How to face a public relations crisis

1. Speed ??= Benefit

Once a crisis occurs, companies must first understand that speed is everything. Every department and every partner must act according to the crisis and take action. And mobilizing the whole body is one of the first conditions to solve the crisis. If an enterprise loses control over time in handling a crisis, the impact of the crisis will be out of control, fueled by public speculation and media reports. Therefore, in the shortest time after a crisis occurs, companies must concentrate all available resources to solve the crisis. Many companies have stipulated in their crisis management systems the selection of dedicated spokespersons and the latest news release time after a crisis. They require that after a crisis, they should immediately inform the public of the current situation and processing progress before the media speculates, and inform the public of the current situation and handling progress. Promise to resolve the crisis quickly. The public must be able to learn about the handling of incidents directly from the company and not from the news media.

The development process of any crisis includes four stages: emergency period, diffusion period, outbreak period and recession period. If action is taken to contain the crisis at the onset and spread of the crisis, the cost is often lower and the effect is ideal. Once it reaches the outbreak period, the situation will be difficult to deal with.

As the crisis progresses, time becomes out of control, and as the crisis progresses, various unpredictable factors will also increase. Usually there is a leak in the house but it rains all night, even if it is an original Events unrelated to the crisis may also be perceived by the public as causes of the crisis. Once a crisis breaks out, it often attracts the attention of the public and the news media. At this time, if the organization cannot quickly find out the truth, or the normal communication channels are not smooth, and no one can come out to release information, it will create an information vacuum in crisis communication, and the public All questions will be filled with imagination, and all kinds of "gossip" will inevitably come up. Soon, the information vacuum was occupied by rumors that confused right and wrong. Especially for products such as food and health care products, rumors may bring about people's fear, and fear can bring about sensory discomfort. This discomfort will be suspected to be caused by the product, which in turn will cause the spread of another rumor. At the same time, the delay in time will cause the public to question the integrity of the company, causing irreversible effects.

Japan Snowy Dairy Company is a company with an outstanding reputation and reliable credit in the industry. On June 27, 2000, food poisoning occurred among drinkers of the low-fat milk it produced. Two days after the incident, Xueyin publicly acknowledged the fact. Almost a month after the incident, Xueyin issued a full-page advertisement in the newspaper to apologize to the public. However, due to the confusing explanation of the cause of the problem, the public believed that it lacked Sincerity. Due to the fact that Japan Snow's crisis management was not fast enough, product recycling and information disclosure were too slow, and the corresponding measures were unfavorable, the direct loss caused by the two-week shutdown was 11 billion yen, and the indirect loss was the serious damage to the Snow Print brand. According to experts, It will take 10 years to restore the original credibility.

So how do companies gain an advantage in speed? Under normal circumstances, when a crisis strikes, companies need to take the following measures:

1. Inform a professional crisis public relations company as soon as possible and use the power of the public relations company to control the crisis;

2. Inform all employees of the company as soon as possible, and use a unified voice to prevent employees from being overwhelmed when facing interviews;

3. Inform the departments involved in the organizational crisis quickly Take measures to investigate the truth of the incident, and the spokesperson announces the measures taken by the company to appease the public, and organizes lawyers to handle the victim's incident;

4. Inform the government department or relevant authoritative agency of the truth as soon as possible, Build public confidence;

5. Direct the media to report the crisis in a benign direction as soon as possible.

2. Analysis of various handling attitudes

Through the above means, the crisis can be initially controlled in time. This is the first measure to be taken when any crisis comes. However, many Chinese companies do not know how to handle crisis public relations. They are usually at a loss. The mentality of these companies when facing a crisis is usually: fluke mentality, ostrich policy, shirk of responsibility, and concealment of facts. These wrong attitudes are not only It will not help solve the crisis, but will cause a more serious crisis.

Because the crisis state not only leads to imbalance in the market order, but also brings people's psychological pressure, psychological tension and even psychological crisis. At this time, people lack a sense of security and interpersonal trust, group consciousness is easily in a state of excitement, the public's ability to criticize declines, and the degree of mutual influence and infection increases. At this time, if normal information communication channels are not smooth, rumors become a way for people to spread information and express their will.

What’s more important is that rumors often breed in environments with limited information. In an information society where freedom of speech is protected and information activities are diversified, rumors are increasingly losing their place to survive. Sibutani believes from a sociological perspective that the occurrence and disappearance of rumors are closely related to information dissemination channels. When people's information needs are greater than the information supply from institutional channels, or information essential for adapting to the environment cannot be obtained in time, that is, when people's information needs are not fully satisfied, rumors are likely to occur. Once the balance between information supply and demand is restored, rumors will naturally disappear.

Interpersonal communication is the main channel for the spread of rumors.

However, there is no specific and clear communicator for the spread of rumors, so it is "non-professional word-of-mouth spread through interpersonal channels."

The most effective way to prevent rumors is to prevent them from happening. In today's world where mass communication is extremely developed, it is not difficult to do this. That is to report the truth of events that may generate rumors in advance through authoritative and normal mass communication channels in a comprehensive and objective manner. It's easy in theory, but not in practice.

It is easy to spread rumors, but very difficult to refute them. Because even people who don’t believe rumors can be affected by them. Conversely, people may be adversely affected by refutations, even if they believe the refutations are true. All rumor-refuting actions actually have two types of dissemination: one is to make those who have never heard of the rumor know about the rumor, and the other is to try to influence those who already know the rumor. This creates a paradox: refuting rumors is first of all a kind of rumor, and it is a kind of rumor with a wider impact. After the public learns the content of the rumor refuted, for those who originally knew the rumor, they first deepen their impression of the rumor before considering the effect of refuting the rumor; for those who did not know the rumor originally, they first learned the content of the rumor, and then Only then did I consider the content of refuting the rumors. Precisely because we are afraid that rumors will spread further, our companies will adopt "public relations methods" such as shirking responsibilities and concealing facts. Doing so will directly cause information blockage and further increase public sentiment. All kinds of speculative rumors will spread. With the development of the situation, the integrity of the company has been seriously lost.

Crisis generally has four distinctive characteristics:

First, there is strong public and media attention. If this matter has not attracted public and media attention, even though it has happened, it is not a crisis, just an incident.

Second, after the crisis broke out, the public became very emotional. Because the public often gets their news from the media, and the public’s trust in the media is much higher than their trust in companies.

Third, the presumption of guilt.

Fourth, if not handled properly, the crisis will have strong and far-reaching destructive effects on credibility and brand. No matter how big a crisis is, it will pass, but it will leave a stain on the history of a company or government that will never be erased.

According to the extreme characteristics of the crisis, we can take a look at the harm of various wrong mentalities to crisis management:

1. The harm of luck mentality - luck psychology usually It means that a crisis event occurs in a peer or competitor, but due to time or regional reasons, it is not a crisis for the company. At this time, the company will think that the crisis has nothing to do with it and let the situation develop.

Case: Fenjiu, as a famous time-honored liquor brand in my country, is also a typical representative of my country's light-flavor liquor. In the early 1990s and even for a long time before, it was far ahead in the liquor industry. From the earliest stories and legends about Fenjiu circulated among the people, to the Tang poetry reputation of "The shepherd boy pointing at Xinghua Village in the distance", to the inscriptions and messages of many national leaders and literati after the founding of the People's Republic of China, its unique cultural connotation has formed the charm of Fenjiu brand. Going back 10 years, Fenjiu is one of the eight famous liquors in China. It is on par with Moutai in terms of brand, but ranks ahead of Wuliangye in terms of sales. However, since the counterfeit wine case in Shanxi, Fenjiu has been in a slump. Not only is its sales volume not the same as that of Wuliangye, its price is also more than 200 yuan different from Wuliangye.

The counterfeit wine case originally had nothing to do with Fenjiu. Unfortunately, they were in the same place where the incident occurred, and later "fake Fenjiu" was discovered. It would be fine if they were just in the same place where the accident occurred. After all, the "fake wine" was not Fenjiu, and the drinkers could feel at ease. As soon as "fake Fenjiu" was discovered, the situation exploded. Consumers did not know that one "fake Fenjiu" was not the other "fake wine", but consumers knew that "fake Fenjiu" was fake wine. Drinking "fake Fenjiu" could lead to blindness in the worst case. Then death, who would dare to drink?

When the counterfeit wine incident occurred in Shuozhou, Shanxi, Fenjiu believed that the matter had nothing to do with it and did not take any action. When the "fake Fenjiu" was discovered, it became anxious and began to denounce the counterfeiters and sellers. , began to demand the strengthening of the legal system - but this anxiety is for themselves, not for consumers, so consumers will not appreciate it and will not feel how great a company Fenjiu is.

Gujing Gong is smarter. Taking advantage of the counterfeit liquor incident, the chairman published an open letter in the newspaper, pointing out that the Chinese liquor industry should adopt legislation to eliminate the unhealthy trend of counterfeiting, and said It will donate 200,000 yuan in pensions to the families of victims of the counterfeit liquor incident, and also warn consumers to be cautious when purchasing liquor. This move aroused great repercussions. Major newspapers have reprinted the letter of the chairman of Gujinggong Group, and the 3.15 special program also conducted an exclusive interview with the chairman. Obviously, after such corporate behavior, even if fake Gujing Gong wine is found on the market, people will sympathize more than boycott it.

If Fenjiu regards those victims as its own consumers, then why does it not pay attention to the fact that "its own drinkers" are poisoned? This is a manifestation of indifference to corporate image and irresponsibility to consumers. Many companies in China basically rejoice in misfortune rather than taking responsibility. When people are killed by "fake wine", the first thing they think of is to shirk responsibility and rush to tell everyone that the wine is not mine.

So, who is responsible? The answer: Legal system - human life is at stake, and it will take time to perfect the legal system. What an irresponsible attitude!

There is no doubt that Shanxi Fenjiu has some flaws in its attitude towards handling the "counterfeit wine case" Lucky mentality - as long as the matter has nothing to do with you, just hang it up. However, this kind of fluke mentality not only did not help Fenjiu survive the crisis, but when the counterfeit Fenjiu was later discovered, the company was passive until it collapsed. When many people mention Fenjiu, they think that fake wine has harmed such a company. If a company cannot survive the crisis of "counterfeiting", then it is difficult to imagine that it can survive the other 11 crises mentioned earlier. Therefore, even if Fenjiu is "lucky" to survive the counterfeit wine crisis, it is difficult to predict whether other crises will bring down the company.

In the "hollow milk powder" incident, many formal domestic milk powder manufacturing companies also adopted a "lucky" mentality, thinking that it was a problem with other people's products and had nothing to do with them. In fact, after the "hollow milk powder" incident, consumers' confidence in domestic milk powder will inevitably plummet, which will inevitably cause a serious blow to those unknown brands.

2. The harm of the ostrich policy - Many companies always think about how to avoid media interviews when a crisis comes. This is the ostrich policy. Blindly avoiding, not facing the facts, and not cooperating with the media to guide public opinion will obviously not help solve the crisis.

In the face of a crisis, companies must not imitate the ostrich that buries its head in the sand. Even if it avoids the problem for a while, it may sow the seeds of greater harm. With an evasive attitude like an ostrich, he casually buries his head in the sand, unaware that his big butt is exposed. A company's unilateral evasion cannot avoid the public's desire to understand the crisis. In the absence of insufficient information feedback, the public will angrily resist the company's behavior.

Case: Nestle is a very competitive company. In addition to coffee, its dairy products also have a high market share in the world. In 1977, a famous "boycott of Nestlé products" movement suddenly broke out in the United States. Members of the American Dairy Action Federation went everywhere to persuade American citizens not to buy "Nestlé" products. The reason is that people believe that Nestlé deliberately ignores the nutritional deficiencies of artificial dairy products and misleads consumers for the sake of its own profits. The boycott extended Nestlé's infant formula crisis for more than a decade. In the more than ten years since the boycott, Nestlé USA has been suffering huge economic losses.

When people first began to pay attention to the problem of infant malnutrition caused by milk powder, Nestlé did not correctly respond to the criticism and suggestions of social activists, and even adopted an indifferent attitude towards serious moral issues raised by some church leaders. The public felt their legitimate demands were being ignored and became increasingly hostile to Nestlé. It was not until January 1984 that Nestlé recognized and implemented the World Health Organization's international regulations on the distribution of breast milk substitutes, and the International Boycott of Nestlé Products Campaign Committee ended its activities.

At the beginning of the incident, Nestlé adopted an "ostrich policy" and ignored the public's demands, which later led to the development of a large-scale boycott movement. Nestlé relied on its influence and corporate strength to overcome the difficulties, but it also paid a heavy price for it. When such an incident occurs in China, it becomes the "hollow milk powder" incident, which is a more serious "malnutrition" phenomenon. Obviously, when domestic enterprises face this problem, the situation is much more complicated.

3. The dangers of shirking responsibility - When companies believe that neither the media nor the public know the whole story of the incident, some companies will adopt the attitude of shirk responsibility, thinking that no one will know anyway. This mentality is wrong. After all, paper cannot cover the fire. Shifting responsibility may be effective for short-term operations. In the long run, things will eventually be exposed, and companies will not only lose trust with consumers, but also lose trust with the media.

Case: In 2003, rumors about "Fuji smuggling and Fuji Xerox smuggling" were circulated. Later, news about "Fuji smuggling" was continuously exposed by the media, and the focus of the problem was more concentrated on Zhuhai Zhenke On the body. Fujifilm has always responded with silence. The only statement that it has "nothing to do with itself" shows that it is trying to evade the supervision of the Chinese media and public opinion and try to get through. In terms of media public relations, Fuji is more "righteous and strict" in an attempt to make the media surrender.

Fuji’s “smuggling” scandal has been criticized by its peers. Ye Ying, global vice president of Kodak, declared: Kodak has long heard about Zhuhai Zhenke's "gray behavior", and Zhuhai Zhenke's previous "irregular operations" have hurt Kodak. Lucky also expressed "extreme dissatisfaction" and had already collected "illegal information" about Zhenke and reported it to the State Economic and Trade Commission. "In our view, Fuji and China-Hong Kong Photography are one family." "China-Hong Kong Photography is involved in smuggling, and Fuji is hard to escape!" Fuji became the target of public criticism.

Regarding Fuji’s suspected smuggling incident, Masashi Koizumi, deputy general manager of Fuji (China), claimed: “Neither Fuji headquarters nor Fuji (China) branch has ever invested a penny in Zhuhai Zhenke. In fact, Zhuhai Zhenke is only related to the agents of Fuji Headquarters. The rumors about 'smuggling' have nothing to do with Fuji."

An investigation shows that there are actually ten companies under the China-Hong Kong Photography Group. Several companies with the "Fuji" name.

Fuji should have urgently adopted a crisis public relations strategy to try to quell the crisis and minimize the possible damage caused by the crisis in order to preserve the Chinese market that it has worked hard for many years. Regrettably, under the premise that its suspected smuggling was already an open secret, Fujifilm did not adopt any crisis public relations strategy. Instead, after the Zhuhai Zhenke incident came to light, it simply pushed itself away.

News about "Fuji smuggling and Fuji Xerox smuggling" have been continuously exposed by the media, and Fuji has responded with silence after being exposed. The statement "it has nothing to do with you" is also a perfunctory attempt to shirk responsibility. And when it comes to dealing with the media, he adopts a "righteous and strict" attitude, trying to make the media surrender. Fujifilm also sent a statement letter to a well-known financial media in Beijing, stating that it would seek legal action to resolve the exposure. What was counterproductive was that just two weeks after Fuji issued its statement, the Beijing newspaper still used a large space to follow up on Fuji and the "film" smuggling incident, and included editorial comments, which was likely to be exposed. Fuji Smuggling" incident to the end. As an international company, Fujifilm does not show a style that matches its status as a multinational company in media communication. After the "smuggling" incident was exposed, major domestic media such as Beijing and Guangzhou began large-scale follow-up reports, which further exposed the disharmonious relationship between Fuji and the media.

In comparison, Kodak ranks first in the "Best Brand in Consumers' Minds", "Market Share" and "Brand Awareness" projects, with an awareness as high as 81.4%. Fuji has to catch up. Going to Kodak is never a matter of time.

4. The harm of concealing facts - "Family scandals should not be publicized" is an inherent concept in China. When this concept is applied to corporate crisis management, it will have a more serious impact than the crisis itself. Not only do businesses continue to be affected by the crisis, but there is also a crisis of integrity.

Case: On March 25, 2004, Shanghai media reported: "According to authoritative departments, 'Astamine' can cause side effects on the cardiovascular system and even kill people." Recently The dermatology departments of some hospitals in Shanghai have stopped using "Astamine". Some experts believe that astemizole (aspirin) is a long-acting drug that is metabolized by the liver. People with good liver function can metabolize it immediately. For people with poor liver function, the metabolic time will increase and the blood concentration will increase, causing cardiovascular toxicity and even death. Therefore, as soon as the news about Astamine's toxic side effects came out, Xi'an Janssen Company was immediately criticized from all sides.

Xi'an Janssen only issued a "Notice on the proposed change of instructions for Astemizole Tablets" to relevant doctors at the end of 2003. In addition, Xi'an Janssen did not indicate that it would withdraw all its products, and Xi'an Wang Peng, the public relations department of Janssen, said he was unwilling to explain more about the toxicity of the product and other issues.

Although Wang Peng, who represents Xi'an Yangsen, was unwilling to give more explanations, various media still carried out a large number of reports, and some of these reports were speculative and some were questionable. Xi'an Janssen may have tried to control media public opinion by being "unwilling to explain", but he actually lost control of the media.

3. How to deal with the news media

When a crisis comes, companies must have the courage to face crisis public relations, present themselves in front of the public with a responsible attitude, guide public opinion, and communicate with the media Get through the crisis together. The correct approach has the following aspects:

1. Respond quickly

Since we live in an era of 24-hour rolling news and information is constantly updated, companies must respond to crises Instant response. Any delay may be mistaken as a crime, and the resulting damage to the company's reputation and business will be irreparable.

2. Cooperate with professional public relations companies to handle the crisis

Due to the limitations of the company's own resources and its ability to deal with related issues, it is often necessary to use professional public relations companies to *** handle the crisis together. Public relations companies will rely on their rich operational experience and media resources to quickly control the impact of the crisis.

3. Let the CEO come forward

The CEO’s public image and leadership status cannot be replaced. The CEO cannot hide when the company is most critical. CEOs should express concerns to company stakeholders, calm panic, and ensure that stakeholders maintain a correct understanding of the crisis. Importantly, the CEO also needs to unite and boost the morale of the company's employees. The CEO cannot sit back and direct at this time while other top managers charge into the fray.

4. Do not speculate on unknown facts

If you speculate on unknown facts, the guess may be proved to be wrong later. If this happens, you will find that your key stakeholders: employees, government administrators, and the public will view this as inexcusable. The media will be particularly skeptical of you if they feel you are deliberately misleading. If you don’t know the truth, admit it directly and say you will investigate and report the results to the media in a timely manner.

5. Don’t hide the truth

If something goes wrong, tell the truth directly and don’t try to cover it up. Otherwise, you will see a worse outcome. During World War II, British Prime Minister Churchill once said: “It is a very wrong leadership behavior to think that a bad situation will soon disappear on its own.

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6. Open the door for media interviews

The obligation of the media is to report information. For the media, news is a fleeting and highly competitive commodity. They hope to grab it "Scoops" undermine competitors in the market. Newspapers with bad news sell more than those with good news. Therefore, when a crisis occurs, the media takes a special interest in it, at least during the crisis. In this situation, we should accept media reports and actively cooperate with them. What the company can do is to try to control the situation.

7. Speak with one voice

Crisis. The team may include 3 to 4 members as well as some expert consultants. The most basic thing is to ensure that all company information is coordinated, and only company spokespersons can speak to the media, but all managers should inform employees and other risks. Communicate the same information to stakeholders (such as government managers and customers)

8. Frequent communication

Information provided to the media, corporate employees and other stakeholders should be updated frequently. , prevent rumors and uncertain news from spreading. Take all questions seriously. Pay attention to media deadlines. In the current era of 24-hour media news cycle, it is even necessary to station your own crisis media center all day long. The public relations should also be notified of the progress of the crisis at the first possible moment to ease public tension.

To handle the crisis in a responsible manner, the company must not only talk about it, but also keep in touch with the media. In addition to communication, we must also maintain constant communication with the public through actions, because only actions can truly solve the crisis.