This is a guest post from Dan Farkas.
It’s easy to talk when crisis communication goes wrong. It’s more important to talk when crisis communication goes right.
With friends, family and students directly impacted by the Zanesville wild animals on the loose saga, I had a more vested interest than many is seeing what happened and how people reacted to these breaking developments. The situation resulted in five lessons every PR person should think about when it comes to crisis communication.
1. Remember the hierarchy of needs.
Abraham Maslow broke down the most important needs of humanity back in 1943. Survival and safety trump all.
It’s awful deputies had to kill dozens of animals, some of which were endangered. How much worse would have been if one of the escaped animals killed a child? Law enforcement constantly stressed public safety first and foremost. They expressed regret over killing the animals but restated the importance of keeping the public safe. It’s a hard argument to go against. Speaking of law enforcement…
2. One Voice
Muskingum Sheriff Matt Lutz was the voice. He shined better than any voice on “The Voice.”
Police set up a media headquarters less than a mile away from the location. It was far enough away from the scene and Sheriff’s Department to allow Lutz’s team the ability to work without reporters constantly peppering them with questions. It was close enough to the scene to quickly get developments out that protect the public. Somewhere Maslow is smiling.
3. Celebrities Matter
As the public safety crisis lessened, the crisis of conscience grew. The images of dead animals (you can Google them yourself) offended many. Outrage on social media platforms was growing. Zanesville’s Mayor tried to quell the situation and couldn’t. Enter Jack Hanna.
Using a similar one-voice concept, Hanna was on every media platform you could find. He expressed support for law enforcement and anger over the circumstances that led to this crisis.
Hanna’s name recognition and status quelled the rage and redirected some anger toward those who could make policy changes to prevent this kind of situation from happening in the future. Days later, Ohio’s Governor (whose team was silent for hours as this story first broke) signed an executive order to try and better enforce exotic animal laws.
Is it good for celebrities to have this kind of clout in a crisis? That’s another blog post for another day. In this circumstance, Hanna was invaluable.
4. Who needs APR in their title?
The amazing part of this whole story? There is no PR person at the Muskingum County Sheriff’s Department. Sometimes the best crisis communicators don’t have APR in their title. Reason #1,456,842 why listening is the best skill a PR professional can have.
5. Normal is a win.
Could this crisis have been better handled? Of course. Law enforcement couldn’t keep up with the social media outrage. Plus, the lack of an online presence allowed for misinformation to reach the public.
Still, this story went from the main story on CNN to off the radar in 36 hours. Zanesville residents went back to school and work. Life went back to normal. And while normal certainly doesn’t have sexy ROI, it might be the best victory a client can get with its crisis communication strategy.
It’s easy to talk about crisis communication when it goes wrong. And while it’s hard to celebrate anything that happened in Zanesville’s last week, let’s recognize what worked, see how it can work for our clients and hope we never have to use these skills in a real crisis situation.
Dan Farkas is a Visiting Instructor at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. He also owns Dan Farkas Interactive, which aims to help organizations share their story through video and social media strategy. When not chasing down his 14-month old daughter as she tries to climb the stairs, you can reach him through @danfarkas on Twitter or connect with him on LinkedIn.