorized it or knew it existed. The consumer doesn’t know who authorized what or not, they simply see your branding and assume that it was company sanctioned. Your branding is your business’s most important asset.

When considering a partnership that would allow another entity to use your branding, be just as diligent in choosing that partner, as you would be in vetting a babysitter.

Now that the focus in many industries is on data and behavioral marketing, marketing departments are increasingly better able to pinpoint areas in which they can improve. With the right data, not only can you determine your product’s demographic but now you can discover when and why your customers make that ultimate decision to purchase. That being said, just because you discover what’s wrong, that doesn’t necessarily mean you should share that nugget of wisdom with your consumer. Take Mattel’s recent faux pas as a case in point.

Mattel came to the conclusion that sales of their toy car lines were flat because mothers “didn’t understand how much fun these cars were.”   I’m sure anyone would agree that toy cars are, primarily, “boy toys” and females may not be able to understand the fun inherent in rolling toy cars around the room, reenacting car chases and crashes, which could prevent them from purchasing these toys for their sons. This isn’t due to any malice towards the brand or type of toy. It’s simply a mother making a purchasing decision based on their belief of the type of toy their child would like to play with, and toy cars aren’t high on that list.

Armed with this knowledge, Mattel wisely began a marketing strategy in which they set out to educate mothers on how fun toy cars really are for their kids. In their endeavor, however, they made the mistake of revealing their discovery to the very people they blamed…mothers.

Of course, mothers didn’t particularly like being blamed for a company’s poor sales because they just didn’t “get it” and began taking to the blogosphere and social media expressing their anger and telling Mattel that they should make better products instead of blaming people for poor sales.

In the end, Mattel’s brilliant use of big data to identify a barrier and great strategy designed to break through it backfired because someone decided to tell the barrier it existed and, well, the barrier didn’t like it all that much.

Marketing should certainly be data-driven, targeted and relevant. With all of the data available your marketing can be super-charged to get big results with minimal expense. In the past, a company could only get a general idea of the problem and then had to cast a wide net in their attempt to fix it. Now, the net need not be so big to catch the right fish….

Just don’t tell the fish you’re coming.

Now that the focus in many industries is on data and behavioral marketing, marketing departments are increasingly better able to pinpoint areas in which they can improve. With the right data, not only can you determine your product’s demographic but now you can discover when and why your customers make that ultimate decision to purchase. That being said, just because you discover what’s wrong, that doesn’t necessarily mean you should share that nugget of wisdom with your consumer. Take Mattel’s recent faux pas as a case in point.

Mattel came to the conclusion that sales of their toy car lines were flat because mothers “didn’t understand how much fun these cars were.”   I’m sure anyone would agree that toy cars are, primarily, “boy toys” and females may not be able to understand the fun inherent in rolling toy cars around the room, reenacting car chases and crashes, which could prevent them from purchasing these toys for their sons. This isn’t due to any malice towards the brand or type of toy. It’s simply a mother making a purchasing decision based on their belief of the type of toy their child would like to play with, and toy cars aren’t high on that list.

Armed with this knowledge, Mattel wisely began a marketing strategy in which they set out to educate mothers on how fun toy cars really are for their kids. In their endeavor, however, they made the mistake of revealing their discovery to the very people they blamed…mothers.

Of course, mothers didn’t particularly like being blamed for a company’s poor sales because they just didn’t “get it” and began taking to the blogosphere and social media expressing their anger and telling Mattel that they should make better products instead of blaming people for poor sales.

In the end, Mattel’s brilliant use of big data to identify a barrier and great strategy designed to break through it backfired because someone decided to tell the barrier it existed and, well, the barrier didn’t like it all that much.

Marketing should certainly be data-driven, targeted and relevant. With all of the data available your marketing can be super-charged to get big results with minimal expense. In the past, a company could only get a general idea of the problem and then had to cast a wide net in their attempt to fix it. Now, the net need not be so big to catch the right fish….

Just don’t tell the fish you’re coming.

DealerRater is conducting a short survey about online reputation management and cordially invites auto dealership personnel to participate. All responses are confidential and upon completion of the survey, you will be entered into a random drawing for a $200 American Express gift card. Your participation matters. Results will be summarized in a future press release and will cover any important trends revealed regarding online reputation management and social media in automotive dealerships. 

Thank you so much for your time. Click on this link to take survey:http://ning.it/IQ5WEv