Avoiding and dealing with potential crises is critical to an organization’s success. Successfully identifying, mitigating and managing risk in today’s business environment calls for a team of business-savvy and experienced legal and PR professionals with the insight and experience to create effective and immediate solutions in such a volatile market. Food, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and other consumer products are increasingly being subjected to product recalls. A recall attracts attention, affects the manufactures reputation and could result in litigation or even a class action lawsuit. And public officials are also vulnerable, not just in how they are governing, but in how much they know about what their top advisors are doing as well.
In this mobile age, where news is distributed as it happens, reputations that took years to create die in an instant. Attorneys are the first responders to help minimize the risk and help their clients respond or react.
News today does not break in the morning paper, it happens in the blink of a tweet. That’s where the traditional news gets their news. People trust the opinions of their peers rather than a reporter reading a teleprompter. Even news anchors ask for opinion over twitter. As a result, what would have been a minor news story that went away over night, now becomes a national phenomenon that is being discussed on the Tonight Show, The Colbert Report or on Perezhilton.com.
How can companies protect themselves in the age of mobile media? How can they be prepared to respond for the next crisis? What can they do to avoid a crises. How can companies keep up on the instantaneous news cycle?
Lawyers are uniquely positioned to deal with crisis and only one firm in Michigan is experienced to handle the media. Learn from our experience. They can help you avoid, manage and recover from very difficult situations.
Lawyers with experience in working with the media, can work with in-house and outside counsel to help develop an effective communications strategy that supports any legal strategy. They should work with organizations to manage every aspect of a crisis, from initial response to corrective action, investigations and if needed, representation during civil and criminal and legislative actions.
But the best defense is a strong offense. Knowing where an issue can bubble into a problem, knowing who to go to in the media to help share your story and who among your friends, colleagues, co-workers and clients you can turn to for public support and advocacy, can go along way in minimizing any crisis that gets out of your control.