Crisis Management Public Relations Done Right

When something goes horribly wrong and your business is involved it is always good to be prepared and have a plan.

“A crisis is defined as a significant threat to operations that can have a negative consequence if not handled properly.”

-  Timothy Coombs  -

Therefore, any threat big or small has the potential to escalate and get out of control if not handled properly, for example the United Airlines Overbooking of Passengers Incident. The crisis occurring on Sunday the 9th of April saw a 69-year-old man physically removed from the aircraft after he refused to give up his seat. This incident was recorded and uploading to Social Media channels to show the rough and unacceptable conduct of security in removing the passenger. United’s first media release was late Sunday night stating that the flight was overbooked, volunteers were requested and a passenger was removed by law enforcement. A twitter statement was then released by United Airlines over 24 hours after the incident apologising for the overbooked situation but not the treatment of the passenger. After investigation, the Chicago Department of Aviation stated that the actions taken were not in accordance with operating procedures and were not appropriate. Since then an official apology has been made and a confidential settlement.

This incident highlighted the need for businesses to address crisis’s immediately and apologise if in the wrong. Every business should have a Crisis Management Plan in place in preparation for any possible crisis.

Crisis Management Plan:

1.       Determine what and where a possible crisis may occur and who will be in charge

  • Identify possible crisis situations
  • Create multiple crisis response plans
  • Select a small team of key executives and PR personnel to be in charge of the response 

2.       Train chosen Management Team and staff in communication, speaking and key messages

  • Create a key message to present to the media, consumers and post on social media channels to ensure consistent information.
  • Prepare staff to speak effectively to the media
  • Create and learn a key message/response to the issue
  • Choose a key individual to address the media in public/TV

 3.       What monitoring systems will be put in place

  • Have an establish and growing social media community 
  • Monitor website, social media and internet comment references to determine the public’s view point.

4.       Develop immediate responses

  • Time is needed to investigate, analyse and review the situation so have some general statements for the media prepared to allow for time to get the situation under control and determine what went wrong.

5.       Analyse Crisis Management

  • Review the situation, the time it took to get the situation under control and the damage to the business and its reputation.
  • Review the Crisis Management Plan and determine where the business did well and where improvements can be made or avoided.

A crisis can come at any time, therefore measures need to be in place to avoid them from happening and if unavoidable a plan to manage the crisis. Take time to create a Crisis Management Plan for the business using the outline above and be as detailed as possible.

Customer Engagement: Why it matters and how to get it right

Engaging with your customers successfully through Strategic Marketing is crucial for any business but especially for entrepreneurs and small businesses.

Customer engagement is the repetitive interaction between customers and a brand that build and strengthen brand recognition and preference. This association allows for a brand to become the product of choice by consumers allowing for competitive advantage within the market. Engagement has found to be most popular when the product or service has been personalised to specific individuals as it makes the customer feel unique and their purchase appreciated.

Coke has created a very successful personal engagement connection with their consumers through the Share a Coke campaign where coke bottles were printed with personalised names. Unsure of the times, as social media was only still new, Share a Coke focused mainly on TV but quickly found that the excitement and word-of-mouth from consumers was mainly on social media. This then opened the doors for branded social media campaigns globally, allowing for consumers to go offline to find their personalised product and then go back online (social media) to share with all their friends. This campaign resulted in a 6.8% global increase on Coke’s Facebook page and an increase of 2.5% increase in total sales. This campaign resulted in a positive customer response with an increase brand awareness and active search for the personalised names of the customers.

Why Coca Cola Succeeded:

  • Made their consumers feel important and valued with the personalisation of bottles
  • Made a personal connection
  • Shared consumer content on Social Media and Advertising platforms
  • Created large amounts of word-of-mouth through successful marketing 

How can small businesses do this:

  • When sending products, include a personalised letter to the customer
  • Personalised replies to customers on all communication and social media platforms
  •  Posting photos of your consumers using the product on your social media
  • Listen to your customers and ensure you respond to their requests
  • Promote customer loyalty as two-way

Expected Results:

  • Increased consumer brand awareness
  • Increased word-of-mouth
  • Creation of a relationship between your business are your consumers and target market
  • Increase of sales

Whether your business is as big as Coca Cola or is only in the early stages of business it is important to remember your customers and ensure that your products, services and communications are personalised in order to create a high level of consumer engagement.

 

Four things every Small Business needs to know about the Federal Budget

The Federal Budget unveiled almost two weeks ago proved that the Federal Coalition are shifting their view from big enterprise to small business driving Australia’s economic future. It was a budget with a range of wins for small business, specifically those with a turnover of less than $10 million and if the measures are passed and can be retained over the next decade, they’ll have a huge positive impact on the success of our businesses.

1. Reduced Tax Rate

Over the next decade, the Federal Government will reduce the tax burden on small businesses by reducing the tax rate to 27.5% immediately for businesses with a turnover of $10 million or under and by 2026, reducing it to 25% for all small business with turnovers up to $1 billion. The tax reduction works as a slider bringing all small business onto an equal playing field over the next ten years.

2. Unincorporated Small Business Tax Discount

Businesses (not companies) with a turnover of less than $5 million will receive an additional 8% discount on their tax bill with the maximum discount available sitting at $1,000. Over the next decade this discount will expand to a final discount of 16%. The government estimates that around 2.3 businesses will have access to this discount each year.

3.  Increased Tax Concessions

Existing tax concessions will be become more freely available as the government increases the threshold from $2 million to $10 million. The tax thresholds businesses will have access to include: 

  • Simplified depreciation rules, including immediate tax deductibility for asset purchases costing less than $20,000 until 30 June 2017
  • Simplified trading stock rules, giving them the option to avoid end of year stocktake if the value of their stock has changed by less than $5,000;
  • A simplified method of paying PAYG instalments calculated by the ATO, which removes the risk of under or over estimating PAYG instalments and the resulting penalties that may be applied;
  • The option to account for GST on a cash basis and pay GST instalments as calculated by the ATO;
  • Other tax concessions currently available to small businesses, such as fringe benefits tax (FBT) exemptions (from 1 April 2017 to align with the FBT year); and

  • A trial of simpler business activity statements (BAS), reducing GST compliance costs, with a full roll-out from 1 July 2017.

4. Access to financing sources

Asset backed financing will now be given the same tax treatment as conventional financing. This type of financing is suited to infrastructure support or development and large, long-term projects.

 

So there you have it – the benefits for small business outlined! Scott Morrison told The Australian that people “instinctively” saw that a strong small business would mean conditions were better for workers and the broader economy and given just how valuable the small business sector is to our economy, it’s about time. We as small businesses are responsible for the employment of over 3 million people and contribute $340 to our economy each year.

Backbone of Australia? We like to think so.

If you have any questions or would like to share your thoughts about the budget, please feel free to get in touch with us.