It was a brief encounter, only a few seconds, typical of an election campaign when a busy leader meets a non-supporter at a public event and brushes them aside.  Liberal leader Christy Clark abruptly terminated a conversation with a retiree named Linda as Clark walked though the Lonsdale Quay.  It was captured by media following the election.  #IamLinda was born.

An error by zealous Liberal party members to try to make it look like Linda was an NDP plant resulted in a backlash and #IamLinda went viral.  As the campaign wore on, while it was considered an embarrassing moment, few pundits thought it would have much impact when there were other larger issues for the electorate to consider.  On election night, the Liberal incumbent in the North Van Lonsdale was soundly defeated and the BC Liberals came up one seat short of a majority.

There is a risk in giving too much credit to a single event, even one which goes viral however there are PR lessons in this that go beyond politics.

Everyone is watching and they have the evidence.  The safest assumption for a politician, a company or an individual is that everything you do is being observed and recorded.  Incidents take on global implications when captured on a cell phone camera.  Airlines forcibly removing passengers may have resulted in a letter to the editor 20 years ago.  Now everyone sees the evidence and the damage is ongoing.

Small events become big ones if you miss handle them.  #IamLinda shows how a very minor incident can be made much worse if it is mishandled.  These types of encounters happen every time a politician from any party goes out in the public and it almost never gets reported.  But when unfounded accusations are made against a citizen expressing an opinion it becomes social media news even if Linda doesn’t want it to go that far.

Swift corrective action is necessary.   It took six days for BC Liberals to admit their allegations were wrong.  That is nearly one-quarter of the election campaign.  Finding a picture on the internet of Linda and an NDP politician is not evidence of anything more than a citizen who is interested in politics.  Jumping to a wrong conclusion and not correcting it immediately made matters many times worse.

When things go viral – an apology is the best course of treatment. Social media spreads information like a virus and it spreads negative information faster and farther.  United Airlines problems became a global pandemic.  In an election campaign you can’t be sure about the damage until the votes are counted.  For a business you don’t know until you start adding up your sales.  Time is not your friend.  The old adage time heals is now only true if you put the apology Band-Aid on the wound.

Information is permanent and access is democratic (for the most part).  This is a lesson which we will see played out in the coming weeks.  Normally after an election the platform, the policies of a party are soon forgotten only to be resurrected in election attack ads four years later.  A minority government keeps those principles front and centre.  A minority government is by its nature is one of compromise.  Principles often move aside in favour of doing something “for the good of the province.”  This presents a danger to the Greens who doubled their vote, and tripled their seat count.  They have momentum but on the big visible issues they are not in alignment with either major party.   This is what makes the coming weeks so fascinating.  The Greens principles and vision is there for all to see and any compromise, even for the good of the province can easily be misunderstood.  The hashtags are probably already being written.

Donald Trump is breaking every conceivable PR101, 202 and even PR PhD rule and remains completely unaffected by it.  In fact, the more he breaks the rules, the more popular he becomes. So, are those basic public relation rules that we all know outdated?  His communication style is aggressive to the point of stand-up comedy; more propaganda, less public relations. But, for argument’s sake, should we throw out what we know and adopt the shoot-from-the-lip style Trump embodies – especially in the face of a crisis?

In a political nomination campaign, particularly in the United States, you can do the following, apparently without fear of law suits or reprisals:

• Attack competitors
• Call opponents liars
• Threaten to punch protestors in the face
• Be yourself – no matter what
• Make fun of the media who carry your message

Say Trump wins the election. Should you or your company adopt his style and become more aggressive in the face of attacks by the media or critics?  Should you go on the offensive to try to galvanize your supporters? Should you simply thumb your nose at powerful media and treat it and your detractors with disdain?

Consider this: If “the Donald” was your CEO in a crisis and talking about your company’s critics or competitors as he is talking now about his opponents and others, how do you think it would affect your brand?  I suspect his board of directors would be the first to say, “Donald, you’re fired!”

In the real world of business, you simply can’t do what “the Donald” is doing. Why? Because politics is not business reality. So, in light of Trump’s recent antics in the media spotlight, here are some lessons we can all learn:

Never attack your competitors

The first rule of good public relations is you never attack competitors.  Exxon didn’t gloat publically when BP sprung a leak in the Gulf of Mexico. When Walmart parmesan cheese was found to contain cellulose recently, Safeway didn’t run attack ads about it. When you begin throwing stones it’s too easy for the media or the public to pick up some of those same rocks and toss them back at you.

Don’t call opponents liars

“The Donald” calls his opponents liars.  He does this often. It’s his go-to pitch. In a heated public debate which your company may be involved in, calling opponents liars will galvanize opposition and lose you public support.  When you lose your cool, you lose – period. The best strategy is to stick to your facts day in and day out and to let your facts ultimately win the day.  Keep a level-head because the more nasty and out of control your opponents get, the more support you will get.

Don’t threaten to punch protestors in the face

When asked, many a CEO might agree privately, that in certain instances they’d like to punch a protester in the face. Now imagine a big project, like B.C.’s pipelines and Site C dam proposals. Imagine a CEO saying on TV, “I’d like to punch that protestor in the face.” They’d be looking for a new career immediately and the project would be dead.

You can be your own worst enemy

In Trump’s case, this means his shoot-from-the-lip style is not a good idea in a crisis. Being yourself is actually good advice for a CEO facing a crisis, as long as being yourself means you show that you care, admit your mistakes, are truthful and outline a plan to make things right. If you are shaken by what happened, allow it to show, allow your concern to show through – be human. But, if being yourself means you go on the offensive and attack everyone in your path, then save that for the boardroom.

Media don’t like to be made fun of

The media, including social media, carry your message.  Making fun of media pundits, reporters, bloggers and analysts is never a good idea.  It may feel to you like you are winning but the “win” is temporary.  They always get the last word.  You should correct factual errors they have made, point out your positive message, and then take the high road.  The public is smarter than you think.  They will get your message and understand when the media is being unfair.

The bottom line?

Everyone likes to copy a winner; business schools teach investment success models such as Warren Buffett’s. But, we also laud those who break the mold and go against the establishment. Case in point? Donald Trump.

If you copy Donald Trump’s nomination strategy in your business I would say that you do so at your own peril.  Right now, Donald Trump doesn’t need real answers, he just needs one-liners, of which he seems to have an endless supply.  When pushed into a corner he goes on a personal attack, calls someone a liar, raises a boogeyman or mentions 9-11.

A nomination campaign is not the business world or even the real world.  It is more like reality TV.  There is only one measuring stick: winning, and the focus is extremely short term.  There is no tomorrow.

Successful businesses have a long time horizon to consider because the public won’t forget and you don’t get to completely rebrand every four years like a political party does.  Unlike a new political leader, a new CEO doesn’t make all the old negative news magically disappear.

Tags: crisis communications, donald trump, media relations, Public relations

“What we’ve got here is failure to communicate,” is the famous line from the 1967 Paul Newman movie Cool Hand Luke.   It best sums up the Marathassa – Burrard Inlet oil spill and points to a critical failure we often see in a crisis. In planning for a crisis, organizations forget the importance of communication, not only in dealing with the crisis, but also when informing the public.  They plan how to deploy resources and deal with the crisis internally, while often forgetting what exists outside of their organization.

A timeline in the Globe and Mail  shows several communications failures that lead to delays in calling out cleanup and containment crews in the Marathassa spill.  Once deployed, the Western Canada Marine Response Corporation (WCMRC) teams did an excellent job, cleaning up 80 per cent of the oil in 20 hours, but the communication delays turned what might have been a minor incident into a major event.  Those internal communication failures were then compounded by a failure to inform the City of Vancouver until 12 hours after the spill was first reported.  This turned it into a major story.

Rather than being praised for its response, the Coast Guard faced a storm of criticism for an inadequate response and cleanup effort.  The public was unhappy. Local politicians were unhappy.  The Provincial Government was unhappy.  This could not come at a worse time for proponents of expanded crude oil shipments out of the Port of Vancouver.  Oil spill prevention and a world-class response are central to gaining public support.  Public and political sentiment is that this was not world-class. Poor communications lead to a slow response, which let the crisis get out of hand.

The Coast Guard’s prime stakeholder in a crisis situation is not the Federal Government or Coast Guard management in Ottawa.  The Coast Guard’s number one stakeholder in a crisis is the public who they are charged with protecting and that includes local governments who represent all of us.  That stakeholder was forgotten.

So how do you avoid making the same mistakes in your crisis?  Here are seven things to think about:

1) Have a crisis communications plan. Crisis planning is not complete without a crisis communications plan. Who to call (or tweet), when to call (or post on Facebook), what to say, and how to best get your message out.  To be seen to be effectively responding, you have to tell someone about it

2) Alert your communications team right away. Don’t wait until the story is out of control—get the communications team working on the crisis from the outset.   Bringing in heavy hitters from Ottawa didn’t save the Coast Guard’s reputation, nor change the public perception of the crisis.  By then the story was written by the public, the media, and the critics.  The story was “clean up was a failure,” “world-class spill response was anything but” and “Coast Guard cuts made the problems worse.”

3) Prepare your statements in advance. Have fill-in-the-blanks templates for media advisories, statements and news releases for predicted events so you can get those out to the public quickly.  It should include social media channels and your website as well.

4) First out with the information controls the message. The first voices set the narrative, the tone of the story.  It’s your crisis so you know the most and you know first.  Use that to your advantage.  Become the source of accurate information.  Media and the public go to who can provide the best information.  In an information vacuum, they go to who screams the loudest.

5) Know who your stakeholders really are.  Make a list.  Make a list and have it as a key element of your crisis communications plan.  Who they are and how to reach them.  If the public isn’t on the list, they need to be there and the best way to reach them is through the media: both social media and traditional.

6) Define each potential crisis in advance. You should have a list of potential crises, each given a crisis rating based on seriousness and a planned response for each level of crisis.  That way in the heat of the moment you can just follow the plan and effectively manage crisis communications.

7) Exercise the plan often. The worst thing you can do is create a plan and never practice it.  If you regularly deal with minor events, get in the habit of pulling out the plan, assessing the seriousness and whether to call in the communications team.  It’s free practice! Follow the same steps until they become routine.  Use the templates mentioned above.  It should become second nature so when a major crisis happens you know what to do.  If you don’t have regular minor occurrences, then you need to do formal practice until you are confident in your ability in a crisis.

Look at the oil spill and relate it to a crisis your organization could face.  Would you do better or make the same mistakes? If you don’t have a crisis communications plan, or if you have a plan but don’t know how to use it or where it is or who to contact and how to do that, then expect bad news.  A crisis defines your organization.   Your response to a serious event is revealing.

Tags: communications vancouver, crisis communications Vancouver, crisis management, issues management, Media relations vancouver, Vancouver PR

The foundation of successful communication is clear writing.  If you want your message to get across and be taken seriously you need to be clear.

Some people believe that in order to gain attention, their story needs to be BIG and that leads to exaggeration.

One year at CTV Vancouver, we were major offenders ourselves.   We had to ban the term “parent’s worst nightmare” because we used it so often on our newscasts.  It had become lazy shorthand for almost every story involving a child.  A child’s serious life threatening illness was a parent’s worst nightmare.  A child being bullied was also a parent’s worst nightmare.  So too were a murdered child, injured child, a missing child, even a close call involving a child.  It was unnecessary hype which detracted from the news rather than enhancing it.  Our news had become a parent’s worst nightmare.

You see this phenomenon in other storytelling.  I had a chuckle recently when the price of oil rose by about three dollars overnight and business writers said it had “skyrocketed,”“soared,” or “surged” higher.

The writers might defend themselves by saying a  seven per cent overnight move in oil prices, albeit temporary,  is a big move, but in saying so it lacked context.  It ignored the fall that preceded it.  By having a narrow focus on just a few hours, the writers looked foolish to anyone with even a rudimentary knowledge of the oil market.

Imagine you are watching a movie where actor Jackie Chan jumps off a 107 foot tall building.  I like Jackie Chan; he does all his own stunts and has the bruises to show for it.  At the 45 foot mark Jackie hits an awning and bounces up about three feet.  Would movie goers gasp and say “look at him skyrocket! Wow Jackie is soaring!”?  I think not.

Oil had fallen from a high of $107 in the summer to about $45 before thisskyrocketing, soaring, surging move happened.  That’s the proper context.

Here are seven ways to avoid similar news release exaggeration, that makes you and your company look silly:

• Never forget the context. Context is important and relates not only to you but also to your community and sector in which you operate.  So for example, your “best year ever” may be true, but if your competitors have grown twice as fast as you, you might want to focus on something else—like innovation or new product development.
• Don’t be lazy; be creative. Clichés such as “parent’s worst nightmare” are a crutch.  Don’t use what you used last time by default.   Take the time to be creative and get it right.
• Be specific. If it’s your best year ever, what is the measure?  Sales, sales growth, staff growth, profit, happy customers?
• The headline needs to match the story. The headline at the top of the news release needs to be supported by the words below.  A critical error is using a jaw-dropping headline which isn’t supported by the facts.  It causes media blood pressure to shoot up with excitement and they get let down by the content.  A disappointed assignment editor will kill your future story opportunities.
• Stick to what you know and can prove. Facts are important.  Media will want proof and if you can’t prove what you are saying then a positive event can turn negative in a hurry.  Media are like sharks, when they smell blood in the water a feeding frenzy begins.  Don’t believe me?  Ask a media person.  Feeding frenzy is a news media term not limited to the Nature Channel.
• Tell your best unique story. If everyone in your industry is telling the same story, highlight what makes your story unique.  If you can’t think of anything fresh, neither will the media.
• Be flexible. If it’s a busy news day, your story is not getting on.  It means your plans need to be flexible.  If breaking news has made your story no longer relevant for that day, make yourself available tomorrow.  Show you understand the needs of the media and it will pay off down the road.  Don’t get mad that your story was bumped, even if the media cancelled an interview at the last second; get your story out there the next day instead.

One final thought.  Every time you interact with the media you are making an impression, even when the media decides not to run your story.  A good impression means you will get a fair hearing next time while a bad impression closes that door, sometimes forever.

Tags: communications vancouver, Media relations vancouver, Writing

I was in the media for more than 30 years and the first rule is PR and journalism don’t mix. If you want to do PR, you leave journalism. Simple.

In 2011, I was a consumer reporter at CTV and was offered a job as Premier Christy Clark’s press secretary.

When I accepted the position I told CTV immediately, even though the job didn’t start for two weeks, and that brought my TV career to an abrupt end. My story for that night was cancelled; I was allowed to thank all the great people I worked with, clean out my desk and record a 20 second thank you to viewers.

I offered to continue to work off-air for two weeks before I started with government, to assist a new reporter stepping into my old role and CTV politely declined. Its rules were strict and I applaud them.

At CTV, we signed a document which spelled out potential conflicts and the consequences which were dire and immediate. All CTV personnel knew the rules and many like me made career choices.

It appears Toronto Global TV anchor and executive editor Leslie Roberts didn’t make that difficult choice.

According to a Toronto Star investigation, Roberts is the co-owner and creative director of a Toronto PR company BuzzPR and some BuzzPR clients appeared on his show. The Star disclosed Roberts tweeted about some clients to his more than 19 thousand followers and other clients appeared in Global news stories produced by other reporters. In fairness, some of those clients also got stories on other TV stations, which legitimizes their news value.

Global news has suspended Roberts indefinitely while it investigates the allegations.

Roberts’ says he never received direct payment from any client for appearing on his newscasts and never took a salary from BuzzPR, but those clients did pay BuzzPR of which he is a part-owner. He told The Star he went to BuzzPR everyday and conducted media training for clients and helped write media pitches. He told The Star he is resigning from Buzz PR effective immediately.

Global viewers trust the news they see. Primarily they trust that there is a separation between the journalist and businesses or guests featured on news programs. They trust that the people they see interviewed, particularly those playing an “expert” role, are chosen for what they know and not who they know.

How would those viewers have felt if full disclosure had been made such as “my next guest is an expert in widgets and his widget firm is a client of the public relations company of which I am a part-owner and creative director.”

Critics of the media have often charged that advertisers or others use their financial clout to influence the news. In my experience those critics are wrong. I was never prevented from doing any story that positioned an advertiser in a bad light. On occasion, my stories in radio and TV cost my employers a good client and a lot of money, but as an old boss at CKNW used to tell businesses “buying advertising is not news insurance.”

Also no sales person ever suggested to me that I should do a story on a particular business that was an advertiser. We kept sales and news separate. Roberts is a veteran award-winning journalist. He should have known that what he was doing at the very least had the appearance of a conflict of interest.

If we accept his word that at no time did he cross a line, that he was surprised when BuzzPR clients appeared on his show or elsewhere on Global news and that he had nothing to do with those appearances, that still does not explain other findings of The Star investigation: his tweets supporting BuzzPR clients and an apparent positive ad-lib on air about a client with a coupon app.

In my opinion, Roberts had a duty to viewers to disclose any conflicts and he failed in that duty.

Back in September reporter Charlo Greene  of KTVA-TV in Alaska famously quit live on air as she disclosed she was the owner of a medical marijuana business, Alaska Cannabis Club, which she had just finished doing a story on.

Greene’s conflict is direct, Roberts’ is one step removed. Both are serious, in my opinion. Roberts’ credibility as a journalist has been irreparably harmed. I fear the reputations of his clients may be in danger of being tarnished as well because the public may wonder if the reason they got airtime was because of the Roberts connection. That would be unfortunate.

Tags: CTV, journalism, media, media relations, Public relations, reporter

People often think of public relations only in marketing terms. How can we use PR to build our brand? If they don’t see an immediate payoff, they ask  why bother? They are missing the link between positive PR and saving the brand during a crisis. Positive PR is like getting a flu shot, it won’t guarantee you don’t get the bad news flu, but it will make the symptoms less severe.

When a crisis hits, the first step reporters take is to type your name and your company’s name into Google. They are looking for a general impression. What another reporter has said about you will be given a great deal of weight. Reporters trust other reporters above all others.

Step two for a reporter is to search your name and the key crisis words like “fire,” “layoffs” or “complaints,” whatever best describes the crisis. They are looking for how you handled previous events and if there are any stories about your preparedness or lack thereof.

They will search all your social media channels, personal and corporate. They will dig hard and they are really good at it.

Within a few minutes they will form a picture of your corporate or personal character and that will frame an approach to the story in the hours, days, or weeks ahead. It is a picture you will find very hard to change during a crisis. For media there is no grey. It’s black and white, you are the good guy or the bad guy, the victim or the perpetrator.

Try it right now. Search your name, your company’s name. Now search again and add in a crisis word or two. See what comes up. That’s what a reporter will know about you today if bad news strikes in the next few minutes. If you have been keeping a low profile, not telling your positive stories, then reporters will find a void. This void will be filled with bad news when disaster strikes. Your bad news flu just became pneumonia. It might be fatal.

The most overlooked component to effective crisis management is building a positive public reputation in advance of any crisis. You can’t control when a crisis will strike but you can control how you build your reputation in advance of the bad news. This reputation will be the foundation you stand on during the crisis. Create a public perception of your company as a positive member of the community. It will help shape how media and the public will view the crisis story and your efforts to deal with it.

There is an old saying in politics, “If you don’t define yourself, your opponents will define you.” Business is no different. If you don’t define yourself now, the media, your critics or the crisis will do it for you.

An organization with a good public reputation will take a hit but will weather the crisis better than one that the public first hears about when a crisis has struck and the blame game is in full swing.

Now is the time to get your bad news flu shot.

Tags: brand, crisis communications, marketing, personal brand, Public relations, social media

When a well-respected newspaper reporter at a major paper says he received “the saddest press release I’ve ever seen,” it’s definitely worth looking into.

The short email pitch in question promoted the latest book predicting the end of the world, from an author who had incorrectly predicted the end of the world in 2012. Vancouver Sun reporter Douglas Todd, who received the pitch in his inbox, wrote, “I am speechless. The things that publicity companies will do for their paying {delusional} clients.”

Reporters get a lot of releases. On a single day as assignment editor at CTV in Vancouver in 2001, I got over 2,000 pages of faxes, all claiming to be news. Today the internet has made it even worse, because delivery is easy and free.

So here is my top-10 list for getting noticed and avoiding becoming “the saddest press release I’ve ever seen.”

A news release needs to be actual news. That’s why we call them newsreleases. They need to be a news story that meets the standards of the particular outlet, including bloggers.

Link it to a current issue. The media don’t really care that you are opening up another restaurant in a city full of them. But these days, if you are training local workers and providing opportunities for the unemployed, that is news.

Solve a problem. Too often news stories present problems without solutions. The public craves solutions. I was a TV consumer reporter for almost 10 years and many of my stories showed viewers how they could solve issues themselves in the real world. In news-speak it’s “news you can use.”

Focus on those affected, not on yourself. The more people affected, the bigger the story. If your news release is all about you, the newsroom won’t care. Show the individuals who are positively affected, what assignment editors call “real people,” and give reporters access to them as part of your pitch.

It’s not an ad. If your news release reads like an advertisement, the assignment editor is going to say “go buy an ad.” Replace your company name with your competitor and then see if your family would watch or read that story. If not, it isn’t news.

Give it context. I worked with an assignment editor who would ask the same short questions every time you went out on a story and when you returned: “Biggest ever? Worst ever? Best ever?” He was really asking reporters to give the story some context so the public understood its importance.

Facts are good. You don’t need to overwhelm reporters with facts but key facts that support a story are welcome. If you don’t provide facts, reporters will go looking for them on the internet and as we know many internet “facts” aren’t true. So do some of that research for a reporter and provide them with the facts they need.

Timing may be everything. If you have the greatest school backpack ever made, that ensures children don’t get sore backs, it makes sense to tell the world when parents are out buying for back-to-school, not at Christmas.

Be the good example. Many businesses large and small give to charity and they hope to get a mention in a charitable foundation’s thank-you news release. Next time, take a leadership role by encouraging others in the community to join the cause and show how giving impacts real people. You see the difference? It’s not about you and the big cheque, and getting thanks for it. It’s about the real people that benefit as a result. They represent the larger picture.

Pick the right media targets. Not all news releases are suitable for all outlets. So being more selective can improve your results. Customizing the release and its style can improve pick-up as well.

If I were choosing the saddest news release, it would be the one that follows all the 10 points, gets the media all excited, after which the client says they are too busy for interviews. Getting media pickup is not easy and you don’t get second chances.

Tags: current events, media, news release, newsworthy, press release, Writing

The day before he was to be introduced as the next Vancouver Canucks president of hockey operations, Trevor Linden says he was put in an impossible situation during a live TV interview. He told Global News he had never talked to the Vancouver Canucks about the job. “I had never really thought about it to be honest,” he said. After four and a half minutes, he ended by saying an announcement was not imminent. It would soon be revealed that none of this was true.

The next day, he was apologizing as he was introduced as the team’s new president of hockey operations. The Province newspaper called it a “barefaced lie” while its blog editorial was titled, “Lying to fans is no way for Linden to win their trust.” SportsNet called it a “white lie” and the Vancouver Sun said Linden “wasn’t completely honest.”

As Linden explains his responses to questioning on live TV, he didn’t want to disclose that he had talked to the Aquilini family, owners of the Canucks, because he was trying to protect Mike Gillis, who was about to be fired, and the integrity of the process. He says he had to do what he did. And he did it calmly for four and a half minutes.  

Whether Canucks fans think it matters or not, there is a huge PR lesson here for everyone else.

Linden’s ‘impossible situation’ was of his own making. It shows that, even if you have done thousands of media interviews, you need to be properly prepared and you need to know when to say no. Here’s what he should have done.

Impose a media blackout The safest and smartest step for Linden would have been the media blackout. It’s a common step corporations take when there is big news they don’t want to leak out — and this was big news. As soon as he got into discussions with the Canucks, he should have gone off-the-grid, cutting off all contact with the media and cancelling all personal appearances, especially media interviews. This was not the time to go on TV to promote a new fitness concept.

Be prepared If he was determined to go on television or thought he might be tracked down by a diligent reporter, he should have anticipated the most obvious question: Have you been approached by the Aquilinis? The best answer would have been: “I have met the Aquilini family, but I am not in a position to disclose the details of those discussions.” Simple and truthful while respecting the process and soon-to-be-fired general manager Mike Gillis.

There are lessons for all of us:

• Each media opportunity needs to be assessed on its own merits. Sometimes the best answer is “no thank you.”
• Anticipate and be prepared for all media questions
• Prepare a toolkit of responses for any question that could catch you off-guard
• Negotiate the interview up front and get assurances any questions you can’t respond to won’t be asked
• Be prepared if the reporter asks those questions anyway

Trevor Linden’s brand credibility took a hit with fans and the media. He was right to apologize. It is sad that the entire incident could have been avoided.

You can bet the next time he does an interview, someone in the media will be thinking: “Is he telling the truth?” How long that will last is the great reputation unknown.

Tags: brand credibility, interview, media interview, media relations, Public relations, Vancouver Canucks

It’s the goal of every PR professional to get a good headline. In the case of bad news, the goal is to avoid the cringe-worthy one. The cringe-worthy headline is even worse when it’s a self-inflicted wound, based on an actual quotation.

Take this headline from the Globe and Mail last month, “Canada Post CEO defends delivery cuts, says seniors will get more exercise.” Trying to find the silver lining in a dark cloud of negative news is not a good strategy. The “positive spin” of forcing seniors out of their homes to collect mail from a community box rates an eight out of 10 on the cringe-worthy scale. Canada Post CEO Deepak Chopra lost the good headline where the rationale for the decision could have been explained. Instead he was mocked by MP’s at an emergency session of a House of Commons committee for his “mail Participaction”.

It is unlikely you or I will ever be called before a Commons committee, emergency or otherwise, to be grilled by partisan MP’s, but a news conference bears all the same characteristics, especially when you are there to deliver bad news. Reporters can be just as tough as opposition politicians.

Here are my top 10 tips for avoiding the cringe-worthy quote.

1. KISS – Keep it Short and Simple.Because your announcement is “big news,” you feel that you need to hold an hour long news conference so the media gets the full story. Wrong. You need to hold a news conference which is just long enough to give the media what they need for a story, without giving them what they want, which is the negative comment headline. News conference success is measured in messages and not minutes. You don’t have to sit there and take an endless string of questions. In fact, reporters don’t like long news conferences, so you aren’t doing them any favours. Make your opening statement, answer a few questions make a wrap up comment and get out. If you find questions are becoming repetitive, you’ve already stayed too long.

2. Have the news conference professionally moderated. A CEO is at the top for a reason. Unfortunately turning to others for help often isn’t one of them. The stronger the CEO’s personality, the more they usually think they can “handle the media” by themselves. There is a reason politicians have someone run their news conferences. It’s so they can concentrate on providing the best responses to the questions. It is too much to expect one person to answer questions, keep track of who is up next, and not let one reporter dominate the news conference while at the same time judge the mood of the room and decide when it is a good time to wrap up. A moderated news conference stays on track and on topic. Professionals hire professionals to help them.

3. Don’t try to defend the indefensible, express regret instead. When you are delivering bad news, nobody thinks it’s funny. A glib response makes headlines (see above) and shows disrespect to those adversely affected. Present the facts and the reasons you are being forced to take the actions you are taking and the consequences of doing nothing. Don’t try to find the good news spin. It’ll just make you look ridiculous at best, insensitive, elitist and uncaring at the worst and your message will get lost.

4. Make a plan and stick to it. Every news conference needs a plan. It should be laid out minute by minute from when to give media the information (always before you start) through to how long you will speak and how long you set aside for questions. You should know which media members are coming, how they are likely to view the announcement and what questions they will ask.

5. Get media training on your specific announcement with real former reporters. Simulating a rough ride from veteran reporters will pay off. There is no substitute for being prepared and having specific training for your news conference with professionals putting you through your paces. You need to train until you are comfortable with whatever might happen. You should never be surprised by what is asked or how it is asked. But if there is something way off base, being trained how to deal with that scenario will ensure you don’t make the cringe-worthy comment. Again having a moderator there, managing the news conference, is crucial.

6. Practice. Media training is not one time only. There is no substitute for actually practicing it. You should have the team put you through your paces until you are comfortable. And don’t forget a refresher just before you go out to face the media.

7. Run your key messages and Q&A by a real former reporter. It’s like getting a second opinion. You get the fresh set of eyes and a fresh perspective. Remember that reporters are outsiders, so when you bring someone in for another look, they are simulating the reporter experience and are more likely to ask what a reporter will. No matter how thorough you are, I’ll guarantee they’ll find something that could trip you up. It doesn’t mean your communications team has done a bad job. It simply a matter of perspective.

8. Give the media the facts and rationale before you start. To tell your story, the media needs to have your story. The most common mistake that ensures a bad news conference experience and bad news coverage is giving the media the information when it is over. To ask intelligent questions, to understand your point of view, they need the information before you start and in time to digest it all. Then they will concentrate on the highlights you give them during the news conference.

9. Give the media what they need not what they want. What reporters want is enough time to ask questions that will get you to say or do something stupid, which for a reporter is a golden moment. What reporters need is enough information to do a story. That means they need to get only enough time to ask questions that supplement the information you have given them. It’s a lot less time than you think, particularly if you have already given them a clear set of facts. Give them the story you want by giving them only what they need.

10. Stay on script and on message. This is often the hardest step, avoiding message drift. I put it last because everything above leads to this. Doing the other nine steps will naturally help you to stay on script and on message. If you get the urge to go rogue, don’t do it, or you can guarantee what the headline will be. And I’ll have more ammunition for a blog post.

Tags: communication, headlines, key messages, media relations, newsworthy, Public relations, storytelling

A picture is still worth more than 1000 words.  The furor over the cover of the Rolling Stone proves that once again.

The cover depicts accused Boston Marathon bomber Jahar Tsarnaev but unlike the 1970’s cover of Charles Manson which showed a demonic killer, this cover shows someone who could be the latest teen heartthrob.

Reaction has been swift and damaging to the Rolling Stone’s reputation, a reputation founded on the cache of being on the cover as much for the often profanity laced articles inside.

The PR mistake that Rolling Stone made was failing to understand that emotions were still raw surrounding this terrible event. The editors forgot PR 101, lesson one, people react emotionally to what they see and not what they read.

What they saw and are fixated on is the picture.  The words “bomber” and “monster” don’t come close to balancing that, even in bold, large print.

A picture is still worth more than 1000 words.  In this case it’s worth hundreds of thousands of tweets threatening never to read the magazine again, and some retailers pulling the magazine from circulation so as not to offend their customers.

Having created its own “PR Crisis” the steps that Rolling Stone have taken are good ones:

• Publishing the entire article so that people can read for themselves that the article does not glorify a “monster”.
• Giving away its cover story,  so that Rolling Stone is not seen to be benefiting from the controversy
• Acknowledging the bombing victims at the top of the article and explaining why they pursued the story

The article is legitimate. TV entertainment shows do this all the time.  Sometimes entertainment news just becomes news.

In 1970 Rolling Stone published a Charles Manson cover story, but the picture demonized Manson. This one didn’t.  It showed the boy next door or the newest rock star.  The public wanted to see the devil and they saw themselves.

It has been 40 years since Dr. Hook released “The Cover of the Rolling Stone” a song which immortalized what it meant to get on the cover. The public hasn’t forgotten what that means.

If Rolling Stone had a do-over they would pick a different cover.

Will it do permanent damage?

Only time will tell.

Tags: Boston Marathon, communications, controversy, crisis, PR Crisis, Public relations, Rolling Stone, social media