Public Relations / Public Affairs Ideas To Use

Crisis advice for the President useful for business, too.

What advice do you have for President Bush on managing the public relations crisis involving Iraq?

Thanks to the Washington Post, the President received unsolicited advice last week from several high-profile crisis communications consultants.  These suggestions contain sound advice anyone would do well to remember when crisis strikes.

“The admission that you were on the wrong track and you’re changing works well in this country,” said Harold Burson, founder and chairman of the public-relations firm Burson Marsteller.  “You have to change behavior and then communicate that change.”

“If something bad happens on your watch, the sooner and the more comprehensively you disclose it, the less likely you will be to suffer from it,” according to Burson.

“The first two rules of crisis management are: 1) Think clearly; and 2) Take the pain,” said veteran crisis communications consultant Helio Fred Garcia.   “Take the pain means doing what has to be done when it can do you the most good, whether you like it nor not.”

Public relations executive Larry Kamer says organizations need to show a more caring side when a crisis strikes. “There’s an old adage in crisis communications: They don’t care that you know until they know that you care.”

Technorati Tags: public relations, crisis communications

To Succeed, Act Relentlessly

Colin Delany of epolitics.com has published a handy paper on using online resources for political and issue advocacy campaigns.  Online Politics 101 (PDF, 2.3 MB) examines both the tools and tactics of online campaigning.

Delany says that if you want to succeed, you have to be relentless.  To my mind, this is his most important point, far transcending the online aspect of the paper.  Says Delany:

If you really want to succeed, be relentless — stab-in-the-dark campaigns drive me crazy.   “We launched a website!”  Woo hoo!!!!  So did everyone else.  “We sent out a press release!”  Great, that was one of approximately five quadrillion press releases that went out that day.  Most campaigns that succeed do so because they try many different tactics and never let up the pressure.  With very rare exceptions, successful political campaigns hit their points over and over from as many different angles and in as many different venues as possible.  I can’t stress this point too much — if you want to fail, half-ass it.  Your opponents will applaud you. [bold emphasis is mine]

I liked Delany’s quote so much that I enlarged it (PDF, 97.0K) and pinned it up in my office.

Technorati Tags: politics, elections, public affairs, advocacy