So I’m sitting in my car waiting to buy petrol, eating a cold pasty whilst listening to my mother on the mobile screaming at me asking if I’m stock piling stamps yet for Christmas?!!!!!!!!!!!! Have I entered a parallel universe or is this some kind of candid camera moment where some C list celebrity is about to jump out and say it was all a ‘hilarious joke’? But no it's just another week in British politics. And what a week – out of all the ’P’ words that have been splattered all over the headlines this week there are 2 very obvious omissions – P for planning and P for preparation. Any normal sane human being working for any of the hundreds of large and small businesses in the UK knows that as part of your crisis management plan - if you have got to deliver a bad message you need to prepare what you are going to say and think about the ramifications! There needs to be a strategy so that when the media start ripping chunks out of your company you can fight back. You can have a calm and measured response showing that you are in control and are doing something about it to resolve the situation. Plus there needs to be a coordinated approach – if you have one member of the team contradicting the other then the company appears even more out of touch! This is where media training is worth its weight in gold. Good communications skills are the key to successful reputation management. If you’ve practiced how to handle the worst case scenario and learn the importance of clarity and consistency of your message, then you won’t feel quite so battered and bruised from all the media attention. Now how about some comfort food after all this talk of crisis – pasty anyone?
If you think that you or your company could be better prepared for a media crisis then perhaps we could help? Why not get in touch to see how via www.mediafirst.co.uk