Maybe it’s because we come from Washington, D.C. – the home of opposition research – but our experience is that too few companies execute public relations efforts targeting their competition or other adversaries. So-called oppo campaigns aren’t just for litigation. If you know of competitors’ actual or potential vulnerabilities in which their stakeholders might be interested, you’re competing with one hand behind your back if you don’t leverage them. Here are some public relations tips on how to do just that, as well as some caveats.
Read MoreTech PR: No-Fear Crisis Communications
For startup and high-growth companies, learning that a reporter is sniffing around and asking hard questions can be bone-chilling. Perhaps you have heard from investors that a reporter has called. Perhaps the reporter messaged employees on LinkedIn. Typically, the client instinct in these instances is to go fetal and speculate about worst-case scenarios. We’ve seen this time and again, and it is almost always the wrong crisis management approach. Here’s the right one: call the reporter.
Crisis Management 101: Before Anything Happens
The companies best at crisis management aren’t the ones who do everything right after a crisis emerges; they’re the ones who do things right before there’s even the hint of a potential crisis. There are three steps you can take right now, when everything is calm, to put you far ahead of the game should a crisis emerge.