A lesson in how not to handle a crisis

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A lesson in how not to handle a crisis

She was once the queen of greased up, fat-friendly, calorific Southern cooking on the Food Network. But after a bizarre few days that included an admission she once used horribly racist language  and ended with her blowing off a previously scheduled, heavily promoted Today Show interview , Ms. Deen has been unceremoniously booted from her throne as food television royalty. There are a few lessons observers can take away from the way Ms. Deen and her representatives handled this mess... 

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How to handle a media scrum during a crisis

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How to handle a media scrum during a crisis

When it comes to media scrums, there's good news and bad news. The good news is that the vast majority of people will make it through their entire careers without finding themselves at the center of one of these stressful, impromptu press conferences. The bad news is that if you do find yourself suddenly surrounded by a circle of clamoring reporters during a crisis, you will have likely had very little time to prepare...  

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Does your website use pop-ups? Really?

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Does your website use pop-ups? Really?

You're scrolling through your Twitter feed. You're intrigued by a headline. You click and get redirected to the website. You get about two words into the content and suddenly the screen is overtaken by an annoying pop-up. "Download our free e-book!" "Learn how to get more leads!" "Register for our conference!"  To many, a website pop-up can be as irritating as a door-to-door salesman and a telemarketing call during dinner happening at the same time. It's jarring. It's obtrusive. And after you've convinced me to click on your link, it's like a broken promise...

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Google Trends shows magnitude of Rob Ford story

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Google Trends shows magnitude of Rob Ford story

The Rob Ford 'crack allegations' story has dominated headlines in Canada and parts of the United States for the past week. In addition to the salacious nature of the allegations of drug use by the mayor of one of the largest cities in North America, there have been surreptitious meetings between journalists and drug dealers and high-profile references to a secret videotape that allegedly shows the Mayor smoking from what appears to be a crack pipe.

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Gravy train wreck: Rob Ford's worst crisis yet

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Gravy train wreck: Rob Ford's worst crisis yet

To say that Rob Ford's relationship with the media has been rocky since he became the mayor of Canada's largest city would be an understatement. Even with this kind of media relations track record, this is a very, very bad day for Rob Ford.​

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Should you respond during a crisis?

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Should you respond during a crisis?

Elissa Freeman (@elissapr) recently wrote an interesting piece on this topic for PR Daily. Her article was inspired by the recent Lululemon transparent yoga pants controversy but brings up some worthwhile issues and questions for people in the communications industry.

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Crisis communications tips from The West Wing

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Crisis communications tips from The West Wing

Crisis communications is one of the most stressful jobs around. And while there's no shortage of great courses, textbooks and videos out there to help you hone your crisis communications skills, there's no teacher like good...

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If your media interview isn't uncomfortable, you may not be doing it right

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If your media interview isn't uncomfortable, you may not be doing it right

If you don't feel a bit of tension between yourself and the reporter during your media interview, you may not be doing it right. That doesn't mean there should be an antagonistic or negative tension between the journalist and the interviewee. Think of it more...

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Why we're cool with the fact our website may go down today

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Why we're cool with the fact our website may go down today

As a business owner, these are words I never thought I would utter: "Our website is temporarily down. And we're cool with that."

That shows you the power of great communications. Our site is hosted by Squarespace. They're a great company and their operations have been impacted by Hurricane Sandy (more on that below). Operational disruptions happen.

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Cogeco's response to email crisis: The good and the bad

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Cogeco's response to email crisis: The good and the bad

According to the old adage, there’s no such thing as bad publicity. Well, the people over at Cogeco might disagree after the week they had. The company made headlines for all the wrong reasons this week after a massive email outage left thousands of customers across Ontario unable to send or receive messages. Hundreds of frustrated customers have since taken to Twitter and Facebook...

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11 ways to totally *$#@ up your next media interview

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11 ways to totally *$#@ up your next media interview

As human beings, most of us are fortunate enough to possess a finely-tuned survival instinct, honed by millions of years of evolution. You might think these awesome skills are wasted in a world without dinosaurs and sabre-toothed tigers. On the contrary. Even in the corporate world...

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Yet another inappropriate tweet in the wake of Colorado shooting

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Yet another inappropriate tweet in the wake of Colorado shooting

This latest tweet by @celebboutique actually makes the NRA's tweet earlier today look somewhat tame in comparison. Whether this is ignorance, stupidity or a PR stunt, this is why companies need to have solid social media programs in place...

 

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NRA quickly deletes tone deaf tweet in wake of shootings - but not soon enough

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Last week, we posted the top 5 risks of using Twitter, one of which was 'tone deafness'. There's a great example of this today. As the public tries to make sense of the horrible shooting in Colorado last night in which 12 people were killed, American Rifleman (the official journal of the National Rifle Association) apparently sent out the following tweet this morning at 9:20 am:

American rifleman

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A quick check of the journal's Twitter page shows the tweet has since been removed. Someone at the organization likely deleted the tweet once they started getting inundated with retweets, negative comments from the public and critical news stories. But not before someone got a screen cap of it.

Here's just a sample of the backlash they're currently facing on Twitter:

Update: It appears the NRA has now gone beyond deleting the offensive tweet and has deleted the twitter account in question altogether. Talk about handling the situation the absolute wrong way in a social media world. 

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"You're Fired": The top 5 risks of using Twitter

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"You're Fired": The top 5 risks of using Twitter

Used properly, Twitter can be a powerful tool for connecting with clients, prospects, friends fans and just about every possible stakeholder group. But there's no shortage of cautionary tales about celebrities, politicians, companies and ordinary tweeps who've been publicly embarrassed (or worse) over a stupid tweet...


 

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How David Stern should have answered Jim Rome’s loaded/repeat question

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How David Stern should have answered Jim Rome’s loaded/repeat question

Whether you’re a school teacher or the Commissioner of the National Basketball Association, your approach to media interviews should include a sound strategy for handling loaded and repeat questions. Last week, NBA Commissioner David Stern gave us a not-so-friendly reminder...

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Some questions about the Wal-Mart, Mercury Public Affairs incident

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Some questions about the Wal-Mart, Mercury Public Affairs incident

Yesterday, Gawker published a story about a young woman they referred to as a 'PR flack' who was fired for posing as a reporter in order to spy on a pro-labour group's closed meeting. If you're not familiar with the story..

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