How can the risk of corporate scandals when attacked by the media
Author: David Y. Chin
When a corporate scandal in which a company is attacked in the media and his reputation is at risk in many cases the first reaction for many companies is to publish a massive publicity campaign to deny, reject or clarify the negative messages.
Is this correct? In part yes and part no.
I say partly because publicity would be one of the communication tools to use, but could also be that in a crisis management is never used an advertisement for not applicable.
Recall that in a crisis management we seek to build credibility in our posts and who knows whether it will be better than others to speak rather than what we do will.
The communication strategy of response in a crisis management will be designed after a diagnosis of depth of the crisis. It should be professional and scientific analysis to determine exactly where and where we really want to go to solve the crisis.
In my experience as a publicist in years ago I met several times with instances where an advertising campaign to help far more hurt our position in the context of discourse on issues of public debate.
In terms of institutional communication, and in the midst of a critical situation, in most cases the news has more credibility than any television commercial, radio, newspapers or any alternative means. Then invest in an advertising campaign in these conditions is a bad decision.
I am reminded of a bottling company in Europe that suffered a precipitous drop in sales due to a decision of the municipal council in his hometown of ordering the closure of businesses as late night entertainment until 12:00 pm. The measure was to reduce high crime rates extremes that were taking place in the early morning hours.
Began to be published in all local news accounts of the hotels, restaurants, discos and night clubs that were laying off staff due to close early.
Reports about the decline in hotel occupancy for the same reason they became the news of the day, resulting in poor image of the city as a tourist destination.
The union of taxi drivers, waiters, bartenders, security guards and many other employees of the nightly entertainment industry began to manifest it in many ways because they reject the measure directly prejudicial to them and their families.
What was the outcome? The municipal council authorities had to reconsider the measure and seek alternative solutions to reduce crime without affecting the city and keep the jobs in those hours.
In the former case never used any advertisement, communication tools used were effective alternatives in solving a critical situation that was bankrupting many businesses.
The correct definition of hearings defines appropriate communication tools in crisis management.