Building brand loyalty in today’s young customers isn’t as easy as one may think. Given that the world is made up of a wide range of customers that differ with generations, we now see the youngest generations, including Millennials and Generation Z becoming the future of the marketing landscape. With thousands of brands competing in the marketplace, it is essentially important for companies to cultivate a strong following amongst these two (2) groups of consumers by reinforcing its brand loyalty strategies in order to get its brand to the top.

As a familiar sight in 2016, Millennials, comprising of people between 18 to 34, make up the largest consumer pool with frugal spending power worth $600 billion each year. However, what you may not have realised is that, there’s an even bigger demographic for target marketing on the horizon – Generation Z, which now wields $44 billion spending power in the United States. Loosely defined as being born anytime from 1997 to 2016, most of which are college age or younger, they are now the central focus of future marketing initiatives.

But, “Is it too early to start building brand loyalty with this consumer groups?” Without overthinking things, brand loyalty starts to set in from a very early age. As these young consumers grew up in a different environment, and begin to have distinctive viewpoints of the world, these in turn shape their habits and lifestyle choices as a consumer in the future. McDonalds has, for years, been targeting younger customers, as did the cigarette companies back in the 1990’s.

To stay ahead in the branding game, start looking into the future. It can pay off handsomely as you invest sufficient time and effort to get your message across to these demographics.  Deep Patel, a contributor from Entrepreneur recently sat down with Caroline Beaton, a workplace-psychology writer to discuss how brands can capture the attention and loyalty of these two burgeoning segments of the population:

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Keep It Simple

Younger generations may think they want an endless supply of colours, flavours and styles, but as Beaton points out, research shows that an overload of options psychologically paralyses people or pushes them to make bad decisions.

“Despite our idealisation of choice, we actually dislike too much of it,” Beaton said. “When overwhelmed with options, we tend to regret our decisions, obsess over foregone alternatives or simply not choose at all.”

Instead, focus on having fewer selections, but that are done really well. According to her, quality will ensure satisfied customers who keep coming back.

Focus on Quality

Younger generations are also looking for authentically valuable products. Beaton says young consumers tend to shun marketing plans that rely on gimmicky sales pitches or slipshod products, cheapening the brand in the process.

“Promote your signature products as simply and honestly as possible. Don’t give us ‘last-minute offers’ or anything that looks cheap, imported or hastily made,” she explained.

Beaton cites the sleek, no-fuss design of Apple’s iPhone as an example.

“When I think of Microsoft, by contrast, I think of 'plasticky' parts and too many products,” Beaton said. “I’ve literally never met a Millennial who prefers Microsoft.”

Invest in Consistent Creativity

One of the best ways to capture the attention of younger consumers is to consistently offer creative and unique marketing plans that appeal to them.

Younger generations aren’t interested in the same old sales pitches. Instead, they want brands that find new ways to engage them.

“The companies with the best brands show their commitment to their customers by doing things such as blogging a few times per week or creating a commercial series with a plot that builds off each instalment and tells a story over time,” Beaton said.

Take note of successful personal brands that use daily vlogs or send out frequent snapchats or tweets. They are consistent in their marketing efforts. And, according to Beaton, consistency works.

“Marketing, like everything else, becomes exponentially impactful the more you invest in it,” Beaton says.

So ditch the one-off articles in favour of a dedicated content marketing plan with scheduled posts, and make sure to include guest blogs.

Beaton notes it’s important to use platforms like YouTube that appeal to younger generations, and commit to posting for a period of time.

Stays Authentic, but with Mood Lighting

“Millennials and Generation Z want authenticity in their brands, but too much transparency isn’t effective either,” Beaton said.

She gave the example of companies that launched campaigns using “real-looking” models. Beaton explained that, with the notable exception of Dove’s Real Beauty campaign, most of these efforts have flopped.

“If companies are too authentic, younger generations won’t see the brand as having something they don’t, and they’ll therefore have no incentive to buy,” she said.

Younger generations aren’t aspiring to be average looking, or lead mediocre lives. So why would brands offer them a product that feels ordinary or common?

 “Companies need to be authentic enough for younger generations to relate to them, but not so authentic that younger generations see them as having nothing novel or superior to offer,” Beaton said.

Tech that Makes Your Life More Meaningful

Beaton believes that the most successful emerging technologies won’t just focus on making our lives easier. Instead, they will help us bring deeper meaning to our lives.

This idea stems from Steve Case’s book "The Third Wave," which posits that we are entering a third wave of tech entrepreneurship that will unite societal forces, like public policy and healthcare, with technology.

“The emerging technologies that Millennials and Gen Z will engage will be less political and more socially conscious: modern charities, social-good organisations, meaningful in-depth connections with marginalised people,” Beaton said.

“For example, if an app could combine the perks of today’s social media with the altruism and charity of working with non-profits, and merge these experiences into a simple, fast, easy-to-use and addicting design, I think it would be highly successful.”

Inspiration: 5 Ways Brands Can Build Loyalty With Young Consumers

Image Source: mymommystyle.com

Happy Chinese New Year! May the year of the Rooster bring you an abundance of opportunities and happiness throughout the year! 

Starting any business venture is a big step. Do not take it lightly. Research shows that 80% of new businesses fail within the first two years. Yes, scary statistic, and true, but one has to prepare themselves for that eventuality. Not everyone or everything succeeds, and that’s OK. Failure is OK; as with every setback we learn valuable lessons for the future.

Flipside; there are things that we can do to improve our prospects. Lets ask why 80% of these businesses fail? Is it because the entrepreneur’s idea was a failure? Probably not. Is it because the entrepreneurs product was not wanted by the market? Probably not. What it is more likely to be linked to is a deeper understanding of the role of the entrepreneur within the business and its broader environment.

Many entrepreneurs have great ideas. Sparking with endless passion, the entrepreneur knows their product (or service, or design, or whatever) extremely well – better than anyone else. That’s great. But: this knowledge is only one small part of the entrepreneurial equation.

Suddenly, you have a business. Staff that need to be paid. Accounts that need to be kept. Sales that need to be made. An office that needs to be coordinated. Information floods in; but our entrepreneur is still there with his/her great idea. A lack of broader business processes is what leads the charge to failure.

When starting out, it’s important to gain financial literacy. Understand the sales numbers, cost of sales, proportion of overheads to total revenue; and make intelligent decisions from that. Don’t over-borrow to fund your new business – it has to be paid back. Maybe a silent partner or an angel investor – great news, but they will be expecting you to be on top of the numbers too, if not more so than the minimum.

Financial illiteracy is one of the biggest causes of business failure. Accountants, auditors, professional managers undertake years of study and on-the-job experience to learn their way around numbers – you have about a month! It’s a challenge, but the end result will be an entrepreneur who is well able to make informed decisions based on real facts. As much as the passion is important, this is counter-weighted by reality, and the need to see a return on investment, either for the entrepreneur, or their investors.

Likewise, developing interpersonal and human resources skills become essential. Starting out on a low budget often means asking friends, or worse, family, to work for us. A big NO-NO-NO! This is dangerous to the friendship, and hard to be an objective manager over people we know on a social level. Or, we can hire staff. But, we are a start-up – not that attractive to job-seekers. You don’t have a Google or Yahoo office; and are therefore less attractive to potential employees. Ultimately, top echelon staff are hired in more established businesses (or simply become our entrepreneurial competitors), and we are left with a resource pool that is not as ideal as desired.

We have to accept compromises, we may pay a little less; but at the same time, are we ensuring our team is performing to their best available outcomes? Managing people is often a big challenge for new entrepreneurs. It’s not only managing people who understand your offering on the technical level, but others too, on the operational level, such as sales, or accounts. We need to motivate each and every team member.

Moreover, we need to develop our own skills to work with our team – handling leave scheduling, holiday pay, sick leave, EFP and SOCSO, writing contracts (that aren’t going to get us into trouble), and most of all, ensuring our cash flow is in on time to ensure our team get paid on time. The biggest responsibility an entrepreneur has as an employer to ensure their team members are paid on time, so that they can meet their own obligations. Much like the captain goes down with the ship, the entrepreneur should never get paid until the team does.

Another new challenge is marketing. Knowing your consumer, how to reach them, and how to position your offering. Marketing can at times be the biggest shock for entrepreneurs. With such an indepth knowledge of their product, it often becomes difficult to separate out what they need to be telling others, from what they actually tell others. Simple things are taken for granted, and our communication efforts to potential customers might go awry.

Ultimately, an entrepreneur needs a crash course in business. It’s not important to master everything, but a successful entrepreneur understands broad basics, and has a handle on many of the issues that may face the business. And, they learn the ropes fast as the business progresses. This will put them ahead of their game, as they will understand more about what influences their venture than just their own product.

This is where both community and government have to play their part; offering accessible resources for entrepreneurs to develop their craft and gain new appreciation for all things business. Something that we here at Metanoia will move into next year, as the start-up scene in Malaysia is expending tremendously – but the success rate is not changing.

Image Source:

(1)   companyincorporationsg.com

(2)   learninggrank.com

(3)   entrepreneur.com

(4)   tomo360.com

Craig J Selby | Craig is a long-time proponent of structured and measured change. His early career saw him teaching marketing and management at a variety of Universities and PTE’s in his native New Zealand, where he quickly climbed the management ladder to head several private sector institutes. Needing to do that little bit extra, Craig formed his own consultancy firm and was engaged by many in the sector as a trouble-shooter - responsible for internal auditing, restructuring and redevelopment of many departments and institutes in order to remain competitive in a highly contested market. This involvement motivated him to branch out and work with other industries - focussing on change and development as a core theme in business survival. When Craig moved to Malaysia, he went back into the Education sector to share his ideas with local private sector educational facilities. In 2009 Craig co-founded Orchan Consulting Asia, an award-winning Public Relations agency. His areas of specialisation are Crisis Management Communications and Change Management.

Be brave enough to start a conversation that matters -  Margaret Wheatley

As businesses become more and more embedded in, and dependent upon, the social media technology revolution that is sweeping us away like a today wave, it is imperative that we, as leaders, as entrepreneurs, as managers, and as team players, rise up to meet the challenges. For the more millennial of us, these technology changes will be intuitively easier – but, as technology is advancing every day, we all have to adapt. What was new last year is old hat today; and what is new today, wasn’t conceived of last year.  

Our role as ‘managers’ (at every level) has changed, whether we like it or not. In order to maintain momentum, we need to adjust, and we need to rethink how we approach our teams in order to keep pace with changes. We have to be seen as leaders, empowering those around us to try new things, to experiment, and to take risks which can lead to positive payoffs. We have to be not afraid of failing, but embrace the challenge and learn something positive from the experience, using that to pick ourselves up and continue. We must also be ready to learn from the more tech-talented team members we embrace, and use their skills to build ourselves, just as our mentoring should be forging a new path for them.

The article which follows is a rather short and simple reflection on three (3) key attitudes / behaviours towards meeting the challenges that technology and changing talent gives us. I like the article, not for its simplicity, but for the clean, practical approach to the topic, and for the fact that these are everyday things we should constantly be doing as leaders to help our teams develop to their fullest.  

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I’ve been lucky to work with entrepreneurs at all stages of business growth -- and as the CEO of Deloitte Consulting LLP for a little over six months, I’ve had a chance to deepen these relationships. As I have spoken with these leaders as they build and lead their organisations, I’ve always been amazed by their vision, creativity and the way they approach some of the most challenging choices every business faces -- whether they’re a multinational or just getting established.

Virtually all of them talk about two (2) specific challenges -- keeping up with the pace of technological change and finding and retaining the talent they need to grow their organisations.

At Deloitte, we recently did some research about leaders’ views on these topics. In our 2016 Business Confidence Report, we surveyed 600 business leaders -- 300 at the C-level and 300 just outside of the C-suite. Business leaders across the spectrum agree that technology change and the need for new and different skills in their organisations are the top two impediments to any growth strategy.

From my own experience -- and the experiences of the thousands of great entrepreneurs and business leaders I’ve learned from over the years -- I’ve put together a short list of three (3) things I think are essential in addressing these challenges:

Encourage Innovation, Don’t Just Talk About It

Find innovation opportunities everywhere. Survey respondents agree that to compete, you have to innovate, and so they say innovation is a top priority. But the survey revealed that while most business are focusing on improving products or customer experiences, they are missing important opportunities to encourage further innovation like considering new business or talent models, or even building partnerships with other organisations. My own experience is that innovation is a mindset as much as a process -- and great organisations are always looking for better ways to do everything.

Help Your People to be Bold

Leaders we surveyed nearly all said bold leadership, characterised in part by smart risk-taking, was needed to achieve their goals. But the executives we surveyed acknowledged they aren’t necessarily doing enough to recruit or develop bold leadership skills in their organisations. In nearly all cases -- 90 percent, actually -- leaders themselves said they didn’t feel like they were demonstrating bold leadership traits consistently. The survey also shows that employee incentives and promotions are not encouraging enough smart risk-taking and leaders themselves aren’t taking risks and offering controversial ideas. The lesson here is that leaders can encourage boldness and build innovative teams by creating a culture of courage. Let your own teams push your organisation further than even you thought possible. Have the courage to listen to people at every level of the organisation, the courage to confidently experiment even when you may fail, and the courage to change your mind or pull the plug on an effort when it doesn’t work.

Keep Your Best Talent

The majority of the leaders we surveyed expect that a high percentage -- one third or more -- of their companies’ highest performers may leave. The top two reasons cited for their potential departure: A desire to work with more advanced technologies, and a desire to work with a more innovative company. The way to avoid this talent “brain drain” is clear-cut: Focus relentlessly on talent acquisition and retention, and do everything you can to be make sure your culture celebrates excellence. Find new models for talent acquisition, such as open talent approaches and crowd sourcing platforms. The most talented people want to be part of something exciting, something where bold thinking is rewarded, and something where openness and leadership are encouraged. The survey also showed there is an opportunity to better align compensation and bonus structures with innovation, bold leadership, and risk-taking. If you’re interested in building an organisation with that outlook -- where everyone sees great value in disruption, innovation, bold thinking and fresh approaches -- a way to achieve it is through a culture that celebrates it and compensates it every chance it gets.

The good news: If you’re like most of our survey respondents, you’re operating in a positive environment for growth. Our survey showed businesses are confident in their ability to outperform the competition now, and they know what they have to do to continue to remain competitive in the future.

In short, they have the flexibility and room to seize opportunities and address challenges tied to the pace of change and with talent. I am confident today’s business leaders can achieve what they have set out to do -- and continue to deliver for their customers, investors and teams.

Inspiration: 3 Keys to Meeting Today's Talent and Tech Challenges

Image Source: 

(1) clrn.dmlhun.net

(2) goaugment.io

(3) christophercumbly.com

Benjamin Lee Cheng Han | Benjamin is a student of International Relations at the University of Nottingham, currently exploring unchartered realms in the Public Relations field. Writing is clearly his interest – a decisive contributor to his foray into the public relations industry. To date, he boasts the proud record of having tamed one of the office cats, and drinking expired tea from the pantry.

Remember why you started - Unknown 

As the saying goes: “smooth sea doesn’t make skilful sailor”. As an entrepreneur fights the battle of establishing a robust foundation for an organisation, he or she needs to be able withstand the test of time in expecting a number of ultimately unplanned activities, including crises. In a time when the advancement of technology outpaces our ability to fully understand the impact of a vast array of PR crises, ranging from the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 fiasco, rats running amok in a food outlet, to the MH370 plane crash, ‘firefighting’ has now become a way of life for many organisation’s leaders.

While some organisations may think that there is no need to prepare for the worst, the recent Samsung phone issue, and Tesco’s chilli rodents have proved otherwise. Recognising that timeliness and certainty are the keys to managing a crisis, an organisation or a company that embarks on deliberate steps to prepare for the unthinkable will eventually succeed in averting a crisis. Often, it is only times like this that would spark the debate about the best way in managing a crisis.

That said, a crisis communications plan would certainly help us to respond quickly when a crisis hits. However, living in the digital world has allowed citizen journalists to spread news a lot faster than we can control. Therefore, there is a need for organisational leaders to delve a little deeper for a more flexible, personalised ap[PR]oach upon addressing the concern of the crisis those affected.

Take a look at the following article shared by Joe Escobedo, a contributor at Forbes, who had interviewed Vanessa Seow, a seasoned public relations practitioner who had protected some of the world’s largest brands, for her best advice in managing PR crises in the industry.

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Before you can manage a crisis though, you first need to understand what constitutes a “PR crisis.”

When Is An Online Crisis A PR Crisis?  

Sometimes crises are a build-up of smaller issues that eventually become a disaster of global proportion. She cites the recent Samsung case as an example of a major PR crisis.

“In the early days of the Samsung Note 7 self-combustible phone, it was not clear if it was a one-off product fault or otherwise,” says Vanessa. “When a YouTube video of a burning phone went viral on social media, the mainstream media caught hold of it and what followed was a series of unfortunate events that ended in a big financial write-off.”

According to Vanessa, an online crisis becomes a PR crisis when…

• There is an obvious loss of lives, properties, environmental and reputational damage of a huge magnitude, such as a commercial airline crash.

• A negative video clip or photo is going viral on online media and social networks and is subsequently picked up by traditional, mainstream media.

• An irate customer posting about a nasty customer service on a company’s Facebook page is not a crisis. A customer posting a YouTube video showing wriggling maggots in the food he just bought made it to the evening news. This is a crisis! (True story. That event was later referred to the food safety regulators and the company had to battle reputational damage for a long time after.)

What and How You Say It Matters

In these cases, companies should acknowledge the facts and keep it consistent, whether it is provided over social or mainstream media.

Vanessa suggests that templates are good for when you need something to dish out when faced with an onslaught of journalists pushing microphones into your face for a statement. But what do you say on Twitter, Facebook and the likes when the factory continues burning in the background and netizens are busy snapping away?

Vanessa says statements like, “We are investigating and will update you soon.” sound robotic and clearly comes from that said “template”. “‘We hear you – we are working hard to solve this and promise to give an update,’ sounds more likely to come from a human.”  

See the difference? Which would you rather receive?

Next Vanessa shares the case study of the AirAsia QZ8501 crash in 2014. CEO Tony Fernandes tweeted within hours of receiving news of the missing airliner.

 

AirAsia CEO Tony Fernandes tweets during the Flight QZ8501′s disappearance. (Twitter)

“In the subsequent days, he frequently tweeted, along with print media reports to support a consistent message. He communicated in an empathic and genuine manner. It made a huge impact on how the crisis rolled out under control,” says Vanessa.     

Who Says It Matters

In the case of the AirAsia QZ8501 crash, the CEO clearly stepped up. When a crisis involved loss of lives, properties, serious environmental and reputational impact, it matters that the person at the top takes control and responsibility. If the CEO is not available, the next in command should provide an update until the CEO returns to action.

“This is, however, easier said than done,” says Vanessa. “In a 2015 research conducted by CEO.com, 61% of CEOs have no social presence whatsoever. When a public figurehead is lacking in active online presence, the company public pages should take over the communication role. The downside is netizens are still facing a non-human entity and this may get them all fired up.”

The recent case involving hackers bringing a halt to Singapore telecom player StarHub’s services is a good example. It did not take long for more than 1,600 angry customers to take to their keyboard, airing their grievances on the company’s Facebook page. The CEO, Tan Tong Hai, does not seem to have an active social page. This added to some angst and negative comments.  

Vanessa says “Most companies forget that their front line of defense is actually their employees. In today’s connected world, someone is bound to be a friend or family of an employee. Guess who they will turn to if they want to know the latest rumour? Ensure employees are kept updated of established facts and adhere to a code of conduct required during crises.”  

Where Are The Battlegrounds?  

Marketers complain that there are too many social media networks now to catch up with, and increasingly private networks like Snapchat and WeChat are keeping organisations out of the real conversations. Fortunately for marketers, when an issue does indeed become a crisis, it usually takes place in public spaces, such as Facebook, Twitter or made viral by popular news sites that drive huge traffic.

“If the onslaught of negative customer comments started on Facebook, focus your efforts on driving the conversation there first, then address other comments from secondary channels, such as Twitter, LinkedIn,” advises Vanessa. “If the negative news is made viral by news sites, focus on communicating with journalists to tell your side of the story.”

Very often, companies use social media listening tools that tell you before something snowballs. Such tools will give you a good indication to where you should focus your budgets and efforts in damage control.

Social media listening tool, Digimind. (Digimind)

However, companies are often slow to react, netizens take their battlegrounds to where they can most effectively air their grievances. These are typically a company’s Facebook page, Twitter feed or even Instagram account.  

The Post-crisis Mop Up

When the dust settles, it’s time to look back and repair the damage.

Vanessa shares some post-crisis actions you may want to consider:

• Keep a log of every tweet, response, news, customer and journalist whom you were in touch with during the crisis. Assign resources to keep in touch with the key influencers in this group. They will appreciate the follow-up and in the long term, could prove to be a positive advocate for your company.

• How did you react? Was it timely? Was it done in a human tone? Update your crisis playbook with the latest workflow that has proven to work.

• Review your crisis committee team and evaluate if there should be other departments or personnel who needed to be included should the next crisis strike again.

• Review your social media presence (or lack of) and tools that helped you during the ordeal.

• And finally, practice, practice, practice!

Just as the militaries around the world conduct simulation exercises regularly, so should organizations be prepared in good times. Many PR firms and risk management consulting companies have proprietary software that helps you conduct a social media crisis simulation exercise covering different scenarios. Have your team go through such exercises at least once a year.

Inspiration: How to Survive PR Crisis in Asia

Image: (1) communicatemedia.com(2) forbes.com(3) forbes.com

Chia Yi Jing | Bubbling with enthusiasm, bright ideas, and confidence, Yi Jing set foot in the PR world with Orchan Consulting, where she was offered permanent employment after a successful internship. She is determined to make her mark in the industry, and her bosses know that she will. 

The important of a writer... is that he is here to describe things which other people are too busy to describe - James Baldwin

Imagine if a reputation-destroying crisis comes calling at your company, are you prepared to handle it confidently? Do you have an existing Crisis Communications Plan, or a well-trained crisis management team to help tackle the crisis effectively? Like any other business in the world, every organisation, big or small, is prone to experience a crisis at anytime, anywhere. Therefore, advanced planning and deliberate preparation are the keys to survival in the event of crisis. Check out our recent interview with Craig J Selby, Metanoia Ltd’s Director, who provides his expert insights on crafting a crisis communications plan.

1.    What are the types of crises that may occur? That said, can you really plan for a crisis?

A crisis is anything that brings negative attention towards your business or your business outcomes. It may be the result of an internal fault, eg; the recent issues with Samsung or VolksWagen; or it may be the results of external forces, eg; Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 where there is still extreme uncertainty. Crisis may be real or perceived. It may be caused by staff or by customers, or by third parties.

Yes, you are right that this is wide. But, it can be planned for. Whilst we cannot forsee every potential issue, we can identify categories of issues, and use this identification to help us develop a plan, or scenario, for when something similar happens.

We all hope that it doesn’t happen, but at times, things will occur. Sometimes these things fall outside that of what we have planned. However, the planning process itself is what helps us here – our mindset is already reshaped into the required paradigm; thus making our response to a crisis much more succinct. Ultimately, that’s what the public need to see – an organisation with a clear focus who appear to be on top of things – even if, in reality, they are not.

2.    What is a Crisis Communications Plan; and how does it come into play during a crisis?

A Crisis Communications Plan is an organisation-wide document that spells out roles and responsibilities during a crisis, protocol for action, and even details best practice models for moving forward. It is unique to each organisation, but the commonalitles mean that a company can ensure aall of its team are trained to handle a negative situation, and that the voice of the company is one, rather than many.

It comes into play as a guide for dealing with situations. By setting protocols, it helps ensure consistency of message; and it also helps to give focus to the teams involved.

3.    What are the key elements of an effective Crisis Communications Plan, and how can we craft content for each of these elements?

A Crisis Communications Plan has many elements. But the most important are the roles and responsibilities, communication channels, protocols, and approaches to possible scenarios.

Crafting relevant content for each is an indepth process. It should involve interviewing team members at all levels of the organisation; to better understand internal processes and communication standards.

Ultimately we seek plausible and actionable plans for times of crisis which resonate well with the organisation. But these come from within first.

Additionally, we need to learn from past mistakes. Maybe the organisation has had previous issues which we can learn from. What worked well, and what didn’t. Furthermore, we can look outside of the organisation to understand how other businesses, be it within the same industry or further afield, have worked on addressing crises of a similar nature.

Once the content is crafted to the detail required, the most important step becomes training the teams to understand how to respond, and how to work together to survive the situation.

4.    Why do you advocate that every company develops a Crisis Communication Plan?

Forewarned is forearmed.

As simple as that. I advocate the development of plans to get team members focussed on possibilities; to remind them that the status quo may not always be as smooth, and to get people involved in pro-active problem solving.

5.    How can an organisation identify and assemble a crisis management team?

A crisis management team does not always have to be all senior management; but senior management need to be actively involved. By understanding the organisation through research, one can see key pivotal roles and communications channels, and it is through here that core members of the crisis management team can be engaged.

A thorough understanding of the organisation, its structure, its key issues, and its culture is essential in identifying and developing a team for such circumstances.

6.    Who are the significant stakeholders that should be addressed in a crisis, and why?

The answer to this varies depending on the organisation and the nature of the crisis. It may be as simple as dissatisfied customers, who can be addressed and worked with on a face-to-face level; or it may be deeper and involve third parties.

Once something becomes identified as a crisis, media are likely to be involved. However, not every crisis is of interest to media – but your response to the crisis may be. A popular KL bakery discovered that when it faced a dissatisfied customer. The customer complained online regarding service standards and prices. The bakery management responded with unflattering comments and insults, which in turn were shared first with marketing industry media, and then picked up by mainstream media. The initial cause of the crisis, an unhappy customer, would not have gained media traction, but the bakery’s inappropriate response, did.

Thus, different stakeholders may emerge throughout the crisis experience, either adding to the scenario, or helping to limit it.

As a basic rule, first and foremost address affected parties and customers first; then shareholders and quasi-related parties. If media become involved, focus your attention towards showing media how you are addressing the matter for affected parties. Do not disproportionately shift your attention to parties who are less or not affected. Do not go for the easy option.

7.    When a crisis strikes, what do you think is the main ingredient in an incident media statement to respond to the public?

Be sincere. Be genuine. Be honest.

8.    An organisational leader has to learn to handle media interviews or press conferences during a crisis. Can you highlight on the importance of media training to ensure effective communications during a crisis outbreak?

Facing the media at any time can be a daunting task for any spokesperson. Training the spokespeople in advance helps to ensure that they can handle the interaction with grace and professionalism, whilst still ensuring that the sincerity, genuinity, and honesty from above comes through. Empathy goes a long way, but quite often, the defensive mode kicks in during difficult times, and we need some element of training to help keep us on a level field.

9.    How often does an organisation need to review its crisis communications plan? With that, what are some of the ways that an organisation can communicate the plan internally to staff?

There is not a fixed time, but a good systems auditor would ensure that a review is at least annually. I personally believe that the plan should be reviewed more frequently; as changes happen within an organisation, key personnel change, or as major external crises offer us key learnings to help strengthen our own plan.

Staff meetings, periodic training sessions, and internal newsletters / communiques are important tools to help communicate the plan. Just like a regular fire drill, we need to keep the team involved. For her hires, the plan should be discussed during their induction, and then followed up during other appropriate team opportunities.

10. Case studies in crisis communication offer us examples of scenarios to prepare for crises. How do we craft a relevant case study that can help prepare an organisation for effective and efficient response when a crisis happens?

Absolutely they do, as mentioned earlier. Case studies give us an opportunity to armchair (or swivel chair) critique scenarios, and to think through what we would have done, what went wrong, what went right, and whether the same thing could happen to us. It’s an easier leap than one might expect.

Crafting the case study is a different story. There are so many ways to do this, that there is no one answer. But as with all cases, an understanding of what happened, its chronology, the outcomes, key learnings – these become essential elements. It’s important not to hand everything to yourteam on a plate – let them think, and take ownership for coming up with ideas too – as this will become a valuable contribution to your own organisations key learnings.

11. Social media has become a central part in our daily lives now. Should organisation respond to crisis in their social media platforms? If so, are there any specific guidelines or protocols of using social media in crisis situations?

Rule of thumb – if your organisation uses social media platforms to promote itself, then it should use these to respond.

Social media is an embedded business component for many businesses these days. As such, it becomes a primary point of contact between customer and organisation; therefore, it is naturally expected that social media will be used to communicate through.

However, as much as we should use this channel, do not throw the baby out with the bathwater and forget traditional channels. When communicating with media, stll ensure that press releases are disseminated to trusted media contacts through your organisations usual ways, we well as uploading them to social media. Recent trends have been to use only social media, and media outlets who upload their source from social media channels tend to be more negative about a situation than those who had direct contact from the organisation itself. Just a point to consider, as we need to look at multiple channels for communication.

Try to avoid insincere, automated responses. These are obvious, and can turn a curious customer into a very dissatisfied one quite quickly.

Sometimes, your social media platforms will be overwhelmed with feedback, and this will exceed team capacity. This is normal, and not everyone expects a personal reply. Where possible, for agitators and those with genuine concern, take the conversation offline at the earliest possible opportunity.

Avoid shutting down your social media channel – nothing says guilt faster than hiding. Curtain University experienced this a few years back when it offered an honary PhD to the Malaysian Prime Ministers wife – the phenomenal negative feedback overwhelmed the University to the point that it took its social media channels offline. This did nothing to pacify the situation – it only made certain quarters angrier, and prolonged the scenario. Shutting down your social media has to be a last resort, but consider it carefully.

Good planning would create protocols for these scenarios. For example, at first sign of issues, protocol might be to disable comments on social media platforms, thus limiting the opportunity for the public to flood your platform with negativity. This is of course a case-by-case scenario, and I can’t advocate this for every or all business; but our Crisis Communications Plan research will take into account social media users interaction with the business, and the best way to guide and control this during a crisis scenario.

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Craig J Selby | Craig is a long-time proponent of structured and measured change. His early career saw him teaching marketing and management at a variety of Universities and PTE’s in his native New Zealand, where he quickly climbed the management ladder to head several private sector institutes. Needing to do that little bit extra, Craig formed his own consultancy firm and was engaged by many in the sector as a trouble-shooter - responsible for internal auditing, restructuring and redevelopment of many departments and institutes in order to remain competitive in a highly contested market. This involvement motivated him to branch out and work with other industries - focussing on change and development as a core theme in business survival. When Craig moved to Malaysia, he went back into the Education sector to share his ideas with local private sector educational facilities. In 2009 Craig co-founded Orchan Consulting Asia, an award-winning Public Relations agency. His areas of specialisation are Crisis Management Communications and Change Management.