Your high-profile client is facing a crisis. How can you handle media inquiries effectively?

It’s important to first assess the situation and weigh on the consequences. Some issues die down with the news cycle and responding only feeds another day of news cycle. While others demand immediate response. It is also important that the client is convinced to fix the cause of crisis.

A crisis can turn into a disaster if not managed or handled well. Hence it is absolutely critical to assess and fully understand the scope or the crisis and damage if any for you to be able to not only resolve or effectively tuckle the matter but also to adequately address the pain points of the matter. It is important to ensure that when whoever speaks for the client, they bring solace to the affected. People want empathy more than anything. They want someone who shows that they care, understand and respect those affected. This cannot be achieved without fully understanding the matter at hand

Even at risk of being perceived as having a black-out in Comms, the key is not to knee-jerk. Don’t react, much less over-react, if you don’t have a deep understanding of what happened, why it happened, what could happen and how will it impact your client.

First things first, get a crisis team together with your legal, PR, and top management team, and make sure to designate an accurate spokesperson. Come up with key messages that address the crisis and align with your client’s values. Keep an eye on news coverage and social media to stay in the loop. Quickly acknowledge the issue with a short statement, be honest about what’s happening, show empathy for those affected, and explain the steps you're taking to fix it. Engage with the media and use social media to share updates and squash any rumours. Keep your employees and stakeholders in the loop to keep morale up. After things settle down, review how you handled the crisis to see what worked and what didn’t and update your plan for next time.

When a high-profile client faces a crisis, handling media inquiries effectively is crucial to managing the situation and protecting their brand. I would first ensure that we have a clear, concise, and honest message ready. This message should address the crisis transparently while emphasizing our commitment to resolving the issue. I would coordinate with the client to establish a unified response, ensuring all spokespeople are on the same page. It's essential to control the narrative by staying proactive, releasing timely updates, and utilizing multiple platforms to reach a broad audience.

En principio, es importante Identificar la magnitud y el tipo de la crisis a tratar, antes de tomar contacto con los medios masivos. Este caso, se trata de una empresa de alto perfil que sin dudas debe tener un núcleo armado concerniente y exclusivo al tratamiento de crisis, por lo que estará asignado el responsable de manejar y administrar la comunicación a través de los medios de comunicación, ofreciendo respuestas claras y honestas y tan pronto como sea posible, ya que el tiempo de respuesta es crucial. También es aconsejable que la gestión sea lo suficientemente ingeniosa para lograr recuperar a dicha empresa de su crisis , que las respuestas sean más profundas que lo que provocó esa eventualidad.

Before spending time on preparing a statement, a crisis PR counselor needs to convince the client on a plan of action to address the cause of the crisis. That plan will make it far easier to know what to say to the media and those directly affected by the crisis. The challenge is heightened because the crisis response (action + comment) must occur in real-time. A delayed response is virtually the same as no response in many circumstances.

Warning! In a crisis, waiting for more information before making a public statement can be a serious misstep. Controlling the flow of information is rarely possible in today's 24/7 news cycle where aggrandized influencers, opinionated bloggers, wily watchdogs, and pressured journalists compete to break news first. It is better for your client to get ahead of the madness and share their narrative on their own terms. Even a simple statement acknowledging some aspect of the crisis and announcing next steps is better than initial silence. This mitigates others’ efforts to fill the void without including your client's perspective. Example: “We’re aware of the situation, have begun an internal investigation and will provide a statement soon.”

In a crisis, you have no control over timing. Anyone with a smart phone can be a "reporter" on the scene of an incident. It is a dangerous illusion to believe you can control coverage of a crisis. Instead, focus on responding credibly as quickly as you can. Even a partial response is better than no response. It is better to assume, even in a slowly unfolding crisis, that responding sooner than later is best.

Lack of timing usually breeds speculation and suspicions. Delaying communication for too long attracts negative centiments and speculation which may cause a bigger crisis and panic. This must ne avoided at all cost, control of the narratives must remain with your client not media or the general public.

Again, silence is not always gold. Being open is opposed to being hostile. Let the media feel you're not hiding anything, but the work is being done. It's a good thing to win some time for prepping a statement, but don't overplay it — the ones who agreed to wait for you won't wait next time if you show you're not worth it.

In a crisis, managing the timing of your media responses is essential. By issuing timely and coordinated statements, you can stay ahead of the narrative, ensure consistent messaging, and maintain public trust. This approach allows you to address concerns promptly while planning strategic updates to mitigate misinformation and manage the situation effectively.

In a crisis, besides the official statement, questions from the media must be in writing and responded to the same way. This ensures that responses are managed well to balance the narrative

You want to be really careful here if you're considering taking questions from reporters. First, figure out if you're going to communicate with any of them. And if so, how many different outlets? A trick I like to use is to let calls in those moments go to voicemail or communicate by email. Effectively, you want to really slow down the communications here, for fear of saying the wrong thing on the record. Remember that each word is "reportable".

Competent crisis response should prepare for likely questions from the media and affected parties. Smart preparation also should include anticipating a question from left field. One of the critical tests for a crisis spokesperson is knowing what to say – and when to shut up.

You should have a trick or two down your sleeve, but again, the media are the last guys you want to feel being played! To be open, you don't have to answer 100% questions. Just be consistent, stick to the plan. And by no means should you differentiate your approach depending on the questions. Written answers is a good tactic, but that doesn't mean you should ghost all phone calls. Taking them is still waaay better than voicemail.

Observing responses to your statements provides crucial insights into how the crisis is perceived and whether your communication strategy is effective. Utilizing tools like social media analytics, media monitoring services, and sentiment analysis helps gauge public sentiment and media coverage. If feedback shows that certain messages are not resonating or are being misinterpreted, be prepared to pivot. This might involve refining your key messages, addressing specific concerns, or providing additional context to clear up misunderstandings. Constructively engaging with critics can also help rebuild trust and demonstrate transparency.

Monitoring crisis situations as they evolve is important. That suggests evolving a crisis response as necessary. The goal should remain to center responses on action steps, not just apologies or excuses. In crisis response, actions speak louder than words. In the tainted Tylenol incident, Johnson & Johnson's decision to remove its product from shelves was more powerful than any words could convey.

By monitoring the response, you are able to respond to emerging issues and act on the feedback gathered from the responses given. This will help contain the crisis by offering timely information as and when requested or required.

You can be friendly all you want, but you're still the guy (or gal) who sets the boundaries, and that's something no one likes. When someone thrashes you (and be sure, that's the matter of time), emotions are your enemy. Be reasonable and calm, even when the other side isn't

Finally, treat this crisis as a learning opportunity. Assess the efficacy of your media strategy, identify gaps, and refine your approach. Create a detailed crisis communication plan with scenarios, prepared statements, and a clear response hierarchy. Proactive planning ensures swift, effective media responses, safeguarding your client's reputation in future crises.

Handling media inquiries before a crisis starts with being prepared long before there is a crisis. It is imperative to be proactive and have a crisis communication plan for various scenarios that includes a playbook. When a crisis hits, your team is ready to follow the plan as outlined. Planning allows you to quickly issue statements to the media, and follow-up as needed with additional information. Planning ahead does not remove the stress of a crisis for organizations but it does empower you to efficiently and effectively respond.

Acknowledge the situation. Provide factual information. Express concern. Reassure that steps are being taken to address the issue. Commit to transparency and regular updates. Prioritize swift and responsible resolution.

When a crisis hits, a brand should first put together a Crisis Comms plan, which maps all the potential scenarios and includes possible responses and reactions to incoming media queries. If an incoming media query is on the lines of what was pre-empted in the plan, then simply share the ready response and keep a track of how it is positioned in the media story. However, if the query is something which is entirely unexpected, then create a new response which should address the query effectively. Brands should not give a knee-jerk reaction or get hassled if and when they face such unexpected queries.

Depending on the type of crisis, you may want to provide mental health resources to your crisis response team. I've been a part of several crises involving loss of life, and the mental and emotional toll is high, even for those working behind the scenes.

A crisis communication plan should be in place, with a dedicated spokesperson serving as the primary point of contact for media inquiries.

Every organisation must have a crisis management and communication plan and strategy. Within that must contain a crisis management team or committee which immediately takes action once a crisis occurs. This is to avoid a panic approach to any crisis.

- analyser la crise en détails: acteurs, situation, historique...recueillir les témoignages des acteurs ... - déterminer les forces et faiblesses du client - analyser les souhaits du client et sa capacité à se projeter