Plan Today For Tomorrow’s Public Crisis By Stephen V. Smith, WordSouth
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There’s a storm coming. It will be here any minute, and outages could be widespread. What do you do? Call up your vendors and try to get some extra construction materials delivered right away? Hold a meeting of your linemen and do some quick training on how to restore power? Figure out how you will manage outage information and dispatch crews?
Of course not. You have extra poles, transformers and such on the yard. Your linemen are trained to work safely through restoration efforts. And your outage response procedures have long been documented and taught to all your employees. Why? Because you know that one day a storm will come.
Perhaps there’s another storm coming. This storm is not the wrath of Mother Nature, but rather a storm of public perception. A public relations disaster. A communications crisis.
Will you be ready?
Such storms come in various forms. A lawsuit by a citizen. A safety violation or accident. Or, as one of our clients recently experienced, a buyout attempt by a neighboring utility. What do you do? Hopefully, you benefit from preparations made well before the storm ever started to take shape.
Following are some ways you can prepare. This list is excerpted from the white paper Anatomy of a Buyout Attempt prepared by WordSouth for Murfreesboro Electric Department. (For a PDF copy of the white paper, contact Steve Sax or Amy Byers at MED.)
Know Your Worth
If someone asked you today, "Just how good is your utility?" would you be able to answer that question? What is your reliability rate? How much ad valorem or in-lieu-of tax dollars does your utility contribute to the city coffers? What economic impact does the municipal system have on your city? Worth is much more than the value of your plant and other properties owned.
Develop Your Own Channels
You may have a wonderful relationship with your local media. However, if you depend on newspapers and radio to take your message to your customers, you will never be fully in control of telling your story. Do you publish a newsletter? Expand it. Are you on Facebook? Get on Twitter, too. Do you add fresh content to your website on a regular basis? You must have your own channels, where you control the message and the schedule.
Build Media Relationships
While developing your own channels is important, don’t overlook your local media. Build good relationships with members of the press. Make sure they know who to contact on your staff when they need information for a story. Monitor these outlets to see what they are reporting, and always be willing and ready to offer comments on stories that relate to the utility industry.
Stay Connected
Maintain strong ties with your state, regional and national associations. These groups serve a great purpose by facilitating the sharing of ideas and experiences among their members. Many of them also have resources that will help members prepare for and weather times of crisis. These relationships will prove invaluable.
Educate Your Board
Your board is vital to your success — but don’t assume that your board members understand your system’s impact on the city. It’s your job to make sure they understand as much as possible about this complex industry. Make sure they attend conferences and receive industry reading material. Give them opportunities to participate in employee events and to get to know all the functioning components of how a distribution system works.
Keep A Record Of Good Deeds
Start a "Making a Difference" journal. Keep track of everything you do above and beyond providing electricity to help the city, key accounts and customers in general. Examples might include working with city planners to install underground utilities while new road construction is planned. Log dates and details. Likewise, keep a record of notes, emails and comments from people thanking your utility for doing a great job. These are people you may need to call on later to provide testimonials for an article or ad.
Just like when the literal clouds roll in, the secret to surviving a PR storm is not about what you do in the moment — it’s what you’ve already done to prepare yourself. Use some of these lessons learned to review your plans today.
* * *
Stephen V. Smith is president/CEO of WordSouth — A Content Marketing Company, serving electric and telecommunications providers since 1996. Stephen can be reached at ssmith@wordsouth.com.
Of course not. You have extra poles, transformers and such on the yard. Your linemen are trained to work safely through restoration efforts. And your outage response procedures have long been documented and taught to all your employees. Why? Because you know that one day a storm will come.
Perhaps there’s another storm coming. This storm is not the wrath of Mother Nature, but rather a storm of public perception. A public relations disaster. A communications crisis.
Will you be ready?
Such storms come in various forms. A lawsuit by a citizen. A safety violation or accident. Or, as one of our clients recently experienced, a buyout attempt by a neighboring utility. What do you do? Hopefully, you benefit from preparations made well before the storm ever started to take shape.
Following are some ways you can prepare. This list is excerpted from the white paper Anatomy of a Buyout Attempt prepared by WordSouth for Murfreesboro Electric Department. (For a PDF copy of the white paper, contact Steve Sax or Amy Byers at MED.)
Know Your Worth
If someone asked you today, "Just how good is your utility?" would you be able to answer that question? What is your reliability rate? How much ad valorem or in-lieu-of tax dollars does your utility contribute to the city coffers? What economic impact does the municipal system have on your city? Worth is much more than the value of your plant and other properties owned.
Develop Your Own Channels
You may have a wonderful relationship with your local media. However, if you depend on newspapers and radio to take your message to your customers, you will never be fully in control of telling your story. Do you publish a newsletter? Expand it. Are you on Facebook? Get on Twitter, too. Do you add fresh content to your website on a regular basis? You must have your own channels, where you control the message and the schedule.
Build Media Relationships
While developing your own channels is important, don’t overlook your local media. Build good relationships with members of the press. Make sure they know who to contact on your staff when they need information for a story. Monitor these outlets to see what they are reporting, and always be willing and ready to offer comments on stories that relate to the utility industry.
Stay Connected
Maintain strong ties with your state, regional and national associations. These groups serve a great purpose by facilitating the sharing of ideas and experiences among their members. Many of them also have resources that will help members prepare for and weather times of crisis. These relationships will prove invaluable.
Educate Your Board
Your board is vital to your success — but don’t assume that your board members understand your system’s impact on the city. It’s your job to make sure they understand as much as possible about this complex industry. Make sure they attend conferences and receive industry reading material. Give them opportunities to participate in employee events and to get to know all the functioning components of how a distribution system works.
Keep A Record Of Good Deeds
Start a "Making a Difference" journal. Keep track of everything you do above and beyond providing electricity to help the city, key accounts and customers in general. Examples might include working with city planners to install underground utilities while new road construction is planned. Log dates and details. Likewise, keep a record of notes, emails and comments from people thanking your utility for doing a great job. These are people you may need to call on later to provide testimonials for an article or ad.
Just like when the literal clouds roll in, the secret to surviving a PR storm is not about what you do in the moment — it’s what you’ve already done to prepare yourself. Use some of these lessons learned to review your plans today.
* * *
Stephen V. Smith is president/CEO of WordSouth — A Content Marketing Company, serving electric and telecommunications providers since 1996. Stephen can be reached at ssmith@wordsouth.com.
