Quote of the Month:
“Humility is keeping yourself in perspective.”

Unknown Author

COMBATING “TRASH TALK” IN CYBERSPACE

What if you woke up one morning and found that your organization
was being slammed on the Internet? It could be a vicious rumor
that was being spread about your product being unsafe. (This was the
case in an e-mail message I received from a well-meaning friend who
intended to warn me about the dangers of a particular brand of
deodorizing plug-in that could supposedly cause house fires.)

Or it could be a video clip uploaded to YouTube so that it can be
seen over and over again. The video could have come from an actual
TV news show (as when rats could be seen scurrying around on the
floor of a local restaurant) or something recorded by a novice on
his cell phone (such as happened when a testy exchange occurred
between a customer sales representative for a nationally known
company and an unhappy customer).

Or a rogue site could be set up by one or more persons unhappy with
your organization. (A client of mine who was going through a long
strike found extremely ugly things said about them on a web site
being widely advertised in the community.)

It doesn’t matter if the negative talk is (1) about something bad
that really happened within a company (accident, environmental
release, lawsuit); (2) something completely made up to embarrass or
damage the company; or (3)something in between — a kernel of
truth surrounded by a lot of rumor and innuendo.

WOULD YOU KNOW WHAT TO DO?

This sort of thing happens every day now. No organization is
immune. Yet not that many companies have thought about what they
should do to combat this type of cyber attack. You may
instinctively know that putting out a traditional press release is
not the way to go. Bringing the subject up in a whole new
communications vehicle may well just serve to spread the damage.
But many of us — particularly those of us known as “baby boomers”
— may not be technologically savvy enough to know how to fight
fire with fire. Or to use a different analogy, we are not sure how
to contain a half-acre brush fire and not let it grow to be a
50,000 acre conflagration.

Assuming it is not likely that we will succeed in taking a crash
course on how to effectively deal with cyber terror once it has
broken upon us, it helps to know someone who is skilled in these
tactics.

HELP IS ON THE WAY

In a previous e-zine, I promised to tell you when a helpful CD on
this subject would be available. That time is now. Jonathan
Bernstein is a highly respected, nationally known crisis management
expert. All kinds of valuable information can be found on his
website at www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com. I highly recommend
that you go there and look around at everything he has to offer.
Read some of the hundreds of articles he has posted there. Sign up
for his free twice-monthly e-zine that will keep you abreast of
various topics related to reputation management. Look through his
“store” at www.thecrisismanager.com for training documents and
other CD’s he’s produced either by himself or with other experts.
(There’s one he did with me and another consultant on how to combat
nasty tricks that reporters try to pull on unsuspecting
spokespeople — also on my web site.)

The CD I am recommending now is called “Internet Counter-
Intelligence” which he did in conjunction with Diana Huff.
In it, he tells everyone why every organization needs
to be prepared to address a cybercrisis, how you can find out when
bad things are being said about your organization, and things you
need to do to get your side of the story out into cyberspace.

Time is critical in every crisis. When it comes at you with
the speed of the Internet, you will be glad if you’ve prepared
yourself ahead of time to protect your organization’s reputation as
best you can.

# # #

SPECIAL NOTE ON PRE-PUBLICATION PRICING OF NEW BOOK EDITION

I just finished making a lot of changes to the 2004 version of
“Keeping Cool on the Hot Seat: Dealing Effectively with the Media
in Times of Crisis.” So many crises have occurred in the past four
years that required comment, epecially since several colleges
continue to use the book in their courses on public relations and
crisis communications. Material has been added about Hurricane
Katrina, the Sago mine disaster, the recalls of Chinese toys, the
alleged rape by members of the Duke lacrosse team, the JetBlue
Airways Valentine’s Day meltdown, and the Virginia Tech tragedy.
The price of the book remains the same — $19.95. But as an e-zine
subscriber, you can order your copy at the pre-publication price of
$15.95 (plus shipping). Just let me know by e-mail that you want
to order a copy and give me your snail-mail address. I’ll mail it
off to you with an invoice as soon as they become available
(expected to be in early or mid-March).

ANOTHER NOTE: You probably realize this month’s e-zine looks a
little different. It’s not as fancy as before, but some people
were having trouble downloading the more stylish one or the text
was running into the margins. I’d appreciate hearing from you as
to whether this plain text version is better for you or you liked
the old way better!