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Visibility, Credibility, and Growth.
From media strategy to reputation management, we explore the trends shaping public perception and share the approaches that drive measurable results for growing brands.
One of the major facets of public relations is crisis management. After all, although preventative measures are key, a variety of things can go awry that can negatively impact a company and its brand. Properly addressing errors is as important as preventing errors. One strategy frequently employed by a corporation is a public apology. However, as simple as it may seem, crafting a public apology that will be well received and accepted by the public is no easy feat.
Here are two examples of public apologies done right—and one done very, very wrong.
- Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, “Letter from Tim Cook on Maps,” September 28, 2012
In a relatively unprecedented move for Apple, Tim Cook openly apologized for the release of a faulty new Apple Maps app that did not remotely match its predecessor’s capabilities.
Tim’s letter exemplifies excellent crisis communication strategy. Tim begins by firmly stating the qualities underlying Apple’s brand (“we strive to make world-class products that deliver the best experience possible to our customers”) and distinguishing the Apple brand from its faulty Maps App. Tim reminds the reader that the App will continue to improve, and acknowledges feedback graciously and with gratitude.
What really sets this apology apart is Tim’s recommendation of other applications that can do the job better. Tim begins and ends by stating that Apple’s mission is to provide its customers the “best in the world”, and he follows up on that statement by showing customers how they can currently access the best possible experience.
- Matthew Thornton III, Senior VP of FedEx Express U.S. Operations, “FedEx Response to Customer Video,” December 21, 2011
This apology was issued as a response to a user-uploaded YouTube video, “FedEx Guy Throwing My Computer Monitor,” which was uploaded on December 19, 2011 and currently has more than 8 million views.
FedEx handled the situation perfectly; Its apology, like Tim Cook’s, distinguished the act displayed on the YouTube video from FedEx’s mission and values. Not only was this apology issued, but the customer was met with and personally apologized to. Matthew carefully positions the potentially negative situation by stating that the offending employee is no longer working with customers (he does not imply that the employee has been let go), and that the video is now used as a internal training tool to remind employees that every delivery is “precious cargo”.
The best take away from this apology is that in today’s media landscape, platform is essential. Because this apology was engineered as a response to the original YouTube video, anyone who clicked on the original link would see the response link immediately. This geared the apology to the public and to FedEx’s customers, rather than the media, making it more credible.
- Tony Hayward, then CEO of British Petroleum, “BP CEO Tony Hayward Issues an Apology for Remarks,” June 2, 2010
The British Petroleum oil spill of 2010 will live on in infamy as the catastrophe it was, and the mishandled corporate crisis communications that followed. At first, BP officially downplayed the spill, referring to it as relatively small (source). When BP did acknowledge the magnitude of the spill, then BP CEO, Tony Hayward, originally delivered a statement to journalists in May of 2010 stating: “We’re sorry for the massive disruption it’s caused to their lives. There’s no one who wants this over more than I do, I’d like my life back (source).” This apology reflected little remorse and created a public backlash.
In the midst of this poorly worded public apology, Tony issued an additional apology on BP’s Facebook for his original remarks. However, for many it was too little too late.
The lessons to be learned from BP are as follows:
- Don’t deny. It’s never a good decision to try and downplay something the public is in uproar about, especially if the issue is getting massive media coverage. It will not help your case.
- Address those impacted. In this case, that would have been those immediately affected by the spill. Complaining about being tired during the midst of a crisis will not get you any points with the public. It is not about you.
- Select your platform, and stick with it. BP gave public remarks, posted on Facebook, and then created a television ad addressing the issue. People looking for information on the catastrophe were not able to see a cohesive picture from BP as the company’s remarks were scattered in both content and in distribution.
These three examples exemplify how essential crisis communications planning and execution can be. A good PR strategy will take some of the heat off—a great one may help people regain faith in your brand. However, the most important part of any good apology, whether public or otherwise, is always authenticity.
For more on crisis communications from Communique PR, see:
Communique PR Blog >> Crisis Communications
For more on corporate apologies, see:
The Art of the Corporate Apology, Forbes
Best Corporate Apology Ever Posted on Twitter?, AdWeek
Apple’s Map Fail and More Corporate Apologies, The Daily Beast
Tim Cook Apologizes for Apple’s Maps, the New York Times: Bits
Mobile is one of the hottest tech topics right now. From security to access to culture, mobile is changing the way people work. With the popularity of smartphones, tablets and laptops, more and more organizations are transforming into virtual environments where employees are working remotely to cut down on commuting and overhead business costs. In fact, IDC predicts mobile workers will increase worldwide to more than one-third of the global workforce. But with an increase of virtual offices and workers spread across the globe, what is the impact on communication? By communicating predominately electronically, can messages get lost in translation?
I came across an interesting article in Ragan Communications’ that looks at the pros and cons of working virtually, including a lack of personal connection and shared experience usually forged in the workplace, but also the benefits of increased productivity, no interruptions and eliminated office drama such as, “who took the last Diet Coke?”
In the article, Gini Dietrich writes about her organization’s decision to get rid of an office and go virtual. I’ve outlined a few tips to consider based on her observations and my experience working with clients and coworkers remotely.
- Communicate. Communicate. Communicate. When you are not physically in an office, it is important to communicate as much as possible. Make sure to check in regularly with your manager via email, instant message, video chat and/or phone. This will help to alleviate any potential concerns that you are not online or working.
- Be very clear. Communicating electronically means that you miss out on sarcasm, body language and nuances, like whether the person is just having a bad day. Mobile workers need to be very careful that they are clear in their communication and avoid projecting any irritability in electronic messages because the receiver can’t pick up on body language or tone and could take it the wrong way.
- Be aware of time zones. At Communiqué PR, we work with clients, media and analysts from all over the world, which can make scheduling a call challenging! It is important to keep in mind that just because you might work 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. PT, your coworker or client might be on a different schedule, so be sure to provide a time zone in your deadline requests.
- Connect on the phone. Though it might not be ideal, connecting on the phone is a better way to have hard conversations than electronically. This will give you more cues to how someone is feeling based on voice inflection.
- Include context. Physical conversations are often more memorable than an email that someone may or may not have read all the way through. If you reference a conversation, you know that the other person participated, but if you reference an email, it can be more challenging to recall, especially when most people receive hundreds of emails a day. Be sure to include context in your email correspondence or include previous threads for easy reference.
- Create a culture. Even virtual organizations have some in-person time. In a Workplace article, “Cultivating a Virtual Culture,” the author Michelle Rafter writes about the near virtual marketing company Emma Inc., and how once a year all the employees get together for an annual talent show. This is unique to the Emma culture and even though the employees are not physically connected on a daily basis, they have an opportunity to connect annually face-to-face in a way that embodies the company’s values.
As more and more employees work remotely, tailoring communication styles for the virtual workplace is important. Employees and employers will need to find water cooler conversation replacements in the virtual world to forge more personal connections.
How do you communicate with remote employees or clients? Do you have any tips on best practices or key learnings?
Keeping abreast of PR industry strategies and tactics is important to ensure that you’re continuing to innovate and provide fresh ideas to clients. Recently I read about interesting new ways to pitch media in the article, “5 creative PR pitches that caught reporters’ attention.”
The post included a number of ideas but one really caught my attention: pitching via pay-per-click ads on websites such as LinkedIn. Originally highlighted by online marketing company aimClear in their post, “Media Relations in the Social Age: Pitching Reporters Via LinkedIn PPC,” the idea is to target niche audiences for specific pitches. LinkedIn provides a number of demographic options for serving targeted ads. (See our recent post, “Best Practices for Company Pages on LinkedIn,” for details.)
As an example, let’s say you’re writing an energy efficiency-focused pitch and you want to target energy and business reporters at top-tier publications. You draft your pitch first and then you can select pitch/advertising targets on LinkedIn. On LinkedIn, you can select targets by title (energy reporter, green tech reporter, business reporter, etc.), by outlet (New York Times, Wall Street Journal, etc.) and any other attributes you think are important. Then, only reporters at those specific publications with those specific titles will see your ad.
aimClear noted some of the pros of this approach, as well as the cons, including:
- Pro: Gauge interest – Reporters can indicate their interest by actually clicking on the ad, which can redirect to supporting materials.
- Pro: Hone pitching skills – Copy can be limited to 75 characters, so you need to be concise.
- Pro: Less disruptive way of pitching – Your target will only see the ad if they’re using that social outlet, which usually happens when they have some free time and aren’t working against a deadline. They might even be browsing for a story idea.
- Con: Lack of response – You won’t be able to know whether the reporter saw your ad or not unless you secure a click or they contact you.
- Con: Cost (~$3 per click) – While it’s fairly inexpensive if you’re micro-targeting reporters, and only paying per click, it still costs more than outreaching via email.
- Con: Questionable method of pitching – Pitching via advertising could have a negative connotation, so it’s important to do it selectively.
After thinking about this idea for a few days, and chatting with the team at Communiqué PR, I came up with additional pros and cons:
- Pro: Provide comprehensive supporting material – When the reporter clicks on the ad, you could send them to a specific webpage with supporting material that builds on your story and provides a comprehensive package for the reporter. This could include graphics, video or other content that creates a compelling story.
- Pro: Target the right people – With the opportunity target such a specific group of people, you could enhance your pitching outside of your traditional media list. With this method, you might even find a new reporter covering your company/client if they respond to your ad.
- Con: Ad could be overlooked – There is a lot of noise on social networks. Many people identify the advertising locations on the pages and tend to glance over them. The flip side is that if it’s not seen and not clicked on, then you don’t pay. But you may have wasted valuable time on an ad that didn’t have any ROI.
- Con: Lack of credibility – Internet advertising has a bad reputation among consumers for not being credible. This sentiment could carry over to reporters as well. Some reporters trust pitches from specific sources, so an ad may not meet their bar.
- Con: Doesn’t feel customized – If one reporter is seeing your ad, he or she may think a thousand other reporters are seeing it, too. Exclusivity remains a top incentive for influencers. Plus, reporters like having pitches customized for their outlet and readers. Ad copy contains the same text regardless of your target.
Have you tried this method of pitching or would you consider it? Share your thoughts with us below!
You have one chance to make a good first impression. Whether it’s a face-to-face meeting with a prospective customer, a conference call, or an email introducing yourself and your services, your initial contact is your chance to either impress or disappoint. In many first impressions, you may not even have the opportunity to directly connect with someone. Instead, people’s first impression often come from your company website and it may be the difference between whether someone chooses to engage or walk away.
When people visit your website, they should immediately have a clear understanding about who you are and what you do. Your website should be easy to navigate and information should be easily discoverable. However, according to Entrepreneur Magazine, statistics show that many small business websites lack the fundamentals, putting them at risk of losing customers with one click.
Several of our clients often ask us for counsel on their website redesigns. What should be included? How do we pick the right images to complement our messages? So, we thought it’d be helpful to share Entrepreneur’s recommendations around “5 Things That Belong on the Front Page of Your Website.”
1. Contact information: A recent survey by BIA/Kelsey, a media and advertising research group, showed that that nearly 75 percent of small-business websites don’t have an email link on their homepage. And six out of 10 don’t have a phone number. I’m surprised by this number, as I assumed including easy-to-find contact information was a given. Potential customers are not going to stick around digging for an email or phone number. They will, instead, go elsewhere.
At a minimum, your site should have a clear email link and a phone number. If you have a physical location, you should also include the full address and a map with directions.
2. Images that represent what you do: Images speak a thousand words and oftentimes it’s the images featured on your website to which people are first drawn. Make sure that the graphics and images are relevant to your company and complement the website text. It’s surprising how many websites actually use irrelevant graphics or abstract photos that are difficult to interpret.
3. Clear navigation with working links: The front page of your site should have a clear navigation system either across the top or down one side of the page. Search fields are also critical to helping customers quickly find what they’re looking for. Additionally, we recommend including an “about” tab or link on your homepage that features background on your company, a FAQ, etc.
It’s also important to check your links on a regular basis to make sure they all work, or use Google Webmaster Tools or other software to identify errors. Broken links are frustrating for visitors and can create a perception that you’re careless with your own business.
4. An email signup box: One effective way to encourage customer loyalty is with a regular newsletter or some other touch point. Put a signup box on the front page of your website to offer rewards or discounts (if relevant to your business),or provide ways for customers to stay current on what you’re up to, whether it’s attending events or launching a new service.
5. Social media links: Help customers stay in touch by providing links to your social media accounts. Use recognizable icons linked to Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest or LinkedIn and place them on your homepage and throughout your site. There are also widgets you can leverage to make your content easily shareable via social media and encourage customer interaction.
For brands hoping to engage consumers and maintain a consistent social media presence, a Facebook page can be an effective tool. Despite debates over what a Facebook “like” is actually worth, or whether the company is here to stay, Facebook provides an excellent resource for sharing content, engaging with fans, and telling your brand’s overarching story.
If you are part of a small team, however, managing the constantly changing interface of Facebook can be somewhat complex and time consuming. Thankfully, Ragan’s PR Daily recently compiled a list of 25 Facebook tips every social media manager needs. Here are five highlights.
1. How to schedule posts in advance
Just like Twitter, Facebook allows you to schedule update releases. When you post a photo, video, offer, or status update, there is a clock symbol below the update. You can use this tool to schedule when the post will appear.
How is this useful? If you’re a restaurant, for example, you might release an offer for 25 percent off a Friday night meal on Wednesday or Thursday. Or, if you’re using your Facebook to establish your brand as a thought leader, you might schedule regular links to timely industry articles, but stagger them throughout the day.
2. How to add multiple admins
If you have multiple people that might manage the Facebook page, you can add multiple administrators from their Facebook accounts (as opposed to having one Facebook account).
Add admins by clicking on your Facebook page, clicking “Edit Page,” and then clicking “Manage Admins.” You can send each individual an invite to their Facebook account, or via email. Through this, you can manage who has administrative access to your brand’s Facebook page, and you don’t need to change the password for a shared account when someone might leave the company.
We use this feature at Communique, so that everyone who might need to use our Facebook page is able to, with the supervision of management.
3. How to promote your updates
Facebook has an advertising tool that helps your post get seen by more people who “like” your page. This can be useful if you have a specific update that you might want publicized, or an offer you think will be very successful. When you update a status, you will see a “Promote This Post” button, which will allow you to select how much money you are willing to spend on promoting the post.
4. How to target posts
This is an interesting feature I was not aware existed—you can target a post’s demographic by language or location. Click on the “Public” icon next to the “Post” button, and enter countries and languages you would like to target, separated with commas. This might be helpful if you are a company with customers in the U.S. and Canada, for example, and want to promote a deal to your Canadian audience.
5. How to create milestones
This is an easy way to showcase the story arc of your company and brand. Milestones indicate important moments in your brand’s history. You can pick and choose your milestones, and include an image. Milestones might range from the obvious, such as when your company started or went public, to more specific facets of your brand’s story, such as when a specific customer started using your product and had exceptional results.
To view the rest of the list, click here: 25 Facebook tips every social media manager needs.
For more from Communique PR on Facebook, check out:
In the last 11 years, Wikipedia has become one of the most influential and searched sites on the Internet. Because of its Internet prowess, it is a great tool to promote a business or product. A Wikipedia page for your brand influences search engines, validates your presence, tells your brand’s history—and it’s free. At Communiqué PR, we typically recommend that organizations leverage the power of Wikipedia.
For those of you who may be unfamiliar, Wikipedia is a collaboratively-edited encyclopedia that allows Internet users to contribute and edit information. However, despite being a straightforward service, getting a successful page posted and accepted by Wikipedia can be more difficult than one may expect.
Jay Walsh, a spokesperson for the Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit organization that oversees Wikipedia, has said that although it is not a written rule, writing about yourself or your own business is highly discouraged because it detracts from the neutrality the site attempts to have. Herein lies the challenge for businesses hoping to develop a Wikipedia page: How can you craft an accurate and flattering Wikipedia presence for your company, if Wikipedia’s content is constantly being scrutinized for marketing ploys?
I recently read “Use Wikipedia as a Marketing Tool,” an article by Minda Zetlin on Inc.com, which covers a few interesting tips to ensuring the success of your business’ Wikipedia appearances.
1) Begin with a general PR campaign. If your company is mentioned in blog posts, social media and articles it will help legitimize your business, and this is valuable when Wikipedia is reviewing pages. Also, make sure that your website is constantly up to date, offering accurate information for users who might add to your Wikipedia page. The more consistency, the better.
2) Search your company’s name in Wikipedia. This may seem like an odd strategy, but there is a possibility that your company’s name could be mentioned in another post. If your company has been mentioned, you have the opportunity to add to existing information about your brand on this Wikipedia post. This may give you an additional spot to share a little more information about your company without starting a new post of your own.
3) Start with a small post. Develop only a few sentences or sections at a time on your Wikipedia page. This encourages other people to add more and is seen as a “challenge” by Wikipedians. If you put up a large amount of information at once, regular users are likely to request that your page be removed because it is perceived as a marketing scheme. The thought is that it takes away from the collaborative aspect integral to Wikipedia.
4) Include links to other sites. Providing third-party links legitimizes your brand’s Wikipedia page. Wikipedians will look to see that your company has been mentioned in other articles or publications before posting about your company.
5) Use the discussion page. Every Wikipedia page has a discussion page. This can be used as a tool to add more links, explanations or information you may see as beneficial to the post.
6) Keep an eye on your post. Because Wikipedia is collaboratively edited, anyone can add to your post. After your post is first created, Wikipedians will most likely find it and edit it quickly. It is crucial that you leave some time to work on it. It is important to constantly review your page in case some unwanted edits or attacks are made. The best way to go about editing these is through the Wikipedia community. If the edits are made by you or members of your own company, then it appears to be censorship. One option to help avoid this issue is to create a “controversy section” within your Wikipedia page, in order to clarify negative issues that other users might post.
Wikipedia receives a huge amount of Internet traffic, and can thus be a valuable resource for your brand. However, due to its wide range of viewership and accessibility, it is important to make sure that all the information shared through Wikipedia reflects your business correctly, and as positively as possible, especially because anyone can create it. If carefully executed, a self-made Wikipedia page for your brand has the potential to be an excellent form of strategic communications.