When a crisis hits, it’s important to arm yourself with an all-purpose response, or “holding statement,” to get you through the initial Imagine you ship out several orders of your blood, sweat, and tears-inspired holiday gift baskets, only to learn they arrived at the doorsteps of your new and returning customers with the crumbled remains of hand soap and broken jars of jam. The media holding statement must be carefully written in clear and concise language. Be prepared for some angry calls and frustrated customers. At a recent meeting with a media training client we discussed crisis planning, and particularly the benefits of having a robust crisis communications strategy, with sample holding statements written and ready to go.. Reassurance. This official statement gives your organizations initial information about an incident or crisis including basic facts and lets people know that your organization is currently dealing with the incident. Keep in mind that anything you say externally—regardless of your intended audience—has the potential to end up in the hands of a journalist, especially if your issue is particularly juicy.That said, you’ll likely want to add more of a personal touch to your customer note.
Companies who slack on great service do so at their peril—With that in mind, it’s best to be as proactive as possible with your customers (though be prepared to be reactive as well). For example, it might be helpful for a reporter to have more color on how many gift baskets were damaged—as in 100, not 100,000—so she isn’t left to assume the severity of any details you haven’t communicated.As with your customers, treat the media with professionalism and care. It’s how well you connect with the heart-beating people you’re trying to help and communicate your understanding back to them.
This should address what happened, when it happened, and include an update on the status of the issue.
[…] crisis strategy into action, with specific communication plans for the most likely situations and holding statements ready to […][…] holding statements ready to be released and a rapid but foolproof clearance procedure for statements and […][…] key messages and holding statements for each situation can be written in advance, although they will need to be adjusted to suit the […]"Professional approach and service.
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For example:Finally, draft a note to your customers. The only way to ensure your Public Relations team can act with both speed and credibility is to prepare a holding statement in advance, with blanks to … For a bit of inspiration, check out the For media inquiries, on the other hand, it’s usually best to deliver your statement on a reactive basis (i.e., when a journalist calls you).
In this case, find a way to connect with your customers while expressing both your regret for the issue and instilling confidence that you’re still the same awesome company they’ve come to know and love. Professional journalists and crew - just professional" A company's public relations department can provide the media with an initial holding statement that sets forth the basic facts about the incident and lets people know that you are dealing with the situation. They may not purchase your product, but they can write about it, so their experience with you can significantly impact the tone of the story they choose to tell.If there’s only one thing to remember about crisis communications, it’s this: Always be as transparent and honest as possible. Here’s an example:While it’s tempting to worry about the media’s response first, always make sure your customers are taken care of. The first message you draft should be something along the lines of this:Then, once you’ve gathered the who, what, where, why, and how, draft a more comprehensive statement, which will replace your holding statement. After spending nearly a decade working in PR and marketing for multimillion dollar brands and startups, Alex knows what truly drives conversions, sold-out launches, and *New York Times* interviews—and it’s not mastering the marketing flavor of the week. Remember that there’s one thing an email blast can’t quite communicate, and that’s empathy. This client had recently experienced a crisis. One of the key lessons she learned was the importance of establishing in advance a crisis committee to take responsibility for managing the crisis, so the chain of command is simple and decisions can be taken swiftly – rather than expecting a wider, unwieldly, board to take all the decisions.The second was to agree in principal basic holding statements in advance which could then be deployed very quickly to help contain an evolving situation on social media.Of course you would need to adjust these to the particular circumstances of the incident and anticipate the implications of each one before you finalise it. A holding statement is a brief account of what the company knows and what actions it is taking in the face of the crisis at hand.
You may not have all the information you need about the crisis to provide a full statement, but you know you need to …