Ann Marie Mayuga, AMM Communications, presents Enterprise University Course 231 - Crisis Communications, Reputation Management, and Public Relations

1. EU STL 231: Crisis Communication:
Learn How to Manage the Situation –
Ann Marie Mayuga

2. You are probably
taking this EU
course because you
have a business
that can potentially
be exposed to
public relations risk,
and you’re
wondering how to
handle a crisis
situation.

4. You may not have given much thought
to what you and your colleagues
would do in a crisis.

5. This course will cover the key points of a
crisis communications plan.

6. Afterwards, you will be
better prepared to for a
crisis and know when to
call a PR professional.

7. The Crisis Communication’s Mindset

9. Be concerned,
empathetic,
but calm
when
interacting
with external
and internal
audiences.

10. If business
operations
are
disrupted,
customers
want to
know how
they are
impacted.

11. Regulators may
need to be notified
as well as local
government
officials.

12. Employees need to know what can be
shared with clients, vendors and
partners.

13. Don’t make a crisis worse by appearing
unprepared!

14. #1 Rule of Crisis management – You can only
control your emotions.

15. Identify potential audiences and
company spokespeople ahead of time.

16. Develop a set of talking points ASAP
and don’t release them until you have
approval.

17. Worksheets: Let’s make a list of your
potential crises and pick one to work
on for this course

18. What is your #1 potential crisis that
you want to work on today? Anyone
want to share?

19. Who is your audience during this crisis?

20. Who is/are your
company
spokesperson(s)
?

21. What Constitutes a Crisis?

22. Something that can affect the ongoing
health of your company

23. Does anyone have an
example of something
they have dealt with in
the past?

24. What happened?

25. Does anyone have an example of bad
crisis communications?

26. Even strong companies stumble – Here
are some examples of not managing the
situation. They tried to control it.

27. Anthem Blue Cross – Data breach

28. Volkswagen – Emissions Scandal

29. You may not immediately realize that
you are in a crisis situation, so DON’T…

30. Provide a disorganized and “off-the-
cuff” response which will result in a
sharp public outcry

31. Have a bad attitude: “We are right. You
are wrong and here’s why…”

32. Don’t be dismissive, silent for a long period
of time, or ignore the situation entirely!

33. Run Your Business

34. 10 Golden Rules for Crisis
Communication video

35. IF you can find humor in the crisis, keep
it to yourself and don’t joke about it!

36. Seinfeld on Risk Management video

37. Nothing will convict you in the court of
public opinion faster than making light of
a crisis!

41. How do they want to receive this
information? Phone call, text, email, or
written letter?

42. If they are vocal on social media or
broadcast media, what is your crisis
response plan?

43. Developing the Crisis
Communications Plan

44. Audiences – Let’s look at the list you
created

45. Crisis Communications
Hub & Spoke Diagram

46. Let’s look at the
various spokes of
this plan…

47. Do you have any questions?

48. Crisis Management | Got Bad News?
Spit it out! Video

50. Who was involved?

54. Why did it happen? Don’t speculate!
Just present the facts as they are
known.

55. How do you plan to resolve this crisis?

56. Add your answers to
an approved list of
talking points

57. Talking Points Worksheet: An Opportunity
to Reinforce Your Core Values

58. It’s difficult to transform a
negative to a positive but you
can reinforce your core values

60. Body language: Coach your spokesperson(s)
prior to delivering these talking points

61. Messages – Now, let’s tailor the crisis
communications message for each audience

62. Stakeholders and your
audience want to know how
you plan to rectify the situation

63. Your primary audience –
what is a potential crisis
that you may face that
involves them?

64. Use the worksheet to fill
out the 5 W’s and How?

65. Discussion: any questions or insights?

66. Minto’s Pyramid Principle

67. Just like this PowerPoint slide deck,
support each statement with
additional facts

68. The Key Message is at
the top of the pyramid

69. Supporting
information is in the
successive row below

70. Additional
Talking Points

71. Have you thought of
additional talking points?

72. Why did you develop
these talking points?

73. Who else needs to know?

74. Resources for Crisis Communications

75. The Core Crisis Communications Team

76. Management Team monitors all
communications (Phone calls, social
media, emails etc.)

77. Additional resources - Your
attorney, CPA, financial adviser,
business consultant etc.

78. A PR Professional to provide outside
support

79. Emergency Contact List – Let’s develop a list
and fill out the names for now (numbers
later)

80. Who are you going to
contact first? Use a
“phone tree”, followed
by text, and email.

81. Fill out your vital
contact list of names,
cell numbers, and text
numbers.

82. Optional: A list of
state, local, and
government agencies
to contact

83. Business Partners/Organizations

84. List your business
partners who may be
affected by this crisis

86. The goal is to preserve existing
business relationships and lines of
communication

87. Crisis Communications Tactics

88. The Four R’s of Crisis Communications
(Affect Social Media Whitepaper)

89. Readiness

90. Examine your
company, facilities,
people, products and
environment for
potential risk

92. Sometimes it’s
necessary to
respond before you
have all the facts

93. Begin by acknowledging the situation
and its impact on affected parties

94. Commit to a full
investigation

95. Reassurance

97. Conduct an investigation and develop
an action plan to rectify the situation

99. Managing a crisis on more than just
stopping the bleeding in the short-term

100. It’s also about restoring the company’s
long-term health and reputation!

102. Facebook and Twitter

103. Bad news travels immediately on these
social networks

104. Recognize that there will always be
someone that has a bias against you or
your company

106. On Your Website/Blog

107. Post your press release on the Home
Page ASAP

109. Include the contact information of the
designated spokesperson

110. Reputation Management on Google

111. Positive press releases to move negative
results to the second or third page

112. Set up Google Alerts for
your company name

114. When to call for professional
crisis communications help?

115. There is an impending or current crisis
and don’t want to weather it alone

116. PR Firms help you respond to negative
comments in a way that turns crisis
into opportunity

117. How? Using an authentic
and personal response,
sharing relative content etc.

118. We will help you acknowledge
people’s feelings in a powerful way to
strengthen your brand

120. PR Firms help you
respond quickly, and have
specialized reputation
management strategies

121. Social media contributes
to the recovery of an
offline crisis

122. Outsources social media and
Google Alerts monitoring 24/7

123. The crisis is fluid and rapidly
changing, so you need a 3rd
party outside of the company

125. Remind all employees that only the
designated spokesperson can speak to
the media

126. Be transparent with the PR consultant

127. In conclusion, we covered: 1) The
Crisis Communications Mindset 2)
Developing a Plan and 3) Tactics