While plenty of companies see scheduling an interview with journalists as a positive thing for the company, which can mean that they can call it a day, the reality is that the work is just getting started when that interview with the CEO is scheduled. Whether or not there is a deadline, preparation and planning for the interview is the goal to success.

The first step after receiving a positive response from a journalist is for the company to take time to research through all of the previous articles or content from that  journalist, and to get a better understanding of their unique style and approach.

If a poll of the company’s employees was taken today, which quadrille would they fall in regarding knowing the brand’s mission, vision and values – up to 25%, 50%, 75% or 100%? Most companies would likely register up to 25%.

However, several tragic 2020 events have accelerated calls for diversity and inclusion (D&I) and with that have also come moves to improve the corporate culture in many organizations.

Creating an effective crisis management plan can be a hard task for any communication team. Not only because of risks associated with potential crises—including everything from the damage of reputation to loss of key customers—but because creating a detailed crisis communications plan for an unknown event is a challenge.

Facing these challenges, many communication teams prefer to bury their heads in the sand and wait for a crisis to happen before making an appropriate communication plan. But, studying well-known crises—among them Lance Armstrong, Virginia Tech, BP, and Dreamworld—crisis communication teams should learn that waiting until the last minute to plan for one is the worst strategy of all.

Corporate Communications and corporate PR is the way a business communicates with internal and external users – this includes customers, your targeted audience, internal staff and key stakeholders.

Being able to communicate effectively with the right people at the right time is one of the key elements to a functioning business and is necessary for brand building. It means that the reputation of the company is properly maintained, the employees are happy to work there and everyone is working towards the same goals.

A crucial part of a public relations campaign are bylines, it is content on a publication that features the authors name. Bylines are featured at the beginning of the content, or at the end as a signature.

Having a list of contributed bylines that have been by a professional is an excellent tactic for any public relations strategy. It’s a way to demonstrate to an audience that the brand or the executive emphasizes thought leadership and helps the brand establish itself as an industry expert and as a voice.

Talking about court cases has been one of the essential parts of being a journalist as well as being a great way to tell stories. However, these days, reporting has started to happen on a 24-hour basis. With everyone being able to share information and tell stories publicly thanks to social media, there has been an increase in public scrutiny both on companies as well as individuals.

When it comes to managing the reputation of a client during the litigation process – whether that client is an individual or a company – it’s up to litigation PR to deal with everything. Litigation PR is a specialist section of legal PR.

Any business knows that no matter what’s going on and how well they are on top of everything, a crisis is never expected. However, how well the business can respond during a crisis always reflects on the public’s perception of the organization in the future, whether in a positive or negative light. The key factor in determining how this reflects on a business in the aftermath of a crisis is how they communicate with the audience once the crisis is over.

Whenever a PR crisis is happening with an organization, everything is disrupted. From the front-line employees to the CEO and the founders, everyone’s attention shifts to dealing with the matter at hand. Nevertheless, if the people in the leadership positions are sharp, they would have already been working with a PR crisis communication team and have legal advisors on-board – all the people that are needed to provide support to the company during a tumultuous time.

Brands need to have a vibrant and active social media presence today. That’s just a fact of doing business in the modern world. However, being on social media comes with both benefits and dangers. The latter includes direct, continual contact with fans and customers. The opportunity to engage, to solve problems, and to influence the narrative about and around the brand in the consumer public.

However, when mistakes are made, all of those benefits can act against the brand, amplifying a momentary lapse and creating a monumental PR crisis. When that happens, the issue should be dealt with carefully and directly… But what comes next? Let’s take a look at how brands should use the tools available on social media to mitigate a PR crisis and move forward to re-establish the brand’s reputation.