Before a crisis hits your company, use PR to get your plan ready

If a hurricane or tornado were coming toward your area, you would probably know exactly what to do. You would board up the windows, gather your family and maybe discuss your escape route. However, do you know what to do if a potential disaster hits your business?

A crisis can be as devastating for your company as severe weather is on a town. As with the damage from a major storm, some don’t make it; some eventually crawl out from under the rubble; and others make it through relatively unscathed. With help from PR and a comprehensive crisis plan, your company can prepare for and increase your chances for surviving a business disaster.

Let PR show you how to make sure the public sees you as the superhero, not the villain

A crisis can occur in any company at any time. This is one area where size does not matter. While there’s no way to truly plan for every type of disaster, there are actions you can take today to help prevent a crisis tomorrow. One way is through reputation management.

When a crisis occurs, it can damage your brand. Part of your brand is your reputation. With help from PR for reputation management, you can protect your company and control your image.

By Wendy Bulawa Agudelo

Lately, Starbucks has been earning headlines for its Race Together campaign, designed to stimulate dialogue about the controversial topic of race relations. Americans immediately took to social media with unrest, questioning why a coffee behemoth would take on the dialogue – and, more importantly, why it would use handwritten #racetogether scribbles on disposable coffee cups to engage customers on a topic so controversial.

Would you like a discussion about race with your latte this morning?

By Lisa Goldsberry

You’ve probably seen all the news reports and social media posts about Starbucks’ latest PR campaign. In case you’ve just emerged from a deep cave and missed it, here’s the gist: In order to spark discussions about race relations between employees and customers, the world’s most famous coffee chain has begun writing “Race Together” along with customers’ names on their coffee cups.

Use the Axia PR crisis communication e-book to prepare yourself

If your company experienced a major catastrophe and your phones were ringing off the hook with reporters demanding answers and information, would you know what to do? Your customers and other key stakeholders would also be waiting to see how you respond. What’s the best way to address their concerns, remain truthful  and still protect your brand?

When a crisis hits, you won’t have time to pontificate. You will need to know best practices and take decisive action. With the Axia PR e-book Managing Public Relations in a Crisis, you can better prepare yourself to hit the ground running.

After a massive data breach, a failed expansion into Canada and increasing negativity from employees, Target's recent decision to rescind the job offers of dozens of new corporate hires was the latest in a string of blunders plaguing the big-box retail store. Target recently opted to terminate 40 of its newest team members within two weeks of their expected start date – with no explanation, except that their positions were no longer available.

The Minneapolis-based, mammoth retailer should have anticipated the potential repercussions of such a decision before dismantling 40 corporate jobs without explanation. This latest flub has brought about a flurry of negative media scrutiny and speculation concerning Target’s financial performance and a potential class-action lawsuit. And worst of all, Target is sending a message that its employees (and its reputation) aren't valued.

By Jonathan Bernstein and Jason Mudd, APR

Current events demonstrate that a crisis can strike a company at any time. It's a matter of when, not if. Don’t think that it can’t happen to you. 

Natural and man-made disasters happen all the time and often without notice. No one knows when or if events like the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, SARS, anthrax, or a tornado may occur. In these times, every business must be prepared. Otherwise, you risk the possibility that the media will drag your company through the wringer and allow the public to judge you by scandalous front-page headlines.

How you can use these recent PR crises to your company’s advantage

In the last couple of months, there have been numerous high-profile crises all over the news. An unexpected crisis can happen to any company at any time. How you handle it can either make or break the reputation you’ve worked so hard to build.

Consumers choose your brand based on their perceptions of your company. Get familiar with these case study stories to minimize the chances of your company and its good name being ruined in the event of a major (or minor) calamity.

While the tumultuous Sony waters continue to swirl, public relations professionals stand on the shore, attempting to discern how a behemoth corporation like Sony could have allowed so many PR flubs to occur – seemingly overnight. The most obvious question is whether or not Sony Pictures is so full of its arrogant Hollywood ego that it believes itself safe from attack and its employees absolutely protected from public scrutiny.

No business wants to deal with a PR crisis. In today’s instant-news world, a mistake or blunder can swiftly tarnish a hard-earned, respected reputation. In 2014, there was no shortage of PR gaffes, and most were avoidable. Axia Public Relations developed a list of the top 2014 preventable PR disasters that prove that even the largest, most well known corporations are not goof-proof.

A common theme in this year’s list of major PR goofs is the mishandling of social media. Three major players: DiGiorno, a subsidiary of Nestlé, Oreo, owned by Nabisco, and transportation leader DHL all bungled their use of social networking service Twitter in 2014. By using less-than-savvy tactics and little forethought, all three corporations outraged consumers with insensitive and outrageous tweets. The takeaway: Because of the instantaneous and widespread nature of social media, it is critical that companies use extreme care when posting to social media outlets.