Crisis communications is the art of the narrative. You can never make the misdeed completely vanish (“Dammit, Jim! I’m a PR pro, not a magician!”), so instead you craft and popularize a new storyline that explains it on your own terms. That’s why crisis communications is also the art of the redirect.
Here’s how you do it: Out of all the facts, assumptions, smoke, and substance we’ve got to work with, what’s the most positive — and the most believable — storyline we can write?
Believability is key!
A wonderful, heartwarming tale about you rescuing orphans, adopting crippled puppies, and housing war widows isn’t helpful unless your audience believes it.
So you agree on the best possible story. Next, you determine the ideal spokesperson to propagate it, and boom: There ya go. The rest is just media tactics. But the heart of crisis communications is ALWAYS the story. All the clever, crafty PR tricks won’t matter if your story is lousy. […]
— Read More: pjmedia.com