Contact us

Insights for Leaders Navigating
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.

Guidelines for Spokespeople When Handling a Crisis

In 2007, when a major ice storm hit the East Coast, Jet Blue was forced to cancel 1,000 flights over five days. Customers were upset, and in the weeks that followed, thousands of articles scrutinizing how Jet Blue handled the crisis were published around the globe.

So, how did the airline respond?

To combat this public relations disaster, David Neeleman, Jet Blue’s CEO stepped up to address the crisis as well as announce the steps the company would take to ensure it never happened again. In addition to responding to journalists, Neeleman made appearances on Letterman, the Today Show, and on CNN with Anderson Cooper to respond to critics and relay Jet Blue’s messages to the public.

Jet Blue’s messaging was immediate and apologetic. Neeleman repeatedly went to the media to explain what went wrong and express how sorry he was for the effects this crisis had on his customers. The company’s messaging also highlighted its new Customer Bill of Rights, which ensures customer safety and satisfaction in the event of a crisis by way of new company protocol, including a detailed compensation package for passengers.   

If your company finds itself in the midst of a crisis, take a piece of advice from Jet Blue. To survive the crisis, choose a spokesperson who can communicate with the public, often through the media. Here are some guidelines for the designated spokesperson to follow when handling a crisis:

  • Establish the spokesperson. The spokesperson is determined by the severity of the crisis and the amount of attention it is receiving. If the crisis is severe and there is growing interest from local, regional, or national media, the spokesperson should be the CEO or head of the company. This conveys that handling the crisis is of the upmost importance to the company. If the crisis is less severe, choosing a different executive may be acceptable.
  • Notify employees about their role in the crisis. If the media approaches employees for a comment, under no circumstances should they respond. Instead, employees should refer the media to the spokesperson or the spokesperson’s published comments and notify the communications team about the inquiry. Ideally, the communications team will develop a strategy to combat the crisis, and the spokesperson will deploy that strategy through communication with the media.  Once you have chosen a spokesperson and notified employees of their role in the crisis communications strategy, the communications team should brief the spokesperson in order to communicate most effectively with the media.
  • Stick to the facts of the crisis. When dealing with a crisis, it is critical that the spokesperson has the facts of the situation before making any public statements. Know the who, what, when, where and why of the situation. Once the facts have been considered and addressed, the spokesperson and communication team can develop a strategic response that provides the public with the facts of the situation. This helps prevent the story from spinning out of control.
  • Stay on message. Key messages should be determined before speaking to the media. These are a list of messages that you want to relay to the public regarding the crisis and your company. Key messages should:
    • Share the facts of the situation
    • Explain how the crisis is being handled
    • Target stakeholders of the company
    • Work to regain trust
    • Highlight your company’s reputable actions during the crisis

You can incorporate key messages in your responses to the media in order to control the dialogue and to have a handle on the story.

  • Respond to the media appropriately. When talking directly to the media, there are a few things to keep in mind. If members of the media ask you a question you don’t know the answer to, don’t speculate or say, “No comment.” Stick to the facts. However, if you don’t know the answer to something, it is acceptable to say, “I don’t know that right now.” Express a willingness to keep the public informed as details are available. Make sure to include, “But we will keep you updated as we gather more information.” This helps maintain transparency with the media.

Additionally, never make comments “off the record.” “Off the record” can mean different things to different reporters – so it’s better to completely avoid it. Even if the reporters don’t include your quote in an article or name you as a source, they may pursue a story based on the information you provided. A good rule of thumb is: If you don’t want something to appear in print, do not share it with the media – even if it’s “off the record.”

In a crisis, it’s important to operate conservatively. It’s better to stick to the facts of the situation and the official statements of the company rather than spark multiple, possibly inconsistent narratives by responding to the media in the wrong way.

  • Create perspective by emphasizing the steps your company has taken to mitigate the crisis. This will help to deescalate the crisis, as well as to shed a positive light on the company during this time of scrutiny. Express that you are working hard toward solutions and improvement by showcasing specific innovations your company is producing as a result of this crisis. 

By following these guidelines, you will not only be able to survive a crisis but you will also be able to highlight the work your company has done to resolve problems and innovate solutions, prompting the public to look toward the company’s future of improvement and success.

Read More

Email Etiquette in the Workplace

Entrepreneur published, “How to communicate effectively over emails at workplace.” The article states that, “Email is the most widely used tool in the workplace,” therefore making it imperative to use our emails to communicate well-written, clear and effective messages.

A key focus of mine when starting at Communiquè was watching how my colleagues communicated by email to our team internally, as well as how they communicated with our clients. Through my observation and research, here are several tips for developing an email:

  • Have a compelling subject line. This is the first and possibly the most important step for developing an email, especially in the world of public relations. Subject lines either engage people further or cause disinterest, leading to either the email not being read or being deleted. It’s also a best practice to include the most important words at the beginning, as different platforms (i.e. desktop computer, mobile phone) read differently, says Dmitri Leonov, vice president at SaneBox, an email management service.
  • Keep tone in mind.  A study conducted by Psychologist Justin Kruger, PhD, and his colleague, Nicholas Epley, PhD, published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology shows that people misinterpret tone over email more than 50 percent of the time in comparison to 75 percent of time when speaking in-person. The study also found that interpreting tone improves significantly when senders read their emails out loud.
  • Include all elements. If your email indicates there are attachments, double check that the correct attachments/images are included and clearly label them, so the attachments are easily identifiable to the receiver.
  • Direct your message to the appropriate audience. It’s important to assess who the intended audience is before sending an email. For example, an email to a whole company about an idea for a product will be received and interpreted differently than the email announcing that fresh cookies are in the kitchen. Keep in mind, every company is different in how it operates, and one form of communication is not the same for all.
  • Proofread before sending. Typos can be easily missed when responding hastily, even sometimes after re-reading the email multiple times. There are multiple resources for online spelling and grammar checks, including Grammarly and Grammar Check that you can utilize in advance of sending messages. If you’re using Microsoft Outlook, you can also leverage its “Read Aloud” tool to have your email message read back to you.
  • Remember that email is not meant for everything. Simply put, some things are better said in person. Forbes’ contributing writer Liz Ryan provided a list of things to never convey over email including the expression of unhappy feelings towards a person or that someone’s opinion is the wrong one, among other topics. Email is also a target for hackers, so it’s a best practice to keep private conversations for secure spaces, in-person.

Knowing that this form of communication is widely used in the workplace, crafting effective email messaging is a critical ingredient to bring to the broader messaging table.

Read More

Content Creation: The Importance of Reliable Sources

Oftentimes, public relations professionals assist with the creation of content. This may be in the form of writing or editing op-eds, articles, blog post or speeches. This content may have varying purposes, but it is important that claims we make are trustworthy and credible. It is equally important to realize that everyday we are vigorously assailed by sources, claims or information of varying reliability.

So how does one go about finding reliable sources?

I thought it might be helpful to look at some of Wikipedia’s guidelines. While Wikipedia itself states it’s not a reliable source, because it can be edited by anyone at any time – meaning entries can be wrong, a work in progress or a subject of vandalism – the free encyclopedia offers insight into how to identify reliable sources that may be valuable.

A couple of the points that jumped out at me:

  • A source refers to the work itself: a book, an article, a video, etc.; the creator (the author, journalist, scholar, business leader, etc.); and the publisher of the work (Random House, the New York Times, or someone else). When evaluating a source, it is important to consider all three of these because they all impact reliability.
  • There is a spectrum of reliability. Sources may be highly reliable, highly unreliable or somewhere in between. When creating content, it is vital that people think critically as they draw conclusions about whether a source is reliable or not.
  • In addition, proper sourcing depends on context. There is a lot to unpack here. For instance, is the source you want to cite appropriate for content that is being created? What is the age of the source? In scientific writing, an older source may be a liability as there may be newer research or theories that would be better suited. But conversely, when you’re writing about historical events, older sources may provide better context, background or information.

 

Finally, I’d like to touch on some types of sources that content creators can consider.

  • Scholarly material. This might include academic and peer-reviewed publications, journals, textbooks or dissertations. Keep in mind, however, these can become outdated or reflect the biases and values of their authors. (For more on objectivity, I recommend reading, “Thinking like a psychological scientist” by Erin I. Smith.)
  • News organizations. Consider the reputability of the organization and as you evaluate articles or coverage examine them closely. Is the reporting an opinion, human interest or news? Does the news contain factually verifiable information?
  • Commercial content, sponsored content or user-generated content. Wikipedia considers these to be questionable sources because they often have a poor reputation for fact checking or lack editorial oversight. If you use information from these sites, do so carefully and cite appropriately.

 

I hope you’ll keep these tips in mind the next time you’re creating your next article, speech or blog.

Read More

Spaceflight and BlackSky ‘Make it Rain’ With Successful Rocket Lab Launch

On June 28, 2019, our clients, Spaceflight and BlackSky, participated in the successful launch of a Rocket Lab Electron that launched from Launch Complex 1 at the southern tip of the Mahia Peninsula, on the east coast of New Zealand’s North Island.

As a nod to the rainy weather at both the location of Spaceflight’s headquarters (Seattle) and the launch site (Mahia Peninsula) the mission was named ‘Make it Rain.’ Spaceflight purchased the capacity of the Electron and managed the integration and launch of seven spacecraft from five organizations. One of the payloads from the launch was BlackSky’s earth-imaging satellite, Global-3. This is BlackSky’s third commercial satellite to reach orbit.

Additionally, this launch was Spaceflight’s inaugural launch with Rocket Lab. The company has five additional launches scheduled with Rocket Lab for the remainder of 2019.

Given the notable payloads, including Global-3, the excitement around Spaceflight’s first launch with a new launch vehicle, and Rocket Lab’s consistent and continued success, this launch caught the attention of the media. To highlight its importance, Communiqué PR worked with the Spaceflight team to announce the launch a couple of weeks in advance. Formally announcing launches through a press release helps raise awareness about the upcoming launch and provides details about the payloads, launch location, etc., giving journalists an opportunity to understand the nuances of the launch and each of the missions aboard.

Below is some of the coverage the successful launch generated. We are excited for Spaceflight and BlackSky and look forward to future launches.

Congratulations, Spaceflight and BlackSky!

‘Make it Rain’ Coverage Highlights

Read More

How Gen-Z Uses Social Media – and What It Means for Your Organization’s Marketing Strategies

As the marketing minds behind any business know, the lifeblood of engaging with your target audience often comes via the avenues of social media.

Social media can be a godsend in the world of PR, offering a world of insightful analytics to track, as well as likes, comments, retweets, shares and other forms of audience engagement to monitor. Reaching a large following has never been so swift and convenient, with so much data available to learn more about your audience and its behavior.

Of course, social media is a double-edged sword and can be a scourge of user negativity, community backlash and, in some cases, damaging effects to one’s brand or reputation. Just as perilous to one’s business is ineffective social media strategizing that is pedestrian and uninspired, and thus unable to reach the audience it targets or falls on blind eyes and deaf ears. It’s critical to know your messaging, the ways it is communicated and the audience at which it is directed.  

PR professionals are hard-pressed to find a handier tool to generate buzz around a trending topic and amplify key messaging. But which social media platforms are most effective in conveying messages to your targeted audience? It all depends on the cohort in which they fall, as different age groups rely on social media for different reasons and purposes. 

Most recently, social media researchers have noticed this with regard to the budding Generation Z, the demographic of individuals born between the mid-1990s and the mid-2000s. As the rising Generation Z enters the workplace, it offers significant spending power and is set to account for one-third of the global population, according to Bloomberg. Generation Z is also revealing its own unique social media habits.

Generation Z primarily turns to social media for entertainment purposes, according to market research company Global Web Index. Gen-Zers are typically drawn to highly visual formats, such as Snapchat, YouTube and Instagram. They’re shifting away from Facebook and gravitating toward newer platforms such as TikTok, a social media app that boasts over 100 million followers and allows users to create and post short 15-second video clips. They crave face-to-face interaction.

And Generation Z spends a significant amount of time on social media. Gen-Zers are perpetually connected through mobile devices, spending more time on them than any previous generation. Internet advertising company Criteo reports that 95 percent of teenagers have access to a smartphone, with the average teen spending 11 hours per week on it. Gen-Zers spend an average of 23 hours per week streaming videos, or an average of three hours and 15 minutes per day. This can largely be attributed to the fact that Generation Z, unlike any generation before it, hasn’t known a world without social media technology, and is therefore referred to as tech-native or tech-innate.

But Generation Z’s social media fixation isn’t limited to merely seeking entertainment. Not unlike their Millennial counterparts, Gen-Zers want to make a difference in the world and see social media as their avenue to do so. A study from Cone Communications found that 81 percent of Gen-Zers believe they can “have an impact on social and environmental issues by using social media.” Eighty-two percent of respondents said they use social media “to talk about issues they care about,” while 58 percent said they believed “supporting social or environmental issues online is more effective at making a difference than doing something out in their communities.”

Knowing these types of audience tendencies and behaviors is critical to the health of any business, especially when dealing with a future demographic that accounts for such a significant share of the global market. Familiarizing with your audience is essential to effectively communicating with them, and in turn, successfully operating and growing your business. Employing the appropriate communication strategies to reach your audience ensures your organization will achieve its business goals faster, keep customers in the pipeline and, as a result, boost its bottom line.

Read More

Acumatica Joins Forces with IFS to Create Cloud Powerhouse

We recently worked with Acumatica, the world’s fastest-growing cloud ERP company, to announce its acquisition by EQT Partners and the joining of forces with IFS, the global enterprise applications company.

What makes this acquisition announcement unique is the flexible structure of this partnership. In the midst of a merger-happy market, the two companies will retain much of their autonomy while synergies related to go-to-market strategies, research and development efforts, etc., will be maximized between the two companies.

Businesses are becoming increasingly global, regardless of size or industry. With an increasingly global marketplace, flexible business models are going to be vital for companies to meet a growing range of customer requirements. To scale and compete, customers need a network of resources that will support business operations wherever they, their business partners and customers may be.

Additionally, both companies are designed to serve complementary markets rather than compete against one another. Acumatica’s sweet spot is small and midsize business customers with $20M – $250M USD in revenue; IFS is optimized to serve companies with $250M USD and above. Thus, this partnership forms a global cloud ERP powerhouse that will challenge entrenched industry players.

Communiqué PR had the opportunity to collaborate with another PR firm, Padilla, to support the media outreach for this announcement. Below, we’ve included highlights of the coverage that resulted from the acquisition, with additional coverage from trade publications pending.

Read More