News outlet ignores basic crisis management in face of massive protest The Steubenville rape trial made national news due to the heavy involvement of social media as evidence, but looked ready to recede from the headlines following the guilty verdict that was handed down to the two young perpetrators. The …
Customer Service IS Crisis Management
Quality service will do wonders for your reputation. Neglect it, and, well, read on… Providing the type of customer service that you would like to experience yourself is one of the most effective, yet least-utilized forms of crisis management. Instead of correcting a problem and moving on with business, many …
The BBB & Reputation Responsibility
The health of your reputation relies on you The notorious Los Angeles chapter of the Better Business Bureau has been shut down by its national parent organization. The move, which many L.A. business owners could have told you is long overdue, came as a result of the chapter’s, “pay for …
Crisis Averted
Quite often, just doing the right thing is enough for crisis management Last week, Rogers Media found itself at the center of an unexpected crisis. While vacationing in Mexico, cellular customer Matt Buie set his phone to “airplane mode” in order to avoid roaming charges and handed it off to …
Do the Legwork & Boost Your Crisis Management
Proper prep is the #1 way to reduce the impact of crises on your operations There are many parallels that can be drawn between crisis management and sports. In a blog post today on The Buzz Bin, Jeff Wilson, APR, offered up the following great example when he discussed crisis …
SimCity, Real Crisis
Launch issues leave EA in dire need of crisis management Many of us have fond memories of playing SimCity, building networks of roads and utilities, adding amenities and ultimately destroying it all via alien invasion. Now, fast forward ten years to last Tuesday, when the latest incarnation of the wildly …
Vigilante Tweeting – Guest Post from Brad Phillips, Mr. Media Training
[Editor’s Note: We’re pleased to bring you this guest blog post from one of our more prolific “virtual friends,” Brad Phillips. Not only does he discuss a very important new aspect of information security and crisis prevention, but he also coins a term that I think will become an industry …
Think Before You Promote
Consider carefully, or you could create your own crisis management scenario In Oakland, CA, a city where the burglary rate climbed over 40% last year, Mayor Jean Quan came under fire after members of the public discovered that a lockpicking class was being promoted in her weekly newsletter. An Oakland …
Cracked Buses, Broken Business
Neglecting even basic crisis management, Fung Wah buses are no more When Massachusetts inspectors found cracks in Fung Wah bus frames, we knew the discount carrier line had a crisis on its hands. What we didn’t expect was just how fast things would go from seemingly repairable to completely out …
Cover Ups are so Passé
Stick to Crisis Management 101, admit your mistakes When it was announced that traces of the agricultural chemical DCD had been discovered in milk powder produced by New Zealand dairy company Fonterra, and, even worse, that Fonterra had discovered the problem months before it became public knowledge, it created an …
Crisis Management & Cyber War
Defend your virtual borders We recently wrote on the NY Times Hacking and what it means to you, but the latest news from the world of cyber-threats makes that attack look like small potatoes. In a groundbreaking move, U.S. computer security firm Mandiant released a 60-page account of activities conducted …
Ducking Reporters, Literally.
Why you need to include media training in your crisis management prep Knowing how to handle media relations is one of the core components of crisis management, but to this day there are very few organizations that really take it seriously. In a recent case study, published on Ragan’s PR …
Dead Body Found in Water Tank: a Hotel Crisis
No playing ostrich with this one, crisis management is needed, and fast The story of the young woman who disappeared late last month and was found dead in a hotel’s water tank this week is still being unraveled, but what’s certain is that the Cecil Hotel, located in Los Angeles’ …
Twitter, Where’s Your Response?
Silence is a major crisis management no-no In case you’ve missed the social media headlines of the past couple days, the Twitter feeds of both Burger King and Jeep were compromised, big time. Burger King was the first to be hit, and the hacker (or hackers) gleefully defaced its profile, …
Every Avalanche Starts Somewhere
Large crises often have their roots in small incidents It’s painfully common for organizations to only learn invaluable crisis management lessons AFTER they’ve experienced costly problems of their own. Thing is, there are plenty of people messing up out there, and you can save a lot of time, money and …