Crisis Communications for Small Businesses
So you’ve done everything you can to publicize your company in a positive light. But despite all your hard work, someone takes a negative sentence out of context and runs with it. A customer complains on Facebook. The press misunderstands one comment you’ve said and takes it out of context. An animal rights group attacks your brand. Although unfortunate, these situations can potentially destroy all you’ve worked for unless you do something. But what is the right response?
Having a crisis management plan in place for just such an occasion will help to mitigate the negative press and limit the damage. It is the key to alleviating worry and preventing further discussion by the media. Small businesses have just as much at stake as larger ones. One negative comment by the media has the potential to bring your whole business down if you don’t have a plan in place to respond.
That’s why it’s a good idea to have a crisis communications manager in your pocket that will help you navigate through difficult press. You don’t have to hire someone full time, just an expert that you can consult with from time to time that will build a crisis communication plan for you and be ready should the worst happen. A crisis communications specialist in Chicago will assess each crisis and develop an appropriate response. In some cases a prepared statement is used only reactively. In others, the crisis communication manager will prepare you for televised interviews, web statements, and more. As needed, the crisis communication manager will draft appropriate press releases to address the situation. In effect, the job of the crisis communication manager is to protect your brand from negative press and help you get through bad publicity with your company image intact.
Great crisis communication managers can also help you head off internal situations by helping you with policies, setting up crisis channels in advance, and helping you assess the mindset of your employees. Keeping your employees well informed and making sure there is good communication will reduce the chances that an employee will negatively comment on a social media site or other places about your company and cause a public relations problem.
With a little advanced planning, with the help of a crisis communication manager, you can protect your brand and company image from negative press and comments.
Monday, February 27, 2012
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Public Relations & Social Media: What Gives?
Social Media Public Relations :: Social Media Marketing
The main question on everybody's mind is, “Where exactly should social media fall in our business structure?” It’s not an easy question to answer as different organizations have different strengths, weaknesses and established silos of discipline. The answer becomes even harder when my own honest answer is somewhat contradicted by my own agency’s architecture, with social media standing as it’s own department and almost stand-alone component of the marketing mix.
My honest answer is that social media should be the responsibility of public relations. The reason is simple.
Social media is a method of communications. Social media tools facilitate these communications. To be effective in social media, whether as a marketer or just an ordinary participant, you must, first and foremost, communicate well.
Yes, social media tools are mostly driven by technology. But they are driven by technology to deliver a message or messages. You don’t trust your IT department to layout your print ad. Why would you trust them to run your blog?
As said before, we are in an era of technology transition. Communications professionals are learning quickly that to be relevant and effective in the age of social computing, there’s more to competency than communication skills. Technology has become a requirement of the skill set. Yet, so many communications professionals – from public relations professionals to customer service staff and from copywriters to journalists – are horribly deficient in average computer understanding, much less that of web-based technologies and tools.
Therefore, I would not plant social media efforts totally on the shoulders of the public relations staff today, unless of course your PR department can exhibit the kind of tech-savviness required to accept the responsibility. I would, instead, employ a specialist in social media (or hire an agency with one … have no idea who I’d recommend though … heh) who reports to the same person or department as the public relations director with both instructed to work hand-in-hand on social media projects.
What is most telling in your PR and social media efforts is the message. And that is most likely already being supplied by your public relations or communications arm. If you see social media as technology-driven, you probably have your website run by the IT department when it often is, first and foremost, a marketing mechanism.
As soon as three to five years from now, I see social media marketing as an almost exclusive domain of public relations professionals, so long as we get our collective heads out of our asses and learn how to do it. Some of us are there. Many of us are not. Too many of us think social media is newspapers in Eastern Europe.
In my mind, social media is essentially public relations in the online world. Divide the category up by component — blogs, social networks, microblogging, podcasts/Web TV, wikis/collaborative software — they each ladder in some way to a component of public relations — writing, corporate communications, community relations, media relations, event management.
PR as social media owner in many ways also addresses the concern of the online community that marketers don’t belong. Assuming we can trim away the corporate speak and manage transparent communications efforts in years to come, public relations representatives are the least likely to sell and most capable of speaking as humans to humans, rather than up-selling hucksters to “consumers.”
Where should social media fall in the corporate structure? Right now, it depends. Tomorrow? Social media will evolve into components of a sophisticated public relations effort. The only question in my mind is, will public relations evolve to embrace it?
The main question on everybody's mind is, “Where exactly should social media fall in our business structure?” It’s not an easy question to answer as different organizations have different strengths, weaknesses and established silos of discipline. The answer becomes even harder when my own honest answer is somewhat contradicted by my own agency’s architecture, with social media standing as it’s own department and almost stand-alone component of the marketing mix.
My honest answer is that social media should be the responsibility of public relations. The reason is simple.
Social media is a method of communications. Social media tools facilitate these communications. To be effective in social media, whether as a marketer or just an ordinary participant, you must, first and foremost, communicate well.
Yes, social media tools are mostly driven by technology. But they are driven by technology to deliver a message or messages. You don’t trust your IT department to layout your print ad. Why would you trust them to run your blog?
As said before, we are in an era of technology transition. Communications professionals are learning quickly that to be relevant and effective in the age of social computing, there’s more to competency than communication skills. Technology has become a requirement of the skill set. Yet, so many communications professionals – from public relations professionals to customer service staff and from copywriters to journalists – are horribly deficient in average computer understanding, much less that of web-based technologies and tools.
Therefore, I would not plant social media efforts totally on the shoulders of the public relations staff today, unless of course your PR department can exhibit the kind of tech-savviness required to accept the responsibility. I would, instead, employ a specialist in social media (or hire an agency with one … have no idea who I’d recommend though … heh) who reports to the same person or department as the public relations director with both instructed to work hand-in-hand on social media projects.
What is most telling in your PR and social media efforts is the message. And that is most likely already being supplied by your public relations or communications arm. If you see social media as technology-driven, you probably have your website run by the IT department when it often is, first and foremost, a marketing mechanism.
As soon as three to five years from now, I see social media marketing as an almost exclusive domain of public relations professionals, so long as we get our collective heads out of our asses and learn how to do it. Some of us are there. Many of us are not. Too many of us think social media is newspapers in Eastern Europe.
In my mind, social media is essentially public relations in the online world. Divide the category up by component — blogs, social networks, microblogging, podcasts/Web TV, wikis/collaborative software — they each ladder in some way to a component of public relations — writing, corporate communications, community relations, media relations, event management.
PR as social media owner in many ways also addresses the concern of the online community that marketers don’t belong. Assuming we can trim away the corporate speak and manage transparent communications efforts in years to come, public relations representatives are the least likely to sell and most capable of speaking as humans to humans, rather than up-selling hucksters to “consumers.”
Where should social media fall in the corporate structure? Right now, it depends. Tomorrow? Social media will evolve into components of a sophisticated public relations effort. The only question in my mind is, will public relations evolve to embrace it?
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
5 Awesome PR Tips for 2012
Be a Relationship Master
Form relationships with other local businesses that cater to your customers. Ask them to offer a discount to their customers if they mention coming from their store when they purchase from you. Feel free to reciprocate.
Co-Tweet about your Firm and your Clients
The simple act of having your tweet out there twice can not only double your exposure, but generate revenue and a following. It will also increase your audience diversity twofold! Switch it up by having people put a different spin on the story.
Turn Twitter into your own Personal Newsroom
Form relationships with other local businesses that cater to your customers. Ask them to offer a discount to their customers if they mention coming from their store when they purchase from you. Feel free to reciprocate.
Co-Tweet about your Firm and your Clients
The simple act of having your tweet out there twice can not only double your exposure, but generate revenue and a following. It will also increase your audience diversity twofold! Switch it up by having people put a different spin on the story.
Turn Twitter into your own Personal Newsroom
The beauty of Twitter is that it's instant. You can quickly release news or information about a company, create unified stories, submit press releases and, by using an app, track how those articles are viewed.
Be Consistent!
Use it all, use it consistently, and use it properly. Don't just join Twitter or Facebook and only post about your products. Be a part of the online communities and really participate. Reply, comment, and give back...don't just take. Also, it’s clear all you're doing is marketing when you join a site and only post your business info, and no profile photo as well as not a single blog written or comment given — this is the fastest way to be forgotten or bypassed by visitors. Fill out profiles completely, and post up some helpful blog posts.
Be Consistent!
Use it all, use it consistently, and use it properly. Don't just join Twitter or Facebook and only post about your products. Be a part of the online communities and really participate. Reply, comment, and give back...don't just take. Also, it’s clear all you're doing is marketing when you join a site and only post your business info, and no profile photo as well as not a single blog written or comment given — this is the fastest way to be forgotten or bypassed by visitors. Fill out profiles completely, and post up some helpful blog posts.
Be Unique!
Small businesses have an advantage over big businesses: a unique voice. That voice is the result of a tight-knit culture and typically one of a leader who has intimate knowledge of their brand strategy because he or she is the brand. Small businesses should capitalize on who they are and what makes them special by letting the dreamers and do-ers share what’s going on behind the scenes.
Small businesses have an advantage over big businesses: a unique voice. That voice is the result of a tight-knit culture and typically one of a leader who has intimate knowledge of their brand strategy because he or she is the brand. Small businesses should capitalize on who they are and what makes them special by letting the dreamers and do-ers share what’s going on behind the scenes.
Monday, February 20, 2012
Small Businesses & Social Media: How to Market on Facebook
Is it a good idea to market on Facebook? Most marketing and PR Firms will say yes - why? Exposure. And a clear way to get your message across in the way you really want it to be seen. It's incredibly important
One thing is for sure: small businesses in general see value in advertising online. Internet ad spending is expected to increase world-wide by roughly 17% this year and account for 16% of total media spending, according to research firm eMarketer.
What’s more, U.S. ad spending on social media alone is expected to increase 61% this year to $1.6 billion, according to Forrester Research Inc.
Readers, if you advertise online, what platform gives you the best bang for your buck? If you don’t, what’s holding you back and what other ways do you promote your business on the Web?
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Getting Buzz for Your New Business
When it comes to getting the buzz going for a new business, there is nothing better than securing publicity in the local press.
Depending on the business and the grand opening plans that an owner wants to put into motion in terms of events and activities, the publicity can take several forms. This may include publicity in local newspapers, magazines, online, television programs and radio stations.
Regardless, securing the kind of publicity that makes a difference is why you hire professional PR firms such as All Points Public Relations. Fact is, new businesses open every day. Sharing with members of the local media that you are opening a new business may get you a few mentions and brief articles, if anything. But, a publicist who understands what compels reporters and editors to write feature stories will find the right hook.
For instance, when we work with the press on behalf of our clients for new openings, we always share a noteworthy human-interest angle/hook that elicits triumph, motivation and emotion. We share story lines that demonstrate overcoming the odds, beating personal and professional challenges, and living out ones dreams to bring a new business to life, whether that relates to management or ownership.
We know that starting a new business comes from the heart and takes endless devotion, commitment and time to get off the ground. That emotional element is what moves the press to write stories that can connect with customers and create an opening sales swell. It takes skilled publicists at a talented PR firm to properly pitch the press, write impactful press releases and secure the coverage that generates responses and heightens awareness. The short-term benefits can have long-term impacts. And, the advantages of great press coverage largely outweigh what paid advertising will get you.
If you are in the process of planning to open a new business and are seeking grand opening publicity, All Points PR can help.
Depending on the business and the grand opening plans that an owner wants to put into motion in terms of events and activities, the publicity can take several forms. This may include publicity in local newspapers, magazines, online, television programs and radio stations.
Regardless, securing the kind of publicity that makes a difference is why you hire professional PR firms such as All Points Public Relations. Fact is, new businesses open every day. Sharing with members of the local media that you are opening a new business may get you a few mentions and brief articles, if anything. But, a publicist who understands what compels reporters and editors to write feature stories will find the right hook.
For instance, when we work with the press on behalf of our clients for new openings, we always share a noteworthy human-interest angle/hook that elicits triumph, motivation and emotion. We share story lines that demonstrate overcoming the odds, beating personal and professional challenges, and living out ones dreams to bring a new business to life, whether that relates to management or ownership.
We know that starting a new business comes from the heart and takes endless devotion, commitment and time to get off the ground. That emotional element is what moves the press to write stories that can connect with customers and create an opening sales swell. It takes skilled publicists at a talented PR firm to properly pitch the press, write impactful press releases and secure the coverage that generates responses and heightens awareness. The short-term benefits can have long-term impacts. And, the advantages of great press coverage largely outweigh what paid advertising will get you.
If you are in the process of planning to open a new business and are seeking grand opening publicity, All Points PR can help.
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