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PUBLIC RELATIONS

executive be the lead spokesperson unless prepared, to be ready to respond in a way that
there is very good cause to the contrary. optimizes the response of all stakeholders.
The fact is that some chief executives are
brilliant organizational leaders but not very 5. Establish Notification and Monitoring
effective in-person communicators. The de- Systems
cision about who should speak is made after Remember when the only way to reach so-
a crisis breaks – but the pool of potential spo- meone quickly was by a single phone or fax
kespersons should be identified and trained in number, assuming they were there to receive
advance. either?
Not only are spokespersons needed for Today, we need to have – immediately at
media communications, but for all types and hand – the means to reach our internal and
forms of communications, internal and exter- external stakeholders using multiple modali-
nal. This includes on-camera, at a public me- ties. Many of us have several phone numbers,
eting, at employee meetings, etc. You really more than one email address, and can receive
don’t want to be making decisions about so SMS (text) messages or faxes. Instant Messen-
many different types of spokespersons while ger programs, either public or proprietary, are
“under fire.” also very popular for business and personal
use. We can even send audio and video mes-
4. Spokesperson Training sages via email. And then, of course, there is
Two typical quotes from well-intentioned social media. This may be the best/fastest way
executives summarize the reason why your to reach some of our stakeholders, but setting
spokespersons should receive professional up social media accounts for this purpose and
training in how to speak to the media: developing a number of followers/friends/
“I talked to that nice reporter for over an hour contacts on the various social media platforms
and he didn’t use the most important news (e.g., Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+) is not so-
about my organization.” mething you can do after a crisis breaks, be-
“I’ve done a lot of public speaking. I won’t have cause nowhere does news of a crisis spread
any trouble at that public hearing.” faster and more out of your control than on
Regarding the first example, there have hun- social media.
dreds of people skewered by CBS’ “60 Minutes” Depending on how “techie” we choose to
or ABC’s “20/20” who thought they knew how be, all of this type of communication – and
to talk to the press. In the second case, most more – may be received on or sent by a single
executives who have attended a hostile pub- device!
lic hearing have gone home wishing they had It is absolutely essential, pre-crisis, to esta-
been wearing a pair of Depends. They didn’t blish notification systems that will allow you to
learn, in advance, the critical differences be- rapidly reach your stakeholders using multiple
tween proactive PR, which focuses on pro- modalities. The Virginia Tech campus shooting
moting your organization, and crisis commu- catastrophe, where email was the sole means
nications, which focuses on preserving your of alerting students initially, proves that using
organization. any single modality can make a crisis worse.
All stakeholders, internal and external, are Some of us may be on email constantly, others
just as capable of misunderstanding or misin- not so. Some of us receive our cellphone calls
terpreting information about your organizati- or messages quickly, some not. If you use
on as the media. It’s your responsibility to mi- more than one modality to reach your stake-
nimize the chance of that happening. holders, the chances are much greater that the
Spokesperson training teaches you to be message will go through.
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