Crisis public relations refers to the crisis brought to enterprises or brands by poor management, peer competition or even malicious destruction or special external events. A series of self-help actions taken by enterprises to cope with the crisis, including eliminating the influence and restoring the image, are called crisis public relations.

What is crisis public relations?

Crisis public relations is a series of self-help actions taken by enterprises to cope with the crisis due to poor management, peer competition or even malicious destruction or special external events, including eliminating the impact and restoring the image. Crisis public relations is a part of crisis management system.

Another definition: also known as crisis management. It is a complete set of workflow for an organization to comprehensively deal with accidents with great destructive influence and damage its image in its own operation, so as to turn it from crisis to safety.

Features:

Unexpected: The specific time, actual scale, specific situation and impact depth of the crisis were unexpected.

Focus: After entering the information age, the information dissemination of the crisis develops much faster than the crisis itself. The media is like borrowing from the east wind to the crisis.

Destructive: Because crises often have the characteristics of "surprise, surprise", regardless of the nature and scale of the crisis, it will inevitably cause different degrees of damage to enterprises, causing confusion and panic, and because of the limited decision-making time and information, it will often lead to decision-making mistakes and incalculable losses.

Urgency: For enterprises, once the crisis breaks out, its destructive power will be released and spread rapidly. If it can't be controlled in time, the crisis will worsen sharply, and the enterprise will suffer more losses.

If the enterprise is compared to a person, then the crisis of the enterprise is a scarf around the neck: some enterprises are strangled by this scarf, or even strangled, but some enterprises use it as an ornament for clothes or for heating. The highest realm of public relations is undoubtedly: free flow, everywhere. But behind such ease is the basic skill of public relations: communication.

Coca-Cola was very annoying on 1999, because some primary and middle school students in Belgium and France were poisoned by the American drink Coca-Cola.

In 2000, Sino-American SmithKline Company was put on trial in China. In June of the same year, 5438+065438+ 10, the state issued a notice: PPA is prohibited! Contek of Sino-American SmithKline was put on the trial bench of the media, and PPA was equal to Contek's public opinion, which almost crushed the operation of Sino-American SmithKline in China for many years;

200 1 is a disaster year for Guanshengyuan, an old food enterprise in Nanjing. Although Wu Zhenzhong, the manager of Guanshengyuan, said that they were "ambushed by knowledgeable peers", the brand of Guanshengyuan declined since then because of the widespread phenomenon of using old stuffing as new stuffing in the mooncake industry.

In 2002, the Wuhan Forest Wildlife Park smashed its own Mercedes-Benz, which made people doubt the service and quality of Mercedes-Benz, and the distinguished image of Mercedes-Benz in the hearts of China consumers plummeted.

Every year, enterprises encounter crises, and every year, enterprises fall in countless crises. Almost all enterprises are afraid of crisis and are looking for ways to prevent and solve it.

If the enterprise is compared to a person, then the crisis of the enterprise is a scarf around the neck: some enterprises are strangled by this scarf, or even strangled, but some enterprises use it as an ornament for clothes or for heating.

There is a curse in everything, and there is a blessing in every curse. As long as we can face the crisis correctly, we can minimize the negative impact of the crisis, or turn the disadvantages of enterprises into advantages.

The secret mission of the public relations department

The emergence of enterprise crisis, most of them have signs, but most enterprises do not have a correct understanding of their own problems, so they are often in a hurry when the crisis appears. "Everything is established in advance, and if it is not planned, it will be abolished." As an enterprise with a certain scale, it can be said that its crisis always exists: from normal personnel changes, the implementation of new policies and the application of new technologies to the dismissal of an incompetent employee. Unexpected crises may lurk or trigger deep-rooted crises.

In fact, most enterprises, like Guanshengyuan, wait until the crisis can't be cleaned up before they come forward to mediate, but often the tide is gone and it is difficult to reverse Gankun. So how can we avoid the problems in Guanshengyuan?

1, a secret mission of the public relations department.

The public relations departments of many enterprises are stuck in the tedious daily work of issuing corporate press releases and accepting media interviews. Such a public relations department eventually became a money transaction department of enterprises and media, with no planning ability and no overall grasp and insight into enterprises. So when the problem comes out, these people have no public relations ability at all except buying off individual journalists.

However, the public relations departments of some enterprises consciously undertake a secret task: in the vast media community, collect all information related to their own enterprises and industries, including unfavorable and favorable ones. Then sort out the information, formulate targeted public relations programs for advertising and enterprise promotion, including doing some big or small public relations activities and so on.

Guanshengyuan's corporate philosophy is: people prosper the park, industry exists, and quality strives for the crown. However, as early as 1993, the mechanism changes brought about by the joint venture restructuring laid the groundwork for the subsequent accidents of this enterprise. The conflict of this management concept intensified in the beginning of 200 1, and at this time, the large enterprises that manufacture "black-hearted moon cakes" are receiving extensive attention from the media. However, the public relations department of Guanshengyuan didn't smell the smell, and it was inevitable that the problem would come out in a hurry.

2. Three things that are repeated every day.

For crisis public relations, the public relations department should seriously repeat three things every day:

A, chat with media reporters.

Chatting always leads to better results. Since most journalists of financial media communicate with each other, if there is any new news trend, almost any media reporter who is active in the market will hear about it. If you communicate with some reporters selectively, all unfavorable or favorable public relations materials will inevitably be placed in front of you.

It is no accident that Cheng Yichong and Haier happened. In fact, many reporters paid attention to Haier's problems at 200 1, and some negative things were circulated on the internet. There are objective views of pure journalists and malicious satire of some competitors. The problem is that Haier underestimated the harmfulness and explosiveness of this phenomenon and started public relations only after foreign media reports had a negative impact. Although this matter finally achieved good public relations effect, if you communicate with some reporters in advance and know that this crisis is about to break out, and broadcast your own internationalization road on CCTV 3-5 months in advance, it is estimated that a worm's article will also look pale and weak, and the malicious slander of competitors will also look dull.

B. pay attention to the changing trend of interests inside and outside the enterprise.

Most crises arise because many people are hurt by the changes of enterprises, and this kind of harm is likely to produce conflicts and be smelled by the media, and this kind of conflict is most likely to be told by the parties to the media, and even the articles written will be adopted by the media. Therefore, the public relations department must keep an eye on those who have lost interest due to changes in corporate policies, and then communicate with the human resources department to minimize internal contradictions.

Kelon's personnel change was originally an internal affair of the enterprise, but this change hurt many people's interests, so everyone complained to the media about their personal gains and losses, which eventually attracted widespread criticism from the media on the top of the enterprise. Qu Yunbo's experience in Kelon may have a lot to do with this.

C. conduct public relations for all employees.

There is a kind of all-staff marketing in marketing, and many enterprises have applied this concept to enterprises and received good results. The all-staff public relations we advocate here also requires all employees of the company to have the concept of public relations, and their work should directly or indirectly serve the objectives of public relations.

There is a large food enterprise in a certain place in Hebei, and there is a public relations brochure in the company, which requires all employees to study. What questions do we deal with, what questions do we answer, what we can publicize, what we can't publicize, what we can't say, and so on. Although the practice of this enterprise is somewhat old-fashioned, it has played a very good role in the unified caliber of corporate public relations. Since 2000, this enterprise has encountered many troubles, such as falling profits, management shocks and product quality problems. However, apart from some gossip captured by some media, this enterprise did not encounter the Waterloo of crisis reporting. When communicating with the propaganda department of this enterprise, the person in charge of the propaganda department was filled with emotion: Yes, this booklet.

At least, Zi kept the brand reputation of this enterprise.

Now, this enterprise is negotiating cooperation with a high-tech company in Beijing, and the chip of cooperation is the corporate brand preserved in this booklet.

Nip the crisis in the bud.

Many people who do public relations work in enterprises hold the view that public relations is advertising and needs a lot of capital investment. In fact, there are great differences between advertising and public relations: advertising focuses on appeal, while public relations relies on communication; Advertising and public relations restraint. Distinguish between advertising and public relations, and we are half right. As long as all the problems are located in communication, we can eliminate the crisis at the lowest cost.

1, comprehensively and systematically grasp the problems faced.

If you have found the signs of crisis, don't worry and don't take it lightly. What you need to do immediately is to quickly investigate and estimate the spread of the crisis. Only after you have established the scope can you exert your public relations and communication skills.

2. Find a way on the basis of communication.

The highest realm of public relations is undoubtedly flowing and ubiquitous. But behind such ease is the basic skill of public relations: communication. If you use communication skillfully, your public relations activities will certainly achieve good results.

The author once had an exchange with an enterprise in Beijing, which is known as the first software chain in China. The kung fu of the public relations department of this enterprise can be seen. When she learned that it was a negative analysis of an enterprise's problems, a girl in the public relations department of this enterprise called the author many times to analyze the manuscript, and finally even took out an emotional offensive that might lose her job if this matter was not handled properly. Finally, due to my own reasons, the manuscript was not published, but I still think this is also the result of public relations. Because without the girl's incisive analysis and unique insights on the manuscript and her persistence, it is impossible for us to draw new conclusions about the behind-the-scenes background of this manuscript.

3, quick three-board axe.

Everything has a solution strategy. The enemy will block it and the water will cover it. All strategies have solutions, but there is no solution. The highest purpose of dealing with all crises is to adopt the fastest solution. For the budding crisis, the following steps can be taken:

A. find the source of the crisis.

It is easy to find the source of the crisis. It can be said that as long as you have the heart, you can find it right away.

B. eliminate the root causes of the crisis.

There are many ways to deal with the source of crisis, but there is only one purpose, that is, to control the source or eliminate it.

A major newspaper in Guangzhou once reported the quality problems and technical problems of an enterprise's products. Because of its great influence in the whole country, it has a very bad influence on the sales of this enterprise-there is a crisis! Facing the crisis, the enterprise immediately advertised 500,000 yuan in this newspaper. So the continuous reports carefully planned by the newspaper were all denied; The impact on publishing articles is also because the placement of this advertisement makes consumers blame the media in turn.

It is said that this year's 3. 15 was originally a big exposure to a domestic health care product company with a flood of advertisements, but this company found a crisis in CCTV's forecast, so it immediately took many measures, and finally the source of this crisis was stillborn.

C, large-scale disinfection.

Large-scale disinfection is to reverse the concept of impact that has been caused. The focus of this work is to communicate with the public and influence their ideas.

After China's discussion on Haier's internationalization turned sour, Haier immediately made several special reports on Haier's internationalization on CCTV, which played a very good role in reversing the direction of the media and downplaying media tracking, reflecting the company's sophistication in public relations.

What if a crisis happens?

1, set up a crisis public relations team.

Don't panic when a crisis occurs. The first problem is to set up a crisis public relations team as soon as possible. Under normal circumstances, the composition of crisis public relations team is directly composed of members of corporate public relations department and senior leaders involved in the crisis. What should be noted here is that in a crisis situation, we must grasp the consistency of publicity. As the direct leader of the company, the boss of the company must not comment at will, so as not to give the media and the public an excuse.

The crisis of melatonin began when its marketing essence in think tanks (200 1, 12) was revealed, and it was reported in depth by Southern Weekend and several southern newspapers. However, Shi Yuzhu never made random comments in the media, but pushed the issue of melatonin to the social image that private enterprises need to be tolerant in a low-key way, which gave people a feeling of being wronged and finally calmed the crisis.

2. Four conditions for taking over.

When the problem comes out, don't avoid it, but take it boldly. However, there are not many domestic enterprises that dare to take over. What is the reason?

A, no media insight. In addition to eating and drinking with friends in the media, the public relations department of many enterprises gives red envelopes to the media at the press conference, which is totally unprofessional. In fact, a sound public relations department is first of all a department that is very proficient in the media and knows how to operate the media and create news.

The public relations manager of a water heater enterprise in Wenzhou spent 6.5438+0.5 million yuan a year, conducted 4 large-scale public relations activities and published more than 60 reports, which indirectly created 6.5438+0.00 million yuan for the enterprise. However, his predecessor once spent more than 654.38+0 million, but only made more than 654.38+0 statements, which caused a lot of trouble.

When communicating with the public relations manager, the author said frankly: "This mainly comes from my grasp of the media, because many of my articles are very suitable for the value standards of the media. As for the crisis, according to the observation of the media, you already felt it before the crisis appeared. If you feel it, of course, it will eliminate the crisis in the bud. "

B, good media relations. In China, apart from Haier and melatonin, it may be difficult for any enterprise to have a good network of contacts in the media, which is closely related to the cultural atmosphere of this enterprise besides the personnel quality of the public relations department.

Xu Yuan of Wuxi Little Swan is happy to deal with media friends. As long as he is in the media, interviewed and busy at work, we should take good care of him. His generous personality and sincere personality have been praised by many media friends. Of course, more importantly, he has made many good friends for Little Swan.

As you can imagine, if the Little Swan encounters a major crisis, Xu Yuan's energy is enough to reverse the crisis trend.

C. government resources. The utilization and control of government resources has always been a headache for many enterprises, but no matter how headache you have, you must use government resources in times of crisis.

Shenyang Longfei's public relations failure is undoubtedly related to government resources. In order to reverse the crisis, Jiang Wei took such a risky move. Although Longfei was finally "acquitted", the price paid by this enterprise was too high.

D, the guidance of public relations companies. As long as the government resources are not serious, the media relations are good, and the talents in their own enterprises have enough insight into the operation law of the media, then this enterprise has the conditions to take over. But if you have any questions, I still suggest you find a professional public relations company to cooperate. Even if your three conditions are mature, you'd better listen to the opinions of experts.

3. The method of taking over.

When it comes to methods, many people will think of Duan Yongping's famous saying: The most powerful trick is the trick without tricks. In fact, the change of Ling Huchong's swordsmanship doesn't seem to have any tricks, but it has a good foundation: the basic law of nine swords in solitary. Duan Yongping became immortal in BBK because he practiced the basic skills in Farewell My Concubine.

It's very important to win without recruiting, but the basic rules of accepting recruiting need to be practiced.

A. make full use of media resources.

Crisis public relations refers to a job in which an enterprise gains the public's forgiveness and understanding through a series of activities when it encounters trust, image crisis or mistakes in a certain job, so as to recover the influence. Because the public is greatly influenced by the media, crisis public relations is largely aimed at the media. Therefore, when a crisis occurs, the most important thing is to use the media resources in your hand immediately and keep it silent. Then we need to find the root of the crisis.

B, looking for the source.

Just like the budding crisis management method, when the crisis is in full swing, the solution should start from the source, because the process of finding the source is the process of your decision.

If the source is the disadvantaged class, take compulsory policies, such as Haier's lawsuit against Cheng Yichong; If it is a strong class, you can adopt an affinity policy, such as the lesson of Shenyang Longfei.

C, joint industry or government.

The image of the government will always be the most trusted by the people. If some crises are very difficult, we can try to cooperate with the government openly and fairly, and let the government come out to show the intention of the enterprise.

In the spread of the rumor "Don't ignore the harm of microwave ovens", Galanz may have suffered more grievances than Dou E. However, grievances may win sympathy, but they cannot ensure rehabilitation. What really won the support of relevant departments is that "unfair competition is destroying an industry, and it is imperative to standardize the competitive environment"-Galanz's appeal from the height of an industry. In the end, Galanz's action attracted the attention of the government. Of course, the influence of rumors was finally eliminated with the participation of the government.

Once upon a time, "black-hearted meat"-the meat of sick pigs and dead pigs flooded a city in the north. After the media exposure, all meat products lost the market, which soon affected the business of a meat factory in this city. So this meat joint factory immediately joined the local industrial and commercial department and the health and epidemic prevention department to launch assured meat, and the meat was inspected on the spot by special epidemic prevention department personnel. Because of this, this slaughterhouse finally merged several slaughterhouses in this area.

In the color TV war in China, the joint public relations between color TV enterprises and the government in China were also very popular, which left us many valuable cases.

D, dare to analyze yourself and dare to admit mistakes.

China has a saying: Be flexible. But many enterprises are not worthy of the title of gentleman, and they are always nervous in the face of media questioning.

Li Dongsheng of TCL is a gentleman. In 2002, he made a bold analysis of TCL in China Entrepreneur, which surprised many media critics. However, this analysis neutralized some media's criticism of TCL.

Ren is also a gentleman. When almost all the media pointed their finger at Huawei, Ren threw out Winter of Huawei, which led the media vane.

E, gfd.

Water control lies in dredging, not blocking. Dayu finally understood this truth and was praised by people. Crisis public relations also needs to be channeled.

People in the public relations field have a lot of comments on the failure of "smashing Mercedes-Benz" public relations, but the most intolerable mistake is that the company quickly formed an indelible image of arrogance and conceit in the public by accusing and threatening users for no reason.

In the "incident of smashing Mercedes-Benz", all statements of Mercedes-Benz company have elements of accusing consumers and endow them with unacceptable or even offensive nature. After the first Mercedes-Benz was smashed, Mercedes-Benz's statements were: "extreme and unnecessary behavior", "irrational and meaningless behavior" and "unnecessary behavior that infringes on our company's rights and interests". Under a few big hats, there is no substantive solution, and even onlookers can't stand it.

After the second Mercedes-Benz was smashed, Mercedes-Benz's accusation almost escalated to diplomatic intimidation: "I hope that Mr. Wang's behavior will not have a negative impact on China, which is being internationalized." At this time, Mercedes-Benz gives people the feeling that it is just bullying and bullying in the store. As a result, many efforts I made to solve this incident were in vain.

Mercedes-Benz thought its own strength could stop the flood, but the flood left a disgusting image of Mercedes-Benz in the hearts of consumers in China.