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Who
Stepped Up
Reputation Management Requires Quick Decisions: Businesses and organizations tend to hesitate when crises arise. However, there can be no hesitation when your house is on fire. A crisis requires quick movements and correct decisions.
That’s the way AFLAC acted when they fired pitchman Gilbert Gottfried after the comedian posted a string of inappropriate jokes on Twitter about the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. AFLAC quickly fired the well-known voice of their duck. They did not launch an investigation, ask for an apology from Gottfried, or find out if he was in his right mind. They took quick and decisive action, said “you’re fired,” and promptly announced their action to the media which reached readers in Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Chesapeake, Newport News, Hampton and throughout Hampton Roads.
The upside of a quick and correct decision to a company’s reputation is:
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No hesitation means no media frenzy. |
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You send a signal to stakeholders and potential stakeholders about the values you stand for. |
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You get credit for acting decisively and quickly. You lose confidence and credibility when you act slowly and bureaucratically. |
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You minimize the risk of the individual in trouble making an issue with your upcoming decision. |
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You avoid finding out how quickly a reputation can be tarnished in today’s 24-hour news cycle and social media explosion. |
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You exhibit leadership that looks in charge of the situation. |
AFLAC’s public relations plan provides company leaders with a road map on how to respond to potentially difficult situations. This type of public relations forethought provides leaders the ability to make clear, quick and correct decisions. It also negates the knee-jerk reaction that is usually wrong and adds to even more press coverage and greater loss of confidence.
Having a plan created by your public relations firm that has looked over the horizon and has thought through possible situations is how leaders maintain a steady course for their companies no matter what comes their way. The alternative for companies in Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Chesapeake, Newport News, Hampton and throughout Hampton Roads is having no plan, or a plan that misses the mark, and a company leader with that deer-in-the-headlight look which means only one thing – “it’s media frenzy time and I’m not prepared.”
Quality reputation management is a day-by-day, methodical process designed by public relations firms to continually gain ground and relent none. Do you have a plan in place that identifies your company boundaries and how to deal with situations outside of those boundaries?
For a no-cost phone consultation, feel free to call David Rourk at (757) 478-0150.
About Rourk Public Relations
Our public relations firm is expert at reputation management, crisis management, and company reputation management for clients in Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Chesapeake, Suffolk, Hampton Roads, and throughout Virginia.
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