Monthly Archives: February 2012

What To Do When People Hate You

Published on 22nd February 2012 by . 1 Comment. Click to add yours.

Use negative attention to create positive content

When Ragan.com went looking for comment from companies on 24/7 Wall Street’s most-hated companies in America list, seven of ten either declined to comment or literally didn’t respond. Writer Matt Wilson asked several crisis management professionals why this might be, and BCM president Jonathan Bernstein offered this take, quoted from the Ragan.com article:

Jonathan Bernstein of Bernstein Crisis Management says companies’ lack of response is probably the result of any of four causes: denial, arrogance, they’re too busy fielding inquiries to respond to everything, or, “They’re crying all the way to the bank.”

What the companies ought to be doing, though, is laughing, he says. “If any of these companies were my client, I would certainly advise them to reply, and [I'd] suggest that humor would be a good approach.”

For example, one company on the list, Johnson & Johnson, made a funny apology video when there was a shortage of OB Tampons. “I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re cooking up another video like that in response to the ‘most-hated’ article,” Bernstein says.

If you land on the most-hated list, you’ve done something to seriously tee off your stakeholders, but it’s usually not an offense that requires a deadly serious response. Good crisis management means turning negativity into opportunity, and this is a prime situation. Use the attention to publicize a video or post telling people essentially, “hey, you’re right, we were jerks, and we’re not going to do that any more,” sprinkle in a bit of humor to make it memorable, and improve your chances of avoiding the list next time.

The BCM Blogging Team
http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/

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The First 24 Hours

Published on 20th February 2012 by . 1 Comment. Click to add yours.

Sometimes you can’t prevent a crisis

The combination of social media influence and a breakneck media cycle has made the first 24 hours after a crisis breaks more critical than ever.

On March 1, Jonathan Bernstein will present, “Communicating in Crisis: The First 24 Hours,” a Communitelligence webinar. Focusing on the critical “make it or break it” period right after a crisis hits, Jonathan will lend his decades of experience to speaking about the biggest mistakes in crisis communications, how to initiate a crisis response, the importance of holding statements, internal communications, and more.

We’d also like to thank you for being readers, so enter the code, “bernsteincrisis” at checkout and you’ll receive a 20% discount.

The BCM Blogging Team
http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/

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Loose Lips

Published on 15th February 2012 by . 2 Comments. Click to add yours.

Don’t sink your own ship!

Never interrupt your elders. 60 Minutes last night aired an interview with House Majority Leader Eric Cantor. Correspondent Leslie Stahl was questioning the Congressman about the need for bi-partisan cooperation and said even Cantor’s hero, Ronald Reagan, compromised and raised taxes.

At that point, Cantor’s press secretary off-camera shouted: “That just isn’t true. And I don’t want to let that stand.”  Naturally, 60 Minutes included the unhelpful interjection in their piece.

A spokesman’s job is to prepare his or her boss BEFORE an on-camera interview starts. Once the cameras are rolling, just about the only time a press secretary should interrupt is to announce that the building is on fire.

This quote, from a post on Bill Harlow and Fred Francis’ 15-Seconds blog, is a perfect example of a “spokesman gone wild.” Nothing labels an interviewee as incompetent faster than having interjections from subordinates.

The fact that this results for captivating viewing makes it all the worse, as you can guarantee that the interviewing party will do anything they can to ensure that it’s heard on the broadcast. Once the interview is under way, a press secretary’s job is to sit back, take notes, and figure out how to improve the next interview.

This all leads back to a core component of crisis management: media training. A subject that many C-suiters would rather get a root canal than address, it is THE cornerstone of solid interviews, believability, and, quite often, your reputation. Knowing the fact that the very success of any business, or individual, lies with its reputation, wouldn’t you want to be prepared?

The BCM Blogging Team
http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/

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Improve Your Credibility

Published on 11th February 2012 by . Leave a Comment

Lose people’s trust, and you lose it all.

Credibility is everything when it comes to business and reputation. If people can believe what you say about yourself or your product, then you’ll have an easy time selling. Start lying, however, and you throw that right in the garbage.

If a person or organization has little credibility, the press will be leery. It is even more important to take responsibility when possible. In the age of social media, in which everyone has a public voice, organizations are particularly vulnerable to becoming a negative meme for previously innocuous things, such as a poor customer service incident.

Remember: People and organizations with status, money, and power almost never come across well when they play the victim card. The more popular and wealthy you are, the more vulnerable you will be. The public is rarely sympathetic to a multinational corporation that is defensive. Humility, instead, goes a long way.

This quote, from a PR Daily article by Bob Conrad, hit the nail on the head. Not only are people going to feel no sympathy for a multi-million dollar company (or its leadership), but there are literally thousands of people who log into Twitter every day and search for hashtags like #fail, just to read and comment on whatever others have labeled.

As usual, it all boils down to Crisis Management 101. The rule isn’t “don’t make mistakes,” it’s “ADMIT your mistakes, and then FIX them!”

The BCM Blogging Team
http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/

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FedEx Gets Crisis Management Right

Published on 8th February 2012 by . Leave a Comment

High marks for reputation management via YouTube

Early last month, FedEx came under fire when video of a deliveryman literally hurling a computer monitor over a customer’s fence went viral. Although the video drew millions of hits almost instantly, FedEx’s crisis management team wasn’t far behind.

Taking the sage path of learning from the mistakes of others, FedEx quickly created a response video ala Dominos, featuring Matthew Thornton, III, senior VP of FedEx Express U.S. Operations.

Thornton did a nice job with his apology, ensuring  he mentions that the issue with the customer in question was resolved, the employee at fault has been punished and removed from work with customers, and he assures viewers that FedEx values each and every package.

One thing I would add is a bit more practice time before getting on-camera. Although it may have been difficult given the urgency of posting a response, Crisis Management 101 dictates that your leadership be media trained, or you risk appearing wooden and scripted, which definitely takes a chunk out of your believability factor.

The BCM Blogging Team
http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/

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