In a crisis, NEVER late is better . . .

What do Tiger Wood, British Petroleum and Jet Blue all have in common?

All three were late responding to a crisis.

Responding instantly in an age of instant communications is pretty much Rule Number One of crisis management. When newspapers ruled the news world you had 24 hours to come up with a response. With television, about a day. Today, news travels at TwitterSpeed. Your crisis has been blogged world-wide before you can say, "Houston, we have a problem."

Four good rules to remember about crisis management:

Prevent crisis. Not always possible, but in Tiger's case, certainly. Assume that if you do something, anything, it will end up in the public view sometime, somehow. And once it's on the internet, it's there forever.

Plan for crisis and remember, a crisis can come at any time, from any direction. The Jet Blue / Steven Slater incident is a classic example. It took Jet Blue two days to stop gaping and start talking. Hint: Talking to a crisis management expert today can mitigate many future problems when a crisis strikes,

Don't stall or spin. Spin is distortion of the facts. When you're wrong, admit it. Then, immediately redirect the story by talking about how you're fixing the problem. In BP's case, they should have immediately said, "Look, we screwed up Big Time, we're really sorry. We're cleaning it up and we have an Economic Disaster Response Team walking up and down the coast handing out big wads of cash to the folks who are being financially damaged by all of this. We're also taking steps to make sure this never, ever happens again."

Be empathetic. In the wake of 11 dead oil riggers, BP CEO Tony Hayward could not have been less empathetic when he whined about wanting his life back.

Dennis Dean is an Emmy-winning former reporter and crisis management consultant with Dean Group Media. He may be reached via email or at 262-238-8740.

Marketing with Video Pt V PR Support, Community Relations

PR Support and Community Relations

Nothing promotes a cause better than video!

Video News Releases (VNRs) – News releases can be pretty dry. Stock your news release room with video and you’ll tell a far more compelling story. Use video to support important company announcements – and start focusing on the customer, not the company.

PR Support Materials - Successful PR practitioners make it easy for networks, bloggers, reporters, trade pubs and others to promote their industry by providing video of company and industry-related b-roll, cover video and sound bites. Offer the video that will make their stories more interesting and they’ll be more likely to use.

Community Relations Video – If you’re a responsible corporate citizen, show it off. Capture your efforts on video for the world to see. If you don’t toot your own horn – who will? Blend coverage of your efforts and your not-for-profit partner dedicated to an issue (charity, agency, etc.) and you substantially increase the odds of your video being used.

Event Presentation video – Events are a great opportunity for picking up video of your corporate execs, sales leaders and product experts in action. Presentations based on these events are useful and valuable for internal and external audiences.

Round Tables - Put your best customers and other industry experts around a table and let them talk – about industry trends, issues and the future of your industry. It’s highly valuable content and, again, beneficial to internal and external audiences.

Q&A Expert sessions. Trade shows and other industry events present great opportunities for flattering industry experts with offers to interview them. Informal question and answer sessions on topics of concern to your customers will present high caliber video that draws viewers and prospects.

Dennis Dean is an Emmy-winning video expert, communications consultant and Managing Partner of Dean Group Media. Email him at dennis@deangroup.com