When a crisis hits your organization, it’s integral to listen to how the media and your audiences are reacting to the issue. This will help you align your messages and adjust your plans as the issue unfolds.

In January 2009, salmonella contamination at a peanut manufacturing plant was linked to nine deaths and 691 reported illnesses resulting in the largest food recall in North American history. The industry association, the American Peanut Council (APC), looked to Argyle Communications to help weather the storm.

Argyle used media relations and digital strategies to provide accurate information to consumers, preserve confidence in the U.S. peanut industry’s products and practices, and to develop an industry consensus for a post-crisis recovery strategy. With Argyle’s help, the American Peanut Council emerged from the crisis as a leading source on food safety.

On Monday, April 11, 2011, Argyle president Daniel Tisch and vice president Alison George shared the secrets of their successful crisis management campaign as part of the CPRS National webinar series. You can listen to the archived webcast on the CPRS website here.

CNW connected with Dan and Alison to ask them some questions about media relations and crisis communications:

Obviously, media relations played a big part in managing this crisis. As the messages and information changed, how did you ensure your spokespeople stayed on message?

“While training and preparation were very important, our client’s success flowed mainly from never forgetting the most important principle: food safety must be a food industry’s number one priority. It was critical to be completely aligned with messages coming from federal regulators, and later to be direct and honest in condemning the unconscionable actions of the manufacturer at the centre of the crisis.”

How important was it to track media coverage? How did these insights affect your plans?

“We tracked both mainstream and social media every day, since this was one of the first major recalls played out on the social web. We quickly realized that our target consumer was going online for information about food safety, so we had to watch that channel and use it to reach her. Monitoring also told us early that broadcast media were more likely to get the story wrong, leading us to deploy our dietician spokesperson on TV.

Monitoring also told us we were turning around the story. We tracked a rapid decline in inaccurate stories and a rapid growth in stories featuring our client’s messages. Tracking of social web coverage on peanut butter showed a coverage balance of 18% positive, 33% neutral, 49% negative in the first 30 days, exceeding our expectations given the seriousness of the situation.”

Of course, the program went on to win a CPRS National Award of Excellence, but what made it successful in your mind?

“The most important legacy of our program was the facilitation of an industry-wide consensus to review agricultural and manufacturing practices, enhance collaboration with the Food and Drug Administration, improve training and education at all levels, and reaffirm the American Peanut Council’s role in leading food safety initiatives. This provided important reassurance to consumers and propelled the industry not just to a recovery, but to a new record in sales.”

Is there anything you would have done differently?

“The major thing we would have done differently is being not just web-savvy – which we were – but also “web-ready.” We had to put a lot of online resources in place very quickly. With online and social media so much more advanced today than in 2009, it’s critical for all industries to have Internet tools ready for a crisis at any time.”

What key lessons or tips would you share based on your experience with this crisis?

1. Make sure you understand your client’s business, the policy and regulatory environment surrounding it, and the drivers of consumer attitudes and behaviour.
2. Know and anticipate the triggers of controversy.
3. Understand the decision-making process — both within the organization and within government and other stakeholders that could affect the outcome.
4. Build relationships with stakeholders early – not just when you need them.
5. Accept that you can’t control everything. Control what you say, and try to influence others with timely, accurate information – proactively and responsively.
6. Be web-savvy and web-ready.
7. If change is going to be thrust upon you, try to lead that change.

Tragically, on Sunday, February 26, VIA Rail’s train number 92 derailed in Ontario, killing three of its crew members and injuring many passengers. You can read VIA Rail’s press release for the details.

This was certainly a crisis situation and VIA Rail responded. How they responded and whether or not the communication was effective or timely has all been up for debate.

Regardless, there’s always PR impact in these types of crisis situations. Immediately following the accident, the public turned to Twitter and other media outlets to find out what happened. They wanted answers. What went wrong? How did this happen? How many people were affected? What will happen to other scheduled trains?

The VIA Rail communications team did a lot of things right. Seemingly, they tried to get the facts before engaging in social media. Here are some highlights of what VIA Rail did following the initial crisis:

• Identified the deceased and notified their families
• Made sure all survivors from the scene were properly cared for
• Made sure everyone on their team used clear and consistent messages when “speaking” publically
• Issued a press release once they had the facts
• Answered all questions and concerns from the public on social media sites after the communications plan was aligned
  • Even went as far as answering each individual’s concern or question
• Set up a special toll-free number for anyone seeking information about passengers
• Made alternative plans to accommodate already-scheduled trips

With every crisis there is something to be learned and there’s always room for improvement in case of another potential crisis. Here are a few of our suggestions:

• Although all traditional media were part of the communication crisis strategy, social media needs to be more than an after-thought.
• With social media being a massive source for people to get their news, there needs to be a “voice of authority” present as soon as possible – even if the message is “we don’t have answers yet, but we’re working to get them.”

What would you add to this list?