Can’t afford to hire a PR consultant? Left to handle media crisis all by yourself? Let this Academy piece be your guide
Landing a press coverage is often a cause for celebration; finally all of your hard work is being recognised by the media, and you just cannot imagine the opportunities it might lead to.
But unfortunately many startups found their names in the headline for all the wrong reasons.
From public spat between co-founders, sexual harassment scandals, protests, to illicit content appearing on your site, with their limited resources, early stage startups can only wish to have a strong team of public relations professionals backing them up in times of crisis.
“Data breaches, customer service debacles, recall fiascos –crises are everywhere, and countless institutions have been sunk by an unseen bombshell,” Burson-Marsteller Indonesia Market Leader Nia Pratiwi explains to e27.
“But in many cases, it isn’t the crisis itself that causes an organisation to flounder; too often it’s a organisation’s response to the crisis that causes the greatest damage,” she warns.
The public relations and communication consultancy has won an Asia Pacific Gold SABRE Award for their work in handling media crisis for Big Daddy Entertainment, a concert promoter who aimed to bring singer Lady Gaga to perform a concert in Jakarta in 2012. The concert faced rejection from religious hardliner groups, leading to the authorities’ refusal to issue permit for it.
Though the concert ended up being cancelled, with proper care, the promoter was able to gather neutral to positive media coverage during the time of crisis.
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So what are the steps that startups need to take when faced with a media crisis? Let these insights shared by Pratiwi be your guide:
Do they know it’s a crisis?
The first lesson that startups need to take is identifying the crisis itself. So is there any solid definition for a media crisis?
“Crisis usually comprises of several key components like high negative impact, unpredictability (results, impact, etc.) and involves potential amplifiers (like media, social media, or other stakeholders). What’s makes crisis different from emergency is that despite of the negative situation in emergency, there is a clear SOP to mitigate the issue and containment plan is relatively clear,” Pratiwi says.
In this digital era, it is almost impossible to the deny the role of social media in amplifying a crisis. In fact, Pratiwi notes that many crises began in social media platforms.
So how does one know that it is time to take action? Or is it okay to remain silent and give “no comment” during crisis?
“Action should be taken, be it solving internal issue or fixing the cause of problem, but there is no exact formula or clear distinctive factor to decide when to respond or stay silent. It will all depend on the assessment of severity of issue, reach of impact, who are stakeholders involved and what are the facts that are available,” she answers.
The steps to take –and to avoid
Due to the uncertain nature of media crisis, it is important to have flexibility and keen assessment of the situation. But generally, these are the standard operating procedures (SOPs) in handling a media crisis:
Step 1: Be honest with yourself
Organisations should never, ever put the blame as to customers’ fault or some other forms of “unforeseeable, unavoidable stroke of bad luck.”
As Pratiwi has explained, oftentimes the issues that led to the crisis are caused from within and aggravated by the organisation itself. Honesty helps leaders to get to the root of the problems and capably address them.
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Step 2: Act carefully but quickly
The next step to take is crafting a strategic plan to diagnose the problem with a dedicated team. In this process, startups should consider all options, no matter how difficult and undesirable they are.
“Once a decision has been made and a plan has been developed and vetted, it must be put it into action as quickly as possible. Time is usually of the essence in such scenarios, so there can be no dillydallying or feet dragging. When crises demand same-day responses, delays can be perceived as incompetence or even indifference, both of which can exacerbate a crisis,” Pratiwi explains.
But what if there is more time available to consider the solutions? Then take it. But remember to keep on being careful and quick.
Step 3: Stay focussed
Startups need to be aware that just because they have managed to execute their action plan, it does not mean that there will not be any further challenge and setback from surfacing.
Competitors might take this opportunity to drag you even deeper to the mud; startups might even see their previous mistakes and controversies be added to the brewing storm.
“If you start to lose focus on the big picture, it might be necessary to take step back from the situation and reassess it, or even seek outside advice. But it’s important not to despair. If your plan is sound and the organisation’s intentions are good, then push through the discomfort and uncertainty,” Pratiwi encourages.
Grabbing the microphone
How about using your own personal Medium or Facebook page to address a crisis? This seems to be a popular route taken by many startup founders in crisis as it gives them the opportunity to tell their side of the story –and hopefully steer the narrative to their favour.
While Pratiwi does not think this is wrong, the action has to be taken with caution.
“If the startup founders’ personal social media channels have been consistently putting out positive and relevant content, then they could use blog, Facebook page or Twitter thread to address issue during crisis. However, this should be published in parallel or followed with an official statement from the company on its official channels,” she says.
“The founders’ personal message would give a more human touch that could potentially diffuse a crisis situation,” she adds.
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In addition to making sure that one’s social media channels are “clean”, with messages that are in line with the company’s stance on the issue, founders should also be sympathetic and straightforward in addressing the issue.
And please, do not bring one’s personal political or strict religious view in the statement.
In principal, there are four things that startups need to avoid:
1. Be defensive and hostile
2. Move and react based on assumptions
“It is important to gather all the facts and verify them, but don’t wait until you have all the facts then communicate, as stakeholders would be anxious and every piece of verified fact can help to manage and contain the crisis.”
3. Under-estimate complaints or neglect reactions from stakeholders
4. Assuming that people understands you
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Image Credit: Kayla Velasquez on Unsplash
The post Save it for a rainy day: How startups can handle media crisis like a pro appeared first on e27.
