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Generative AI is everywhere now. You see it in content, campaigns, customer experiences, and even internal workflows. It promises speed, scale, and efficiency, but there’s a harder question sitting underneath all that progress; Do your audiences actually trust it?

Trust in the Age of AI: What Consumers Really Think About AI Generated Content

Today, PR teams aren’t just tracking media coverage and share of voice. They’re also measuring how their brand shows up in AI-generated answers, search summaries, and large language models (LLMs). This new LLM visibility layer is quickly becoming a critical part of PR performance.

15 Must-Have PR KPIs and How to Track Them

See how one platform can power every decision across PR, communications, and marketing.

The Meltwater Blog

Blog Topics: Generative Engine Optimization, Media Intelligence, Media Relations, Social Listening, Consumer Intelligence, Influencer Marketing

Find out how you can leverage Facebook to boost your brand's online presence and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

Facebook Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage Instagram to boost your brand's visual appeal and gain a competitive edge. Explore our category page today!

Instagram Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage LinkedIN to grow your professional network and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

LinkedIn Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage TikTok to elevate your brand with creative content and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

TikTok Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage X / Twitter to engage your audience effectively and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

X / Twitter Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage YouTube to create engaging video content and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

YouTube Blog | Meltwater

Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is transforming how brands show up in AI-powered search. Explore insights, strategies, and best practices to help your content rank and resonate across conversational engines like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Copilot.

Explore insights and strategies for Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) to help your brand stay visible and discoverable in AI-powered search.

Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) Blog Collection | Meltwater

Every day billions of conversations take place on social media: tweets, posts, comments, blogs, reviews, podcasts, and much more.
Learn how to use social listening to make sense of all of that data.

On our social listening category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around social listening and social media monitoring. Read more.

Social Listening Blogs | Category

Business Reputation Management: What does it take to add reputation management to your marketing strategy? More importantly, how do you keep your reputation sparkly and shiny? Here’s your all-access guide to online reputation management for the long term.

On our reputation management category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around business reputation management. Read more.

Reputation Management Blogs | Category

From your brand's logo to your website, your social media presence to your customer support—these elements combined are what constitutes a brand in the minds of customers. But, there are thousands of other businesses that have a logo, website, social media presence, and website. So, how can you position your business on the market and make it stand out from the competition?
The key to success is branding & brand management!

On our brand management category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around brand management. Build your strategy and reach your goals!

Brand Management Blogs | Category

Competitive intelligence and the act of collecting competitive data can be seen as growth drivers for a company. Our guide will help you understand the concept of competitive intelligence (CI) by answering questions such as: What is the definition of competitive intelligence? How is competitive intelligence useful to organizations? What is the goal of competitive intelligence? And more.

On our competitive intelligence category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around competitive intelligence. Learn how to stay ahead.

Competitive Intelligence Blogs | Category

Let’s dive into the customer journey framework and how to optimize the process by creating a customer journey map and using metrics that matter when analyzing the customer journey.

On our customer journey category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around mapping and understanding the customer journey.

Customer Journey Blogs | Category

What Is Data Analytics? [Beginner’s Guide 2023]
How can I grow my business? 
How do customers interact with my newly launched product?
How do I increase the productivity of my employees?
How do I know if my marketing efforts are working?
We have just two words for you...Data analytics!

On our data analytics category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around AI and data analytics. Technical and still easy to understand.

AI & Data Analytics Blogs | Category

Public relations and media relations can add impact to any marketing strategy. It’s an opportunity for brands to grow their reach beyond traditional sales messages. PR helps to shape the image you want people to have of your brand.
So, what is PR and how do you use it? This guide shows you everything you need to know to build a strong public relations foundation.

On our public relations (PR) category page, you find all our blogs covering public relations and communications topics. Step up your PR game.

Public Relations (PR) Blogs | Category

We all know exactly what the roles of sales or accounting are in a company, right? We might even have a slight idea of what the IT guys are doing.
But there is another business discipline, that plays a crucial role in organizations, even more so during the pandemic – internal communications!
But what exactly do we mean by that, what purpose does it serve and what steps can you take to ensure you and your employees will communicate effectively?

On our internal communications category page, you find all our blogs about internal comms topics. Learn about the intranet, internal newsletters, and more.

Internal Communications Blogs | Category

As the internet has taken root in more areas of our lives — everything from entertainment to shopping to paying bills and more — traditional marketing is becoming less impactful. As any marketer knows, you need to focus on where your audience is if you want to reach them. Since the average person spends about seven hours a day online, it’s no surprise that content has maintained its hold on marketers.

Here's a closer look at what content marketing is and why it matters more than ever in our digital-first economy.

On our content marketing category page, you find blogs about content marketing topics. Learn about strategies, KPIs, tips, and more. Make your content king!

Content Marketing Blogs | Category

The rise of the influencer marketing space – today a $10 billion industry, growing 50% per year – is one of the clearest examples of how social media is transforming traditional marketing. These days having a business website, presence on social, PR coverage, and your own content isn’t enough to compete.
We'll dive into the intricacies of influencer marketing to help ensure that you're equipped with the insights needed to be successful in this space.

On our influencer marketing category page, you find blogs about influencer marketing topics. Build your strategy, find influencers, and measure results.

Influencer Marketing Blogs | Category

Have you just launched a new product or service that you want to get the word out about? Maybe you want to share with consumers why it is awesome and how it is so much better than the one your competitors offer.

Well, then, there is one thing you can't do without...Marketing!

On our marketing category page, you find blogs about marketing topics. Learn about all the different angles and types of marketing and improve your results.

Marketing Blogs | Category

In this guide, we want to give you a peek into the definition of social media management, the daily schedule of a social media manager, social media platforms to promote your business, and the do’s & don’ts of social media management.
Are you ready to begin the journey of becoming a social media superstar?

On our social media management category page, you find blogs about social media management topics. Build and manage your online community.

Social Media Management Blogs | Category

Building a following and using social media platforms to reach a wider audience requires a well-planned social media marketing strategy. In this guide, we’ll be looking at why social media marketing is so essential and how you can make it work for your business.

On our social media marketing category page, you find blogs about social media marketing topics. Learn how to get the highest paid social ROI!

Social Media Marketing Blogs | Category

In the fast-evolving realm of digital marketing and public relations, utilizing the right tools is crucial for success. Our interdisciplinary category showcases all the pertinent tools for digital marketing & PR. These tools help in enhancing your online presence and effectively reaching target groups, whether through reputation management, influencer marketing, or social media management.

On our digital marketing and PR tools category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around mapping and understanding the customer journey.

Digital Marketing & PR Tools Blogs | Category

Over the past 10 years, the importance of tracking conversations across the media has grown rapidly. This is mainly due to the explosion of the internet, specifically social media. Having the ability to identify what’s being said about your brand is now critical, so critical that the thought of missing a media mention keeps marketing and public relation professionals up at night. During this article, we’ll cover the importance of media and social media listening tools in helping you monitor critical media mentions, but before we jump in, let’s first define what a media mention is.

A media mention is a reference to a keyword across all types of media. A media mention can take many forms, for example, it can be your brand name, your competitor's brand name, an industry trend or a new product you’ve just launched. Media mentions can be both positive and negative, depending on the context of the wider conversation.

Media monitoring is the action of finding and analysing mentions containing the keyword/s you’re looking for across media types. Professionals use media monitoring tools to assist them with tracking mentions about their brand target market, competition, brand, industry etc. in real time.

There are a few ways you can track media mentions including:

Using a media monitoring tool to search for content

Different brands have different needs, and when budget is a constraint, some businesses naturally turn to options one and two since they’re free. However, like many free things, while there may not be a monetary cost, you do pay the price elsewhere. Free ways of tracking media mentions usually lack the breadth and depth of sources needed to have full visibility; and when you’re only able to see a small part of the wider picture, you lack confidence in the data too.

Missing a media mention might not sound like a big deal, but that mention could be critical to your business. Critical media mentions alter the business landscape – and not just temporarily - today’s top stories power the professional world long after the headlines hit. This is why full visibility of media mentions is so important.  When executives are aware of critical media mentions, more often than not they spark a reaction and drive strategic decisions. 

Why is it important to have full visibility of media mentions?

In a world where brand reputation can be made or slain at the tap of a tweet, concerns about visibility blind spots are valid. In addition to brand reputation management, monitoring media mentions help companies:

Optimise campaigns and amplify their message

How to ensure you never miss a media mention

If lack of media visibility stressing you out, we're here to help ensure you never miss a media mention. With Meltwater, you can see nearer and farther since we offer the most comprehensive content network globally across news, social media, print, and broadcast media. We’re committed to investing in a wide breadth of content, from national, regional, suburbia to global, multilingual, trade and niche. Our AI-powered crawlers set the industry standards, adding millions of new articles and mentions every day, expanding our current database of 1.3 trillion documents.

While our source base is extensive, that doesn’t mean you have to waste time sifting through unwanted material; we make it easy by sending you only what’s relevant and filtering out the noise. Here’s how we ensure you never miss a media mention. 

Our long-term strategic partnership with Twitter gives us unmatched access to the platform’s data. As part of the premier partnership, our clients can gain access to their “full firehose” – the company’s deepest, real-time data stream which includes 100% of all available tweets. As a full enterprise partner of Twitter, we capture approximation 350 million tweets daily and enable analysis to be built on top of the most complete data sets possible.

With over half a billion visits a month, Reddit is one of the most visited websites globally. But despite its enormous popularity, Reddit has largely escaped the attention of businesses. This is mainly due to difficulty in tracking and analyzing the network. However, thanks to our partnership with Reddit, customers can now track the network's conversations in our user-friendly analytics platform, alongside data from Twitter, Facebook, discussion forums, blogs, and other sources. Use unmatched Reddit data, combined with Meltwater industry-leading analytics, and you have a research source to understand how topics are discussed online and spot rising trends to enable more strategic and effective campaign decisions.

While the debate around whether ‘print is dying’ continues, right now, it’s clear that print isn’t dead. And if PRs are to be diligent with capturing every mention, they should consider monitoring print as a channel too. At Meltwater, we pride ourselves on being a one-stop-shop for all your media monitoring needs, that’s why we also offer printed media clippings and analytics through our trusted global, and local print monitoring partners. 

Listen up! Interest in podcasts is growing rapidly, with 32% of Americans now listening to podcasts monthly (up from 26% last year) - your media mentions monitoring strategy should reflect this industry development. To help you understand and analyze this growing industry, our new podcast monitoring capabilities allow customers to stay on top of over 25,000 podcasts globally, we’re also adding over 3,000 new podcasts to the platform every day, in over a dozen languages.

Looking for a media partner, why choose Meltwater?

Meltwater continues to invest in delivering a wide breadth of content to more than 30,000 brands worldwide. We're doing this by growing the World’s largest news and social media database. Our industry-leading AI-powered crawlers, and a network of global partnerships with content providers such as Twitter, Reddit and Dow Jones, help us capture more content than anyone else. More content means more reliable analytics that help you find the insights you need. We utilize artificial intelligence to discover content from all corners of the internet. With the most comprehensive network of content partnerships globally, Meltwater allows customers to get full-text access to premium content not freely available online, including print and broadcast content, from a library of over 1.3 trillion documents. What's more, we add over 500 million new documents every day! While this all sounds very tiring, from a client perspective, it's a smooth ride!

We understand that the modern user expects simple and elegant consumer applications. That’s why our solution prioritizes simplicity and efficiency with a sleek new intuitive navigation and design that has streamlined user experience at the core. Fill out the form to learn how you can benefit from consistent data and full media visibility.

How to Ensure You Never Miss a Media Mention

Ever scrambled around to find PR pitch opportunities to raise the profile of yourself and your business to get media coverage?

PR News stories are a great way to get coverage in the press and media. But, creating news stories that journalists will love can sometimes feel like feast or famine – some months news stories might pop up all over the place, the next month – nothing.

The Key to Giving Journalists What they Want

So, how do some individuals and businesses manage to maintain a consistently high profile? Bigger businesses may well have considerable budgets and a dedicated Public Relations team, but that does not mean that such media coverage is out of reach for smaller businesses. The key is to have an understanding of what journalists are looking for and to give that to them consistently, in a way that serves their purposes as well as yours.

You probably have a number of news stories but you might not realise it. And, you’ll certainly have the potential to ‘create’ news stories to get noticed. That’s exactly what successful PR professionals do – they find a way to get noticed, they ‘create’ stories. So, you have to think about it from both perspectives. You need to capture the news stories you have and that you know will be coming along. And, you have to think about what you can do to ‘create’ a news story too.

Let’s be clear, “creating” doesn’t mean making it up. It simply means understanding what journalists want from you and then packaging what you have in a way that fits with that. So, where do you start?

First, have a good understanding of what journalists want. Second, list down the obvious news stories you have or you know are coming up. Third, think about the tactic of ‘creating’ a news story and how you will pitch it. Check out the list below for help to pin down the stories you might already have as well as those you can ‘create’ to get media coverage.

Media Pitch Ideas That Don’t Depend on News

Show a peek behind the scenes: Stories like “a day in the life of” or a behind the scenes look can be of interest to journalists, says business coach Joseph James, @JosephJamesMMS. Pulling back the curtain on your organization allows reporters to bring their audiences inside how things work.


Tell an origin story: “I always appreciate a good origin story, for example, how an established company grew or a profile of the owner,” says tech reporter Kelly McSweeney, @kellysimonsays. Talk about the history behind the brand.


Try custom-tailored media pitching: When your brand is having a slow news day, spend more time tailoring your pitch to a particular reporter. “The more tailored your pitch is to the publication (or to the writer), the more likely we are to move forward with it, regardless of how ‘newsy’ it is,” McSweeney says.


Give newsjacking a go: Can your company jump on a trending topic? If you act quickly, you may be able to achieve what David Meerman Scott refers to as “newsjacking.” Start the day by checking Google Trends or taking a look at what’s trending on Twitter to find some possible story angles that may present opportunities for your brand.


HR stories can be hidden gems: It’s more common these days to see pieces that focus on a company’s HR practices, as organizations try to change things up to compete for the best talent. “Often what PR qualifies as news doesn’t interest editors as much as routine things companies take for granted,” says journalist Jared Lindzon, @JLindzon. “Interesting culture quirks, productivity hacks and unique hiring practices that develop gradually are often hidden gems.”


Use data to create a compelling media pitch: “Make a story with interesting data,” says @ginarau. “Almost any hypothesis can be supported with data these days. Curate it in a new way for an interesting story about the problem your client solves.” What if you don’t have your own data? Try pulling some from Google. “Google has a really great rich library of micro bite-size data analysis, if you don’t have the ability to do the analysis yourself. Take a look at what other companies are putting out there and maybe put together a response piece to some of your competitors,” Katie Robbert co-founder and CEO of Trust Insights, @katierobbert.


Look to your employees or customers: Perhaps the media relations team can come up with a story about an employee or customer who’s doing something interesting, suggests PR pro Olivia Adams, @OliviaAdamsPR. “Share community service initiatives and personal stories of how employees, customers or volunteers are making a difference,” adds Mary Beth West of MBW Communications, @marybethwest.  


Feature charitable or CSR causes: Digital media strategist Sarah Clarke, @sclarkeOville, says tying in a brand’s involvement in a charitable event or effort can be a smart way to get press. If your brand is taking part in some sort of corporate social responsibility initiative, that can also make an interesting story idea.  


Celebrate a significant milestone: Are your employees, colleagues or clients celebrating an anniversary or milestone? Margie Dolch, @margiedolch, says that a company anniversary can be pitched to press. The longer they’ve been in business, the more compelling the story can be. How did they reinvent themselves to stay relevant through the years?


Tie a story into an “awareness” day: Gemma Birbeck, @LeulyPPR, says awareness days provide a great foundation for stories as there are some that most businesses can relate to. Meltwater runs a piece each month listing “awareness” days and other national days that brands can look to for ideas.

Try plugging a few of these ideas into your slow news periods to chalk up some media relations wins. And for a comprehensive guide to pitching stories, connecting to journalists, and getting your messaging right, read our ebook, New Strategies in Media Relations. 

Then, you then need to put it all into a calendar. It’s important too to do your research to find the right journalists who will be interested in your news story. For any news story you will need to tailor your approach to make it as relevant as possible. The news hook is one part of it; you also need to include other elements the journalist will want such as human interest.

So, if you are targeting local, national, regional, trade press and media then you will need press releases that are tweaked for each of those, tailored for their specific audiences.

Remember too, you don’t need to rely just on news stories to get noticed by journalists. There are other ways and those should be slotted into your Public Relations calendar too.

When you do have a news story then make the most of it by promoting it to your target audience that matter to you via your email subscriber list, your website, Slideshare, social networks, etc… You’ll want to present the story tailored for them. Don’t just send them the press release or send them a link to it. They need the information presented differently.

In a nutshell: Your news story has to add value and be relevant to a journalist’s audience. But, finding a reason for a story isn’t as difficult as you might think – you have very many news stories, it’s just a matter of spotting them and packaging them in the right way.

So, what’s your next news story coming up and how are you going to package that for your key journalists? 

Ideas for news stories can be found by looking at the social media chatter of your industry. Meltwater provides a platform for deep analysis and listening, ripe for mining story ideas. Contact us for a demo.

Boost your Media Coverage? Ideas for Creating News Stories Journalists Will Love

Today's news, crises, and complaints travel as quickly as thumbs can type. A customer service issue can ruin a brand's reputation and trending hashtags can help a victim of bullying. Being prepared before a crisis hits is the only way to mitigate the damage from one, that's why this excerpt from our ebook, Media Intelligence for Crisis Communications, is only a small part of a larger PR crisis strategy. Download the free ebook for four more necessary steps, examples of crisis mitigation, and additional actionable tips.

Preparing for a PR crisis requires getting out of the mindset that keeps us busy executing and measuring our tactical goals. Just because we have a social media manager who can push a message out in 140 characters or less several times a day doesn’t mean we have a mechanism in place to handle a full-blown PR crisis. That’s why being prepared for a crisis before it begins is the right strategy. Today, we're delving into some of the most important tips but you can access the rest, and get a competitive edge, in our free ebook, Media Intelligence for Crisis Communications.

14 Tips For Avoiding a Public Brand Disaster

If you only pay attention to one tip on this list, let it be this one. So often I read a story about a company or person that is in the midst of a PR crisis that could have been avoided all together if the right decision were made from the beginning. The spectrum of categories these decisions may fall into is broad, such as giving the proper response to a customer service inquiry,  adding the right features to a product launch, or making a tough call on a product recall simply because it’s the right thing to do. 
The key is to do the right thing. Doing the right thing will always lead to better results and fewer problems. Ethical businesses and people have fewer challenges in the long term; it’s a simple fact.

Businesses need to be as transparent as possible these days. After all we’re public relations pros, not the CIA; we can be upfront about most things. By remaining transparent, we leave less to the imagination and so there’s less for people to wonder about. If you build transparency into your brand and messaging, your customers will learn to expect it, and in the end you’ll gain the respect that leads to trust. Trusted brands have fewer challenges.

3. Encourage fantastic customer service: 

How many times have you seen a story about a consumer that has been wronged by an evil retail company? If you are anything like me, many times. Many of these situations can be avoided by simply providing great customer service and solving a problem before it has a chance to escalate. In customer service the old adage “the customer is always right” is a simple philosophy that can help prevent risk.

Actively monitoring social media and online media with a great monitoring tool will help you see problems as they brew, before they become big problems. Did I mention that Meltwater provides such monitoring tools?

In today’s online world it is imperative that some social media guidelines are in place to ensure that employees are not sharing or communicating inappropriate information, publicly. Like you, I’ve seen countless companies make public apologies for the content their employees share on Facebook, Twitter, etc. Prevent that fire by preparing a social media policy.

This tip is quite simple: always think before you react. By fully thinking through how you’ll react to a situation, be they big or small, corporate or personal, you will always reap better results (factoring in time pressure of course). I’ve seen many companies, and celebrities for that matter, cause problems for themselves by quickly shooting off a tweet that simply was not thought through. Think before you act and you’ll avoid unforeseen pitfalls.

7. Create consistent messaging for customer-facing employees: 

Make sure all outward-facing employees have access to accurate messaging that is consistent with you brand. Generally, providing basic messaging will cover your bases so long as employees know how to escalate if conversations veer off-script.  The goal is to make sure everyone knows what can be said and that they understand that everything else should be escalated (within reason).

Before a story is run that will expose a current brand disaster, you’ll often receive a call or email from a diligent reporter. Do not hide! Get back to that reporter ASAP. Be very transparent and do everything you can to get your story, statement and action plan into their hands. Even if you are not sure what your actions will be, don’t let the message sit. Call back and tell them “we are actively looking into this situation and will be able to provide more information within the hour.” Most reporters will respect that you are working hard to get the answer they need. If you follow rules 1, 2, 3 and 4 in your conversation with the reporter there’s a good chance you’ll come out OK.

9. Add contingency planning to job goals: 

Amidst your daily routine, you might not be able to design a protocol for every potential crisis right away. Pace yourself. Map out two or three crisis protocols per quarter. And make sure that accomplishing this goal is part of your performance review.

A powerful media intelligence tool doesn’t just monitor your brand mentions. You can use it to set up searches on any number of topics and keep on top of them in all your channels. Start by making a list of the kinds of messages you’ve already put out that have met resistance. At any point, this same resistance might come back, get amplified, and take on a life of its own. You’ll also want to talk with sales reps, customer support, and legal counsel on issues that they’ve encountered. Once you’ve made a list of crisis triggers, create news, and social searches for them.

To help you get started, here are some examples:

Executives: 
Journalists, analysts, and sometimes even customers pay attention to what high-ranking executives say and do. And so should you. Keep on top of their Twitter and Facebook feeds, what videos and blogs they post, and how everything they are putting out into the world is received and amplified.

Competitors: 
Pay as much attention to competitor brand mentions as you do your own. Their crisis could easily become yours. And if a competitor decides to come after you, you’ll want to know about it first and respond before others have a chance to amplify their message.

Industry news:
Sometimes a PR crisis will hit you by association. By keeping track of how your industry is perceived and any events that might impact it (such as natural disasters or newly introduced legislation) you are prepared to address these issues as an industry leader.

Events: 
Keep track of trending topics related to the event to help prevent speakers and reps from getting caught with their guards down.

Controversy: 
A media intelligence tool enables you to keep track of any number of business and political keywords. You’ll know when hot-button topics are trending and get ready to explain your position on them before you are equated with the fallout they’ve generated. 

Complaints: 
Make a list of complaints and keep an eye out for them in your search results. Once an influencer amplifies customer concerns, they can be cemented as “expert opinion,” and your credibility can suffer longstanding damage.

11: Create a Crisis Management Workflow: 

Start by outlining the internal steps you need to take before releasing a public statement. Then assign stakeholders where relevant. For example:

Hopefully your company has got some feet on the street to report back on your crisis with first-hand insights, but use media intelligence to understand the full scope of the communications landscape and all of the points you’ll need to address.

When you’re engaged on multiple fronts, you’ll need to man various stations. Decide who will manage influencers, keep the executive team informed, serve as liaison to other key stakeholders (including partners, customers, members, etc.), and record every detail, action taken, external response, and resolution.

A PR crisis may require technical information or strategic insight that you’ll need to get from leaders in IT, accounting, HR, or elsewhere. Identify all relevant functions specific to a given crisis and how to contact them quickly.

The head of PR may be responsible for doing this, or it may fall to the agency that the head of PR should already have on speed dial.

It’s always a good idea to have your CMO review your statement (or the agency’s), as he or she will undoubtedly be asked to defend it.

Any statement you make during a time of crisis should be reviewed by counsel to assess its legal consequences and minimize damage should legal action be taken against the company.

During a PR crisis, your CEO (likely your company’s primary spokesperson) must be kept in the loop.

Break down your audience, both internal and external, into key stakeholders and list the best channels to reach them. Chapter 3 explores in detail how to communicate with and engage your audience as you respond to a crisis.

13. Have as much written ahead of time as possible: 

Because social media moves so quickly, it can hurt your brand to wait for executive stakeholders to approve detailed statements. Having something pre-approved that acknowledges your awareness of the problem without saying too much will go a long way in putting your audience at ease. Don’t forget that how long it takes for you to get your initial response out could be a detractor’s next headline.

Here is a fill-in-the-blank statement that can be used in any number of situations:

A ___________________ at ___________________ involving __________________ occurred today at _________________. The incident is under investigation and more information is forthcoming.

14. Finalise key messages and update corporate talking points:

Once the worst is over—but before you reach for a beer and put it all behind you—you’ll want to craft a final word. Explain what your company learned from the crisis and how you’ve adapted processes, policies, or products accordingly. Remember, people will want to know you’ve taken action, not just paid lip service. You can then update any relevant company-wide talking points.

Once you prepare for PR crisis, you’ll be ready, if, when, and to what degree it may impact your company and brand. How your brand reacts to its community, audience, and detractors may have wide-encompassing repercussions. It’s hard to prepare for every contingency, so try to prepare for the ones you can by downloading our Media Intelligence for Crisis Communications ebook.

Do brands of every size need to plan for a crisis?

It may be a side effect of the 24/7 news cycle and social media, but it seems like brand crises are coming at a quicker clip than they did a decade ago. And what differentiates a modern brand that recovers quickly from one whose crisis snowballs is—more often than not—preparation well before any hint of trouble. Since stress can run high during a crisis, having a crisis monitoring worksheet and ready plan of action can be a lifesaver. Wade in to read more.

Crisis communications planning has risen to the top of the priority list for many brands, as they watch the train wrecks that seem to occur on almost a daily basis.

Of course, no matter what a brand does, they can never know exactly what to expect or when a crisis might befall them. But it isn’t a good strategy to stick one’s head in the sand, pretending that your business is crisis-proof. Big or small, companies need to plan for a crisis in the event one hits.

“No matter what size company or client you work for, crisis communications needs to be integrated into your overall communications strategy,” says Matt Falso, director of brand strategy, Soteryx Corporation. “While large companies often have these plans baked into their overarching approach, smaller businesses may see them as an unnecessary expense. A crisis, however, can happen to any company—regardless of size.”

“Crisis communications planning is even more critical for smaller businesses because they can less afford the financial consequences of a significant crisis,” says Jonathan Bernstein, president of Bernstein Crisis Management and author of “Manager’s Guide to Crisis Management.”

And according to Dave Pidgeon, founder and CEO of Navigate Strategic Communications and former spokesperson for Norfolk Southern, it doesn’t take a lot to create a crisis for your brand.

“Bad accounting, an irritated employee, a customer who had an unfortunate experience, a municipal code violation, a misguided quote in an otherwise innocuous media story – they can all lead to greater public scrutiny of your business,” Pidgeon says. “And if you don’t know how to handle that scrutiny, the situation can get much, much worse.”

Given that a crisis can happen at any time to any business, how should brands prepare in advance?

“The primary preventive tactic is maintaining a very positive online presence on all major social media platforms,” says Bernstein. “This creates a cushion of goodwill and also gives an organization an ear to the ground if negative information starts appearing online.”

Beyond maintaining a good reputation, companies need a plan.

“Being prepared with an established crisis communications plan can make a world of difference when communicating with the media as well as when sharing critical information with your employees,” says Falso.

And make sure to revisit the plan periodically.

“A crisis communications plan works as a living, breathing document,” says Pidgeon. “Don’t let it sit on the shelf unopened.”

And practice. “Avoid assuming what you did last year, or even last month, will work this time around,” advises Pidgeon.

“Actively practicing (simulating a crisis) is essential to being fully prepared,” agrees Falso.

Time is of the essence when responding during a crisis. If you’re not thinking ahead about what you’ll say—and who will say it—you can lose valuable minutes or hours, resulting in a lack of public trust.

Should you handle a crisis in-house or hire external consultants?

Bernstein says hiring a good crisis communications pro in-house can cost top dollar, which many smaller businesses can’t afford. “So, just as a small business would call on outside legal counsel, they can outsource functions such as crisis prevention and response.”

Pidgeon feels it’s best to have an in-house spokesperson. “If your spokespeople have built credibility and trust with communities and media sources, that trust and credibility are needed in a time of crisis.”

Whatever you do, don’t wing it, Pidgeon advises. “That’s a recipe for disaster,” he says.

And don’t address a crisis from afar. “Handling a crisis through written statements-only is an unintended invitation to the public and the media to scrutinize you further. It creates a perception you’re hiding or avoiding something. Being there in person builds empathy and is more conducive to building a relationship with both the public and press.”

Prepare for the Worst with a Crisis Communications Plan

“Always expect the unexpected” should be every communications professional’s mantra, yet more often than not companies appear blindsided by issues they should have seen coming (hint: using a crisis communications plan).

Extreme weather, for instance, is a predictable urgent issue. Yet, we frequently see companies caught off-guard and poorly handling customer service issues that stem from blizzards, flooding, hurricanes, and other hazardous weather conditions. While this extreme weather may randomly appear, the possibility of extreme weather, and its impact on your customers and team members, is entirely predictable.

A seasoned pro knows the value in developing and maintaining a playbook on how to address these issues, often in the form of a crisis communications plan. Your plan will not only save you from reinventing the wheel in seemingly endless fire-drills, but it could also be what stops an issue from becoming a full-blown crisis for your company.

While extreme weather is just one example, other recurring issues can regularly impact companies of all industries:

Website outages due to technical glitches

Delay in regular communications (i.e. monthly statements) because of unforeseen circumstances

Issues related to team members, including workplace misconduct allegations

Issues related to the leadership team, including unanticipated departures or controversial statements

Social media issues, including inappropriate posts from brand accounts

Customer dissatisfaction due to product malfunctions

Any of these could become a crisis if enough momentum swells behind them and they are left unaddressed for too long.

It is your corporate communications team’s responsibility to envision any worst-case scenarios before they happen so that you can plan communications for all relevant stakeholders (employees, customers, investors, partners, and the general public) in a controlled and less time-sensitive environment.  

The first step in this process is a simple brainstorm. Picture every possible way that something could go wrong for your brand, and write it all down. With this list, you can then document how each individual stakeholder is impacted, and you then have what you need to start your playbook.

Your crisis communications plan should detail everything you need to address an issue and, ideally, stop it from becoming a crisis. The exact format of your playbook can vary (here is a great template created by Meltwater), but common elements will include:

Toolbox Tips: Everything You Need to Avoid & Plan for a PR Crisis

Unfortunately, a pr crisis is something that can happen to any business. Sometimes it’s insignificant and doesn’t attract media attention, but that’s not to say that more serious crises do not develop frequently.

A crisis can take the form of a prominent employee scandal, a natural disaster, or even just a vicious rumour that catches the attention of the media. You can’t always avoid getting into hot water; the best thing you can do is prepare for possible consequences and eliminate sources of issues. For example, a CEO can create a dedicated team who constantly work on crisis monitoring and preventing dramatic events by planning out the different outcomes and their response situations.

Whatever the crisis, an official issued statement is something they all have in common. Stakeholders will be waiting for an explanation and some kind of update on the situation, and that’s where a holding statement distributed to stakeholders comes into action.

Remember these crisis statement tips in case the unthinkable happens to you:

1. Use Key Messages, Verified Information, and Don’t Get Defensive

The primary purpose of communications during a crisis is to inform about the 5Ws: “who, what, when, where, and why.” Use the 5Ws to guide the structure of your comms.

Sure, in many cases information is limited — that’s why you need to promise the audience that more information will be released as soon as you have it. Don’t make defensive remarks, as they can seriously ruin the credibility of your business, as can speaking prematurely before you know the full picture.

No one expects a disaster, so when it strikes it’s very easy to become overwhelmed and distracted. As a result, you might miss important information related to the actual issue or problem at hand. For example, if a company is facing an employee scandal, you need to investigate and identify whether it was caused by an inappropriate organisational policy, sexual harassment, human error, or something else.

At this point, you might also consider consulting with a legal professional who can identify potential implications of certain phrasing or words.

I want to inform you about an incident that occurred yesterday that affected all employees of the marketing department. Inappropriate conduct from one of the marketing analysts undermined the safety of the staff, which is the first concern of the organisation. We take all occurences of this nature very seriously.

Key messages will become the basis of the statement. Say you have limited details on an incident, you can build your  communication around the facts:

This afternoon, federal regulators have sent me an official statement notifying that the vice president of our company is suspected of insider trading.

This key message clearly shows that you weren’t notified in person, so you cannot possibly know all facts related to the event. All questions thus should be redirected to the federal regulatory body that initiated the investigation.

PR & Communications

How to Ensure You Never Miss a Media Mention

Boost your Media Coverage? Ideas for Creating News Stories Journalists Will Love

Toolbox Tips: Everything You Need to Avoid & Plan for a PR Crisis

6 Top Tips for Writing a Crisis Statement

5 Reports Every PR Pro Needs to Prove PR ROI

Top 5 PR Campaigns of 2019

What PRs Should Know Before Their Brand Takes a Political Stand

The Best Days and Times for PR Content

How to Boost Your Next PR Campaign with Semantic SEO

7 Ways to Maximize Digital PR

Q&A: Communicating in times of crisis

Press Release Anatomy and History | Not Much Has Changed

PR & Communications

How to Ensure You Never Miss a Media Mention

Boost your Media Coverage? Ideas for Creating News Stories Journalists Will Love

Toolbox Tips: Everything You Need to Avoid & Plan for a PR Crisis

6 Top Tips for Writing a Crisis Statement

5 Reports Every PR Pro Needs to Prove PR ROI

Top 5 PR Campaigns of 2019

What PRs Should Know Before Their Brand Takes a Political Stand

The Best Days and Times for PR Content

How to Boost Your Next PR Campaign with Semantic SEO

7 Ways to Maximize Digital PR

Q&A: Communicating in times of crisis

Press Release Anatomy and History | Not Much Has Changed

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