As an attorney, you’ve mastered the art of strategic thinking and leveraging your legal knowledge. Yet, your clients may encounter a different challenge that demands a unique set of skills – a public relations crisis.
Like a tension-filled chess match, how your client communicates with stakeholders during a PR crisis can be a game-changing move, resulting in either a victorious checkmate or a lamentable loss of their king.
Your Client’s Chessboard: Understanding the Stakeholder Groups
Imagine the diverse range of pieces in a game of chess. The pawns, knights, bishops, rooks, queens, and kings all have unique roles, movements, and influences on the game’s outcome. Similarly, your client’s business landscape is filled with various stakeholders – each with its impact and value.
These stakeholders can include:
- Loyal customers, mirroring knights defending your client’s brand.
- Employees are akin to pawns whose collective strength is undeniable.
- Shareholders, the influential bishops moving across the business diagonals.
- Like rooks, the general public and local community provide the much-needed corners for your client’s operations.
- And many more.
The game’s objective becomes protecting their king and reputation and effectively maneuvering all these pieces in harmony. It’s this complex interplay where a PR crisis can throw unexpected moves, jeopardizing the king’s safety. That’s when a crisis PR professional becomes an essential player, skilled at strategizing on this intricate chessboard.
Signs Your Client Needs a Crisis PR Professional
Knowing when to bring in this strategic PR reinforcement is essential to ensure the game doesn’t end prematurely. As an attorney, you’re in a prime position to identify the signs indicating when your client may need the expertise of a crisis PR professional.
Here are some key phrases, that have prompted the attorneys we partner with to bring in PR counsel:
- “This is a high-profile case.” – The situation has or will likely attract significant public attention, and they don’t want the media to have a field day without feeling like they’re in control (or at least partially in control) of the situation.
- “I’m worried about my reputation.” – The client is concerned about their personal or professional reputation taking small to medium-sized hit.
- “Our reputation is at stake.” – Sounds similar to the previous one, but this is a much higher risk and potential for severe reputational damage.
- “This incident involves sensitive issues.” – The situation involves potentially inflammatory topics that are likely to be easily misinterpreted.
- “We have made a mistake/there was a significant failure/accident.” – The client acknowledges a severe error or failure.
- “I’m not sure how to handle this.” – Your client feels overwhelmed and unsure how to navigate the crisis.
- “I’m worried about the impact on my business.” – The crisis could negatively impact your client’s business.
- “There’s a possibility of this becoming public news.” – The situation could attract widespread attention outside their immediate stakeholder groups.
- “There’s a lot of negative chatter about us on social media.” – A negative narrative is forming on social media.
- “I’m receiving a lot of media inquiries.” – A surge in media attention indicates a brewing or full-blown crisis.
- “I need help getting my message out.” – Your client needs help figuring out how to cut through the noise so that their side of the story is told vs. others being in control of the narrative.
- “We’re struggling to communicate effectively with our stakeholders.” – Your client needs help crafting and communicating their message aligned with their strategic communications plan.
- “This could result in a significant loss of customers/clients.” – The crisis could lead to a significant drop in the client base.
- “Our stock/share prices are plummeting due to this.” – The crisis is negatively impacting the company’s financial standing.
- “Our competitors are using this against us.” – The crisis is being exploited by competitors, potentially leading to a loss of competitive advantage or market share.
Each of these statements indicates a unique challenge that your client is facing. Recognizing these signs can help you guide them towards a crisis PR professional’s expertise, enabling them to effectively maneuver their pieces on the chessboard and protect their king – their reputation.
What You Can Do Now
It is vital to act quickly if you are an attorney and think your client may be facing a PR crisis. The sooner you seek help from a crisis PR professional, the better the chances of mitigating the damage and protecting your client’s reputation.
Does Your Client Need Crisis Communications and Crisis Management Help?
If you need to help protect your client’s reputation during a crisis, call us now at (310) 396-8696 for a 15-minute consultation.
We have decades of experience handling some of the most iconic crises and, more importantly, managing all of the scandals you never got to hear or read about.
Gillott Communications is a Los Angeles-based public relations firm that specializes in high-stakes Crisis & Reputation Management with more than 50 years of expertise in strategic communications, corporate public relations, and working with the media.
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