Crisis PR is like saving money — harder than it looks!
Once you’ve banked your first million dollars, you can put it to work for you. Which is far better than relying solely on what you can earn from your own labor. But getting there is difficult, and that’s why most never make it or even come close.
It’s the same working with the media in sensitive situations:
Developing an initial PR strategy that’s plausible and will be effective is the hard part. Which is why most people can’t do it. Nor should they try, because even a small misstep puts so much at risk.
Most clients have a good sense of what branding and marketing PR is and how it works — helping to sell more things and services and thereby increase revenues.
It’s harder for them to grasp Crisis & Reputation Management.
They know it makes problems less bad. But how does it work? What does the Crisis PR guy say to the media? How does he know what strategy will work? How does he know what the reporter really wants vs what the reporter says he wants?
No two situations are ever the same. Neither are strategy or tactics.
But there is one certainty: In Crisis & Reputation Management, the best PR people were journalists themselves.
They walked the proverbial mile and know how journalists think.
Working with clients is direct. Explain the strategy and rationale; some clients may actually get it. Don’t offer options; that’s not why they’re paying you. Clients just want to know the solution — how you will make it better.
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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