Speaker 1: How to respond to a public relations crisis? Making a mistake when presenting bad news to the public can make a bad situation worse. A certified public accountants firm needs to be clear and concise with its procedures and methods when presenting any such news to avoid misinterpretations. Avoiding those errors takes a simple methodical approach according to public relations experts and certified public accountants. Here are a few simple steps to help keep your response to bad news from turning into a public relations problem. Have a plan in place. Certified public accountants firms should have a crisis communications plan in place long before issues arise. Ensure that everyone knows who speaks on behalf of the firm beforehand. The emotional tensions of crisis can often cloud thinking, but knowing what to do in advance of any issues can help. Every business, no matter what it does, needs a crisis public relations plan that lays out all possible scenarios of various crises and what the solution would be to helpfully resolve any situation, said Scott H. Zeitron, president of Zeitron & Company, a public relations firm that works with certified public accountants. Think in terms of chief executive officer's death, ID theft, data loss, and natural and man-made disasters. Keep the plan current and always share it with all employees. In the case of certified public accountants firms, which generally do not have traditional chief executive officers, the sudden death of a managing partner would probably qualify as a crisis communications situation. Let the professionals handle it. Certified public accountants are experts in the field of finance and accounting, but not always in public relations. For that reason, certified public accountants should let experts in communication advise them when problems arise. Many firms have their own in-house communications and public relations teams, so it is best to defer to them. I believe that communications, public relations, and crisis communications experts, not certified public accountants, should handle public relations crises, Sandy Leyva, certified public accountant whose firm is based in Texas, said. Certified public accountants might have a place on the team to help explain complicated financial results, but they are not generally communications or crisis management experts. If you do not have a staff communications team, outside public relations experts should be involved from the start of any issue to offer guidance on how best to proceed. Public relations are not an exact science, of course, but allowing experts to be part of the response should help thwart bigger problems. Select and prepare the right internal experts. Public relations professionals are only part of the answer. Part of the guidance you need may already be in-house. Do not forget to loop internal teams into your communications plan and help them prepare for any communications they may need to make. Often, what I have seen happen is someone who is not schooled in how to answer questions, speak extemporaneously, and puts their foot in their mouth unintentionally, said marketing communications expert Sally Glick, principal and chief growth strategist at Sobel & Company. It is not that you are spinning a story or trying to hide anything, but it is simply are you saying the right things in the right way so they are not misinterpreted? Stay out front. Being too slow in reacting to a public relations problem can bring its own set of issues. Companies that take too long in responding to issues are often vilified in the marketplace. Do not let that happen to you. It is better to be honest and up front rather than wait for 60 minutes to knock on your door, Zeitron said. Some of the worst public relations disasters in history occurred because the company or organization did not acknowledge any wrongdoing until it was too late. Remember too that everyone loves a redemption story, so if there is any way to get ahead of a problem, go for it. Manage communications. Once the news is made public, public relations firms can monitor their reaction to bad news and react accordingly. As the story unfolds, public reactions and attitudes can change. Protecting yourself requires seeing and understanding those shifts. How you need to respond may be different on Friday from what it was on Monday. A savvy public relations firm should be able to manage any further response based on the current situation. How you respond also differs depending on where you respond. Turn to your in-house communications staff or outside public relations firm to craft strategies for broadcast, print, and social media, keeping in mind that these channels all require constant monitoring. The public relations firm might also manage any communications channels for the client, Leiva said. For example, in social media, company representatives would listen or watch for mentions of keywords related to the company or the incident and respond based on templates or guidelines. Paying attention to how the story evolves over time, not just as news breaks, can empower firms to influence and respond to the public narrative as it unfolds.