D. Chris Turner Communications |

Are you creating favorable conditions for a crisis?

June 17, 2013 in Branding, Crisis Communications, Reputation management with 0 Comments

I learned a valuable lesson yesterday. If you park your car under a tree with the windows down, a bird may just poop in it. In other words, if you do the things that set your organization up for a crisis, a crisis is probably what you’ll get.

Many people are caught off guard when crises blindside their organizations. The interesting element is that crisis researchers have found the majority of non-natural disaster crises had been percolating for some amount of time before they escalated to “a breaking crisis.” That means something eventually disruptive to the organization’s operation and potentially threatening to its reputation took root and grew as part of the organization’s DNA until it erupted. Continue Reading…

Media Training: Why the C-Suite needs it

June 10, 2013 in Media Training with 0 Comments

It’s been said that Steve Jobs didn’t sell computers; he sold an experience. Every CEO and other C-level executives – or leaders at any level in an organization – should view every speaking opportunity as an opportunity to “sell” a good experience, and media training can help make it happen.

Unfortunately not every CEO sells a good experience when they speak and there is a long list of examples that prove it. As unfortunate, too many CEOs and C-suite executives believe they have the gift of “winging it.” Let’s be honest, often the problem is ego, and the men an women in the top seat mistakingly equate lack of preparation as a prerequisite for extemporaneous speaking. The results are often disastrous, costing companies millions of dollars and often costing the CEO his or her job. Continue Reading…

Brand journalism: A proper definition

June 6, 2013 in Branding, Content Marketing with 0 Comments

With one button, everything changed. Before it was a noisy world – and getting noisier. So many advertisers with so many messages, and they just kept coming…growing louder so you could hear their messages from the other room. They knew you’d gotten up during commercial breaks to run to the refrigerator, or use the bathroom, or let the dog out, so they increased the volume to make sure you could hear them from afar.

But that all changed when Eugene Polley of the Zenith Radio Corporation did humanity a great service and created the first wireless TV remote that could turn off the sound. In other words, he gave us the mute button. Continue Reading…

4 Ways corporate communicators can help CEOs succeed

May 22, 2013 in Corporate Communications, Internal Communications with 0 Comments

Leadership expert John Maxwell once *wrote, “Everything rises and falls on leadership, but knowing how to lead is only half the battle. Understanding leadership and actually leading are two different activities.” Corporate communicators often find themselves standing in the gap between the two.

C-Level leaders, and especially CEOs, are elevated to their positions of leadership for a number of reasons; being a person of vision is almost always one of them. Board members, stock holders, trustees, employees and customers all have an expectation that the CEO will make the organization more successful in every way, from profitability to the quality of the customer experience and overall work environment. Continue Reading…

Four elements of effective speaking points

May 20, 2013 in Communications Strategy, Media Relations, Reputation management with 0 Comments

Speaking points are much in the news these days because of the fallout of the Benghazi situation. It raises the question: Are speaking points a valid and ethical communication strategy for organizations? The answer is a resounding, “YES!”

There is a video clip of CBS News’ Bob Schieffer, host of Face the Nation, interviewing senior presidential advisor Dan Pfeiffer. Pfeiffer is ripping through one speaking point after another and the long-time political correspondent will have no more of it. He offers a brief history lesson to his young guest, and politely admonishes him that it would be nice if the administration would lose the speaking points and tell the truth. Continue Reading…

Writing: If you can’t do it find someone who can

April 24, 2013 in Branding, Writing with 0 Comments

Years ago I led a workshop for adult learners all wanting to more clearly communicate their work. I flippantly made possibly the most profound statement of my 20-plus years as a professional communicator: If you can’t write, don’t; find somebody who can.

Photo courtesy of www.freedigitalphotos.net

I am more convinced of the profundity of that statement 13 years later. Weak writing is the Achilles Heel of most communications efforts. In this age of brand journalism and content marketing, good writing is the backbone that should give organizations a lift over their competition, but poor writing torpedoes good strategy. Plainly stated, how well you write could mean the difference between success or failure. Continue Reading…

How to successfully launch a crisis in three easy steps

April 19, 2013 in Branding, Crisis Communications, Reputation management with 0 Comments

There are thousands of for-profit and non-profit organizations in America and I am confident none of them list “create a crisis” among their business objectives. However, many of them manage it without much effort. And to their chagrin, they find they’re quite good at it.

Photo courtesy of www.freedigitalphotos.net

You read that correctly. Everyday organizations – more specifically executive leaders – make decisions that take their organizations from normal operations to headline news at the speed of a Tweet (and leave corporate communicators in shocked disbelief!). It isn’t as difficult as you might think. Here are three ways to successfully launch a crisis. Continue Reading…

Feedly: My new tool for reputation monitoring

March 15, 2013 in Media Relations, Reputation management with 0 Comments

The relationship between media relations and reputation management is as close as the relationship between a light switch’s “on” and “off” functions. In most cases, media relations ought to be so closely monitoring reputation that it actually flips the switch when a crisis flares and endangers an organization’s brand.

Think about crisis prevention and management like a forrest ranger standing in a fire tower located atop the highest point in a national park. He peers through his binoculars and scans the endless timber below looking for that little wisp of smoke that triggers an action plan. Now, equate a media relations manager (or someone similar) with that ranger, and media monitoring as the scanning of the forrest. You need the right tools to successfully head off problems. Continue Reading…

Content marketing strategy: shifting from urgent to strategic

March 12, 2013 in Branding with 0 Comments

The first step to solving a content marketing problem is admitting you have one. Unfortunately, what organizational leaders often think is the cause may actually be an effect.

Content marketing and brand journalism are increasingly recognized as important elements of an organization’s branding and marketing effort. However, some organizations crank out copy like it is being fired from a Gatling Gun thinking quantity is the key to success. Leaders become frustrated with a lack of return on the effort and miss the point that quantity doesn’t necessarily equate to quality. They fail to accurately identify the tyranny of the urgent as the root problem. Continue Reading…

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