Marcom A to Z — C for Crisis

Forget death, Ponzi schemes, CEO compensation, an inflammatory YouTube video, product malfunction or corporate malfeasance. The most terrifying crisis that should keep you up at night is not the worst-case scenario itself, but the inability to respond strategically and at lightning speed.

Your CEO’s reputation and that of your company mutually define one another, more so today than ever before. If you’re charged with protecting that reputation, your reputation then is at stake if a crisis communications plan isn’t written, discussed, distributed, tested and, most importantly, understood throughout the organization.

Ten-plus year ago, we talked about the need to respond quickly. Today, we define quickly in minutes rather than hours or days. Consider that an inflammatory article could be re-tweeted and blogged about immediately after its original posting, taking it from a local situation to a global discussion in five minutes flat.

Click to read more ...

The corporate awakening toward social media

The exponential rise in interest in social media is pressuring businesses to sit up and pay attention. And it’s happening fast. Not only is there a significant number of mainstream media reporting on this phenomenon, but it seems the lion’s share of bloggers and micro-bloggers with their sights trained on corporate America are also espousing the virtues of facilitating a dialogue with customers.

Click to read more ...