why hennes

Over the last few years, a growing number of PR firms have staked claims in offering crisis communications services.

The ubiquity and speed of the internet has dramatically changed the communications landscape.

It's more than likely bad news is going to break on social media - not on TV or in tomorrow's newspaper. Today, rapid, accurate communications is critical to crisis response.

You can't learn crisis communications (along with sister sub-specialties crisis management, risk communications and issues management) from books, blogs or from relatively minor scrapes with small problems.

Proficiency in these specialties comes from having had previous careers in corporate communications, television news, traditional journalism, digital platforms and political campaigns, along with constant cross-training with other team members, combined with facing hair-on-fire situations with clients day after day.

More often than not, we're not just helping people figure out what to say, but instead helping them figure out what to do. A general rule of thumb: you will be punished not for what you did, but for what you did after it happened.

There must always be someone in the room willing to speak truth to power. And in a crisis, you can be sure there will be attorneys present who too often insist on saying "no comment," focused narrowly on winning in trial, even though 97% of all cases filed in U.S. courts never go to trial.

Even if a situation does go to trial and the company prevails, has the company been properly served if a 20% market share loss occurs in the interim?

The business model for most public relations firms is similar to that of law, accounting and architecture firms. Senior people bring the work in and push it down to less-experienced (and lower-paid) junior people, which is not the optimal model to offer a client facing a make-or-break crisis.

If a PR agency is already selling marketing plans, new product launches, social media management, brand building, employee engagement, investor relations and digital marketing, it’s a simple matter to add “crisis communications” as an agency specialty – even with no experienced professionals on staff to deliver that service.

Certainly, there are exceptions to this. The largest PR firms in the country have dedicated crisis communications units dealing with a steady stream of crisis situations, continually honing their expertise. But for most PR firms, crisis work is usually a small percentage of total billable hours, leaving little opportunity to build the expertise crisis situations require.

So, if every PR firm claims to offer crisis communications, how can an attorney or CEO make sure the firm they’re calling isn't overstating its abilities? One place to start is with these eight questions:

Can the PR firm share a list of clients for whom it has provided crisis communications or issues management services?

Can you get a list of case studies that describe, in some detail, what the firm did for clients facing a similar situation to yours?

Ask for the firm’s experience with crisis situations involving social media. Today, reputations built over years can be shattered in minutes on Facebook or Twitter.

Ask who you’ll be working with day-to-day, that person’s experience and examples of similar situations and outcomes.

Ask if the firm writes crisis communication plans, how many are written each year -- and dig deep for details.

Ask for names of organizations using the firm’s plans so you can ask if those plans appeared to be bespoke or generic and cookie-cutter. Even if you don’t need a plan right now, you’ll learn how deeply the firm is immersed in crisis communications.

Ask what kind of training the firm provides, who provides that training and the depth and breadth of their experience.

Perhaps the most important question: What percentage of the firm’s overall work is demonstrably “crisis” work? If the answer is 10%, 20% – even 50% – there is ample reason to question the firm’s ability to handle a true crisis.

Courtney Baker

Communications Manager
Lawrence School

I would, without reservation, recommend Hennes Communications to any organization facing communications difficulties. Through practical instruction and personal coaching, Hennes Communications not only helps businesses successfully manage an immediate crisis, but also teaches valuable skills and strategies that can be used time and again in the future.

Paraphrasing from the Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics, just as you wouldn’t want a general counsel who’s never been litigated a case, you don’t want a crisis communications firm that’s never handled a disaster.

For a scholarly examination of the distinct roles played by attorneys, we urge you to read the Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics article on Advocacy in the Court of Public Opinion.

You may also find it helpful to read Lawyers and Outrage Management , written by one of our colleagues, Dr. Peter Sandman, considered to be one of the country’s preeminent authors and consultants on the subject of risk management.