PR Lessons Learned From The Donald Trump Media Coverage That Apply To Non-Political Situations
There’s no need for students of public relations to read the chapter on media relations in expensive text books because every day since former President Donald Trump announced that he was running for president in 2015 his actions have provided a Master’s Class in how not to act when dealing with the media. The lessons are free because they are repeated in print and on television every day.
In addition, the criminally-indicted former president corroborated a truism that people in our business should always remember: Just as the moon controls the ocean’s tides, client PR crises will always occur, and despite self-proclaimed crises specialists saying that they can control the media damage, they can’t. History proves that. Don’t believe me? Research the press coverage of past companies with a PR crisis and the on-going crisis of Donald Trump and one overall truism emerges: Only the press can decide when to stop coverage of a situation.
But thanks to the former president, there is a new subset to the above truism that provides an important PR lesson: It is that playing the victim, issuing outright lies and threatening others about a situation will not deter government investigators and investigative journalists from doing their jobs and results in additional negative coverage.
As far as we know, all the criminal indictments against the former president have now been handed down. But one thing that we know for certain is that the Trump saga has produced PR lessons that can be used, and should be used, in all crises situations.
While PR practitioners can learn valuable new lessons from following the Trump saga ,there are many tenets that date back to the Archeozoic Era, 4500-1500 million years ago, give or take a few million years, instructing ways of controlling the damage clients in a crisis mode suffer, many of which should have been discarded after the last ice age, the Pleistocene era, which ended about a mere 11,700 years ago (even before many of us were born).
A few of those flawed “oldies” are “getting ahead of the story,” “having the CEO of an entity be the chief spokesperson during a crisis,” and that “a fast response is necessary.”
What should be stressed more than it is are ways that I believe PR people should behave when faced with a client in crises. I believe that account people should not automatically turn over the control of their clients to the self-anointed crises specialists because no one should know more about a client’s past and present history, strengths and weaknesses than the day-to-day account handlers.
While circumstances of PR crises are different, many of the ways account handlers should react can be similar regardless of the crises.
Below are some lessons that PR people should consider (and that I always follow) if they represent a client who has had a blunder or crisis; also how during program planning they might be able to prevent a crisis.
They cover the great majority of crises that will occur:
If a client is in the midst of a PR crisis, or has had one in the past, PR practitioners must always be aware that negative coverage will continue until and after the situation that created the crisis is resolved, sometime in the distant future. Lesson to be remembered: The savvy account group will have several separate plans, 1- how to respond to negative coverage, 2 - how to repair the damage with an after the crisis media plan and 3 - how to respond if the client crisis is revived by the media that uses it as example during coverage of a similar problem with another entity.
History shows that problems of major entities will receive continuous negative news coverage, sometimes for years. Examples: 1- Wells Fargo, 2- Volkswagen, 3 - Boeing. Lesson to be remembered: In situations like these, which receive reoccurring negative media coverage, saying less is better than saying more. Only reply to a negative media story when you have positive news to tell, and have your response cleared by the corporate attorney before issuing it.
Always have a “what if” plan for companies with controversial products. Examples: 1-The Food and Drug Administration instructed Juul Labs, the vaping manufacturer, to stop promoting its products as a safe alternative to traditional tobacco cigarettes without approval from the government agency. 2- Facebook has been consistently been receiving negative media coverage for trying to justify its actions rather than simply saying, “We were wrong and will make corrections.” Lesson to be remembered: PR people should never try to justify the actions of their clients when the Feds are involved. “We will cooperate fully” should be the only answer, in my opinion, and defer to the corporate attorneys on strategy.
Never think that because you work at a top five international PR agency, or an important entity, that you can control the press. Examples: Reporters are not impressed by who you represent. (Don’t believe me? Just ask the PR reps for the National Football League, President Trump, the above mentioned corporations and others over the years.) Lesson to be remembered: Don’t attempt to mislead the media. They always have the last word.
When crafting programs, it’s important to take past client problems into consideration. Today, researching a clients or individuals past problems are easier than ever and investigative reporters are likely to delve into past problems if a new crisis occurs. Due diligence should be a must prior to crafting a program for a client. Lesson to be remembered: Once a client or individual has had a PR crisis that has resulted in negative coverage it remains in their DNA and can always be revived.
I’ve always believed that when a client is experiencing a major PR crisis that results in continuing negative coverage ,as Wells Fargo and Boeing is experiencing, and as other companies did in the past, launching a counter PR offensive during the crisis is a waste of money that can be better used after the crisis concludes. Lesson to be remembered: Always advise clients to make statements that are factually truthful and defer new PR initiatives, because the media will be suspicious of them until the crisis ends.
During a PR crisis close relationships with people you report to will not save your job. In a crisis situation it's often every person for his or her self, as Donald Trump has shown by torpedoing close associates whenever it helps him. Lesson to be remembered: Always do what best for yourself, because the agency will always do what’s best for itself.
But there is one take-a-way from Mr. Trump that PR practitioners should emulate: Keep repeating the same message points as often as possible. In Mr. Trump’s case, repeating that he is a “victim of the Joe Biden's Justice Department” might not change minds, but it certainly is a PR 101 lesson that every PR person should follow. Message points are important. Keep repeating them.
To those new to our business: Just because crises PR tactics are written in a text book doesn’t mean they are the only methods to address a problem. Many of these tenets were written before many of you were born: Some work, many don’t. The most important advice that I can give to PR people dealing with a media crisis is that unlike clothing, there is no such thing as a one size fits all PR crisis strategy, a statement I originated many decades ago that has been copied by other PR practitioners without giving credit to the originator. Every crisis needs original thinking I said then and believe now, and then added that one negative story does not result in a crisis. If the article is not about legal wrong doing or loss of life wait two or three days before sounding the alarm bells. The perceived crisis often fades away. Responding too quickly often will give it legs. And don’t be surprised if your original thoughts and ideas are hijacked and are used in someone else’s program.
And always remember: Despite the best efforts of crises specialists it’s not possible to control the media from consistently reporting on a crisis. Only the media can decide when enough is enough, despite what high-priced crisis specialized might promise.
