By Michelle Strydom

Although it does not happen often, PRs need to deliver bad news from time to time and having a tactful strategy when dealing with such news is crucial. Kerry Seymour, managing director of Splash PR recalls the incident of January 2009 in Cape Town, when Table Mountain Cableway’s cars got stuck due to a power outage and a technical glitch with the backup generators.

In times like these, PRs need to think fast and issue statements to address the situation at hand.

There are a few basic points to keep in mind when you are confronted with an issue that could cause damage to the PRs and the brands involved.

Have a pre-plan for possible incidents

Prepare before it even happens, because prevention is better than cure. Formulating a pre-plan could save PRs time to think of ways to deal with the incident and thus lessen the damage. “It’s vital to work as closely with the brand as possible and try to manage the situation in the early stages to avoid getting to the ‘need to write a bad press release’ stage,” says Gabriella Rego, PR director at CN&CO.

In the case of something as sudden as the Table Mountain cable car incident, PR’s would have to keep an eye on the situation as it was happening, since it occurred prior to shut down and would make for a shocking report the next day.

“This led to a negative front page story early the next morning. We worked from the early hours of the day to issue a statement to all key news channels to provide factual information about the incident and share feedback from the Cableway’s CEO. We had some plans in place prior to this but we learnt a lot from this incident and have had annual incident planning meetings with Cableway since then,” says Seymour.

Focus on facts

The best way to communicate a crisis is by only giving facts, nothing more. If what you are communicating is factual, there is no reason for anyone to blame the PR.

Tying in with focusing on the facts is the concept of lending perspective, as suggested by Doug Luciani, chief associate of PRofit from PR. In his article ‘Media Relations: Handling Bad News’, Luciani highlights the importance of communicating your side of the story.

“Perception will become reality if you do not answer a negative. You can also lessen negative publicity by lending perspective to a situation.” If you communicate only what you know and don’t try to sugar coat the facts, there is no room for negative feedback.

Don’t be ambiguous

In addition to focusing on the facts, PRs need to be open and honest and avoid bending the truth to make the story interesting. The key is to avoid misunderstanding.

“When bad news needs to go out, it should be written in a way that communicates the message/news as clearly as possible without the opportunity for any misconceptions to be formed,” says Rego. “Don’t try to pull wool over their eyes and think they won’t notice,” she adds. 

Choosing your words carefully and structuring your sentences can contribute to conveying the message clearly and effectively.

Keep an eye on social media

The last pointer is arguably the most important: monitor social media. In preparation for future incidents, Seymour stresses the impact social media has on spreading news. They include a social media team when planning with Cableway, as news is most likely to break first on social media and responses and commentary need to be skilfully managed.

PR disasters can happen at any time, which means PRs need to put out the flames as soon as they can to protect their image and the brands involved.

Are you a PR agency who recently had to avert a crisis on behalf of a client? Tell us about it in the comments below.