Steve Fogg: Clear and Simple.

6 lessons I've learnt from media work this week

The last two weeks have been very focused on time intensive media issues that our church has been taking a lead in. Public relations (PR) isn't my strongest point, but I love engaging with the press.

My role has been setting up the various media and preparing our message to ensure we stay on message.

Here are some of the media outlets Crossway has had coverage on:

MTR 1377 Radio with two high profile Melbourne radio presenters, Steve Price and Andrew Bolt

Top of the TV news on SBS (my favourite)

ABC AM program - Radio

Herald Sun - online

Perth Now - online

The West Australian - online

Sky News - online

Pro Bono News - online

Eternity Magazine - online

Leap News - online

Here are a few lessons this public relations novice has learnt:

1) Talking and doing preparation for media is time intensive. It literally has taken a lot of my working day which has meant I have had to delegate work out.  

2) Be prepared to operate outside 9am to 5pm. I set some media up for a Monday release which meant that I worked on Sunday to refine the media release and send it out. I also took calls from journalists on Sunday night.

3) Plan out where you want your spokesperson to be interviewed. Carefully choose the location of where you want your spokesperson to be. It helps shape your message.

4) Plan out any cut away shots of your spokesperson in advance to set the right tone you want for the interview. I got this partly wrong and chose cutaways for the family I had set up for the interview but didn't think to choose the right one for my spokesperson. Hence a slightly awkward cutaway.

5) Not everyone is going to agree with your position. Even inside your church.

6) Online news is hungry for content and is much more likely to fold your story into their news cycle.

Do you deal with the media? Are you a media guru? What could you teach us? Comment below

 

What The Church Can Learn From GoDaddy About PR

In case you've been under a rock for the last week and missed it, Bob Parsons who the boss of GoDaddy has blogged about how he shot an elephant and put a video up on his blog.

Talk about a PR disaster. It has really hurt GoDaddy's reputation, Bob managed to do that in one shot (if you forgive the pun) You Church, your leadership needs to know that:

1. It takes a lifetime to build your reputation but only one moment to loose it

2. Your perception of how you think others see you could be a deception

Ask yourself the following questions:

1. What can possibly go wrong? What is the worst thing that could happen in my ministry/church?
2. Who is responsible for fixing it, or making the event/story work?
3. What 'plan B' do we have in place if something goes wrong?
4. Who is responsible for actioning that plan if its needed, and do they have every resource on standby ready to go?
5. What policies do we have in place that would prevent this from happening. If it happens, what policies and procedures do we have in place to help bring healing/reconciliation/legal restitution or closure.

What other PR disasters have you seen lately that the church can learn from?

Related posts - How To Avoid A PR Disaster At Your Church: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3
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The Hourly Opinion Cycle

We’ve lived in a world that has gone from a 24 hour news cycle to an hourly news cycle that has been ravenous for content to fill specialised news channels.

I don’t know if you’ve noticed that the hourly news cycle and has been replaced with the hourly opinion cycle.

Many news outlets have subtly (and not so subtly) shifted beyond reporting the news, to broadcasting opinion pieces in the news.

This is potentially a big deal for your church. How the ‘media’ perceives your church or key spokesperson no longer will rely just on news reporting, but on opinion pieces.

The recent Rob Bell interview with Martin Bashir is a great example. Martin is clearly letting his opinions lead his questioning – which makes for a much more aggressive and combative style of interview.

While you may not have an issue yet that is 'opinion-worthy' (not news worthy). It will come.

What are you doing to train yourself to manage the media when it comes knocking? Comment below

 

How To Avoid A PR Disaster At Your Church: Part 4

Over the last week I've been blogging about how churches can avoid PR disasters. I wrote about what churches can learn from Volvo's famous 'Safety improvement' car crash (brilliant video). Nestlé's disasterous social media episode, and last but by no means least - Tiger Woods exploits. (My blogging buddy Phil Cooke has also written an excellent post on how not to respond to a disaster, yes BP thats you.) While these situations aren't church PR disasters, there are profound lessons for churches. 

Just when I thought I'd run out of PR disasters to blog about, another one comes along.

Sarah Ferguson is the Duchess Of York. One could say that the last few days have not been her best. She has been caught in a sting operation by a British tabloid on video accepting money for access to her ex-husband, Prince Andrew - The Duke of York. In the video she alleged that her husband knew about it but remained squeaky clean from it. Other sources say that the Prince knew nothing about it. She has since been reported to have said that she regrets her actions.

In the media frenzy who do you believe?

Here is the killer point. Prince Andrew hasn't publically commented on it. He could of responded and denied the acusations and linking of his name to this bribe. But he hasn't. (It's not that uncommon for the Palace not to comment on news reports)

How steps should churches take if someone takes illegal financial advantage in their name or steals money from the church? We need to be aware that:

1. Reputation takes a lifetime to build and a moment to destroy.

Sarah Ferguson is was squeaky clean. Prince Andrew is still has his reputation, but there is now a cloud of uncertainity hanging over his name. No matter how much "good" a church does, the brand & reputation of the church that took decades to build can be destroyed in a moment - even if someone else has stolen money from you or used your church's name for illegal financial advantage. You may not of have been responsible for any illegal activity, but when an employee who works for you rips you off there will always be a question about your organisational reputation. You have to respond.

2. If a story breaks - Explain your side of the story fast & first.

Prince Andrew or the Royal family hasn't talked at all. The media will now fill the void that he left. 

Explain your side of the story out fast and first. Stick to the facts and what you know.

Just like Prince Andrew and the Royal Family, if you don't talk to the media it will talk to every one else around you who has a good or bad opinion about your church or organisation (the media news cycle refreshes almost every hour and is hungry for new content).

3. Be honest & tell the whole story

Don't try and spin your way out of a situation. Don't be vague or play with semantics. If something has happened and your church or organisation is somehow implicated don't only listen to lawyers and hold back. Explain:

1. The facts of what has happened.
2. Why it happened (if you can).
3. What you are doing to ensure that it never happens EVER again.
4. What steps you are taking regarding the employee.
5. Apologise repeatedly & unconditionally to whoever was directly impacted by whatever happened.
You can never say sorry enough.What do you think we can learn? What would you add?

Related posts
How To Avoid A PR Disaster At Your Church: Part 1
How To Avoid A PR Disaster At Your Church: Part 2
How To Avoid A PR Disaster At Your Church: Part 3

5 Smart PR Tips From Hillsong Church

I've been blogging about church PR disasters and the mayhem that can follow. (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3).

Hillsong is Australia's largest church and usually gets a hard time from the mainstream media in Australia. Last night Hillsong was featured on national TV on Channel Seven's Sunday Night program. Hillsong's Senior Pastor, Brian Houston was the main focus of the interview.

Was the interview a PR disaster or a success? Make your own mind up. Watch the short video here.

What can we learn from the interview?

1) Be prepared for leading and probing questions - Think through carefully ahead of time how you would answer them.

2) Talk about what Jesus thinks - Don't offer your own opinion on moral issues. It is what Jesus thinks about the moral issues that counts.

3) Give full disclosure if asked - If you are asked a probing question about a issue normally considered private such as money or your family's past, don't avoid it. Privacy isn't the issue, a willingness for honesty, openess and transparency is. Show the reporter you have nothing to hide.

4) Don't be afraid to take people behind the scenes - Brian took the reporter behind the scenes which showed the church off in a really positive light. You could see the sincerity and heartbeat for Jesus in the church and in his family.

5) Be yourself - Sounds obvious but Brian was no different in this interview to any other time I've seen him on TV. People can see through any kind of act or perfomance. He just came across as an Aussie guy passionate about Jesus and the church, conflicted and upset about his dad and totally head over heals in love with his family.

What do you think?

Was the interview positive? How did you think Brian Houston came across?

Related posts
How To Avoid A PR Disaster At Your Church: Part 1
How To Avoid A PR Disaster At Your Church: Part 2
How To Avoid A PR Disaster At Your Church: Part 3

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How To Avoid A PR Disaster At Your Church: Part 3

I kicked off this series in part one of 'How To Avoid A PR Disaster At Your Church' with what happens when something or someone fails to do what they are supposed to do. Part two focused on what happens when social media goes wrong. Today we'll be covering another (PR) disaster that happens at churches.

One of the biggest PR disasters that can happen to a church is when the most senior leader in the church is fired for inappropiate behaviour, it could be sexual, financial or ethical. Fill in the blank. Someone somewhere has probably done it. I said before that church marketing is everything. This is just one more sad example.

If it is a senior leader, they are removed often leaving the church in a mess, the congregation confused about what really went on, and the media is usually breathing down the neck of leaders left standing wanting answers on the spot.

There are numerous examples of how the media portray what happened, here, here and here. You don't even need to be fired or actually break any law, check out what happened to Ed Young . Even the perception of doing the wrong thing can get you into hot water with the media. The way you see a situation may not be the way the media sees it.

I've blogged about about what Tiger Woods can teach churches about communications last year. If you are a leader who could be facing something like this and want to know how to respond, check it out. I would also appeal to you to step aside for the reputation of your church and Jesus.

If you are a church leader where your senior leader has failed or you want to do contingency planning, this post will help you take the initiative.

1. Implement a crisis management plan - Do you know how you will respond in a crisis like this? Do you know who your spokesperson will be? Do you know who to contact to get your message out? No? Then you need a plan. Talk to someone who knows more about it than you, don't try and figure it out by yourself. Lead with your strengths, let others lead you with theirs. There are plenty of communications specialists out there who can help.

2. Get media training for your next level leadership or Board spokesperson - If it ever happens you need to be prepared. You will definately be in the hot seat. How you handle it is vital. You can come across in the media in the worst way, or you can seen to have an appropiate response.

3. Rehearse out senarios. Review how you handled it. What came up that you didn't expect? What worked, what didn't work?

4. Go back to step one.

This is a taboo subject. I don't think I've ever seen any church communications peep blog on it before. No one wants to be the guy or girl that has to bring this subject up with their senior leadership. There needs to be a great deal of sensitivity in approaching this with others. But your church needs to be prepared. It may never happen, but if it does happen it will happen so quickly and your church will feel so out of control that you'll be wishing you did it.

Related posts
How To Avoid A PR Disaster At Your Church: Part 1
How To Avoid A PR Disaster At Your Church: Part 2

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How To Avoid A PR Disaster At Your Church: Part 2

Social Media Can Be A Recipe For A PR Disaster

There has been a lot of blogging about the incredible benefits that social media can have for churches. I've blogged about it many times. Its free, churches of any size can get involved. Churches like Saddleback have even set up their congregations for success with training. But there is a new reality that social media brings for all organisations including churches. Below is one example of how social media became a negative rather than a positive communication experience.

Case study: Nestlé vs Greenpeace

Nestlé is the world's largest food and drink company.

Greenpeace alleged:

Nestlé, the world's largest food and drink company, is making some of your favourite chocolate bars using palm oil from destroyed Indonesian rainforests. As a result, threatened species like orang-utans are being pushed into extinction and huge quantities of greenhouse gas are being released, accelerating climate change.

Greenpeace set a media blitz attacking the Corporate Social Responsibility of Nestlé. They created billboards and a short TV commercial which went viral all over the web. They even wrote them an open letter.

Nestlé responded by getting YouTube to take the video down. They denied Greenpeaces allegations and issued a very long and verbose statement on their website. Their Facebook page is full of comments from angry consumers. All a bit miffed by the fact it is going to longer to fully stop using palm oil. They are angry at the pace of change.

People also started to change their facebook profile to protest at the Nestle brand.

The same thing can happen to churches. Just Google Hillsong (or your church for that matter!) and you'll find plenty of nasty things that have been said about them.

Social media has moved the communication goal posts. Your online presence is now a two-way communication, you cannot manage your communication simply by writing a press release or building a website. Any organisation has to be quick and nimble to respond to the immediacy of the world of social media.

What would you do if people said negative things about your church on Facebook?

What would you do if an organisation actively campaign against your church online?

Do you have a strategy prepared?

Are you prepared to respond within hours of an issue presenting itself?

Jesus was used to people having a go at him, should we respond like him?

There are four lessons for churches from this story:

1) How you respond when your reputation is being questioned will impact the perception of whether you are guilty or not guilty in the eyes of the world. Responding with verbose corporate speak that feels like the lawyers have written definitely won't do you any favours.

2) Don't get involved in social media unless you are prepared to take the bad with the good.

3) If you don't have a strategy in place, get one.

4) Be prepared to respond quickly and honestly. Don't leave an empty void for others to fill with opinion.

Thanks to Communicate Jesus for the links and his blog post.

P.S. I'm experimenting with the Facebook 'Like' button. If you think this post is any good could you click it as I'd like to see how it works any what it does. Thanks!

Related posts
How To Avoid A PR Disaster At Your Church: Part 1
Three Lessons Tiger Woods Can Teach You About Communications
Church Marketing Everything
Is Your Perception of Your Church A Deception?
Wanna be like Mike?

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How To Avoid A PR Disaster At Your Church: Part 1

What comes to your mind when you think of the car manufacturer Volvo?

I would bet words like safety, realiability, Swedish would come to mind, right? Everyone I've spoken to has said that the No.1 word they associate Volvo with is safety.

Volvo know this of course, they leverage their whole brand off it. So it was no surprise when the it was reported that they had developed a brilliant new safety feature called 'Collision Avoidance with Full Auto Brake technology'. Basically, the car senses if you are about to crash and applies the brakes before you can respond. Smart huh?

To demonstrate this new feature Volvo invited the world's media (who came armed with cameras) to show it off. You can check out the video here.  

I'm sure no one expected what happened next. The demonstration didn't work. The car crashed.

It takes years to build a reputation and a moment to lose it all.

I bet you are a bit more interested in checking out the video now eh?

Everyone who saw that video or heard the news report - their perception of Volvo will of changed in that moment. It is going to take time for Volvo to rebuild their reputation, in the meantime they will lose sales, customers and good will.

Its the same for churches. Every church has hundreds of opportunities to lose its reputation. Every. Single. Day.

Ask yourself the following questions:

1. What can possibly go wrong? What is the worst thing that could happen in my ministry/church?
2. Who is responsible for fixing it, or making the event/story work?
3. What 'plan B' do we have in place if something goes wrong?
4. Who is responsible for actioning that plan if its needed, and do they have every resource on standby ready to go?
5. What policies do we have in place that would prevent this from happening. If it happens, what policies and procedures do we have in place to help bring healing/reconciliation/legal restitution or closure.

Here are some areas you definately should be asking those questions in:

• Childrens Ministry
• Counselling
• Senior Pastor/church staff
• Church Board

It's not just in the big ticket 'positional' items you can lose your reputation.

You can lose your reputation every time you:

• Don't fulfill a brand promise to someone who checked you out on your 'our church is friendly' website and no one spoke to them when they turned up.
• Your staff hear about staffing issues for the first time on a Sunday or at a church business meeting.
• Don't make a deadline for a ministry partner.
• Promise that you'll contact a volunteer and don't.

What do you think?

Have you been on the wrong end of losing reputation in a church?

What other areas that are vulnerable to reputation damage?

Tune in tomorrow where I'll be sharing on what you can do to turn around a disaster.

Related posts
Church Marketing Everything
Is Your Perception of Your Church A Deception?
Wanna be like Mike?
Church - Forget about Your Brand Image. Concentrate On Your Soul
25 Factors That Shape Perception About Church

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Church - Forget About Your Brand Image. Concentrate On Your Soul

Brilliant article from Jamey Boiter on Fast Company on the mess that BP is in with it's brand image and the recent oil spill in the Gulf near the south coast of the USA.

"Yet BP forgot a very basic principle of brand repositioning, building and marketing: Deliver on the promise of the brand. You can create anything, but it's only when a company embraces the pillars, the tenants of the brand, that this becomes reality. Pretty logos mean nothing if your actions don’t back up what you say.  As Gardiner Morse pointed out earlier this week for the Harvard Business Review, BP forgot to "walk the talk".

The Church and Christianity at times suffers the same "image problem".

Many Christians don't deliver on the "brand promise" of Jesus in their lives. They only embrace the pillars and the tenants of being a follower of Christ. Rather than backing up what they believe with our actions. They aren't walking the talk. (When I say they, I definately include myself in that.)

Sure, churches may have the slickest websites, the coolest logo, iPhone/iPad church App, the most famous/most eloquent speaking Pastor, but if we as Christians don't deliver on the brand promise of Jesus, if we can't tell our story through the transformed lives of our people, of ourselves, then the promises are just hollow and empty.

Not even a complete advertising and brand makeover of Christianity by Australian ad agencies could solve this problem a like this.

What do you think Jesus promised? What picture did he create of what a disciple would look and act like?

What do you think people are expecting to see in people who go to church?

Is there a gap?

Do they like Jesus, but not the church? Or is that they think we Christians have infact become unchristian?

Related posts
Church Marketing Everything
Is Your Perception of Your Church A Deception?
Wanna be like Mike?
25 Factors That Shape Perception About Church
How To Avoid A PR Disaster At Your Church: Part 1
How To Avoid A PR Disaster At Your Church: Part 2
How To Avoid A PR Disaster At Your Church: Part 3

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PR Tips For Your Ministry & Church: Tip #2

PR Tip #2 For Your Ministry & Church:

Good Deeds Are Newsworthy

95% of the stories that I get in the press for my church are stories about our people doing something good in the community. Some examples of stories are:

1) Our Asian Congregation raised over $10,000 for the Chinese Earthquake.

2) Each Christmas our main English congregation regularly gives around $220,000 to help the poorest of the poor in a nominated country. (I am personally blown away by the generosity of my church.)

3) Our young adults have been in the news because of the great work they do with Red Frogs that ministers to school leavers who party at the end of the school year at 'schoolies week'.

4) Our Senior Pastors induction ran on page 6 of The Age Newspaper which is the major metro broadsheet newspaper in Victoria. A pretty boring story from a state news point of view, but the interesting angle we ran with got the story up.

5) Each Christmas we pack up over 400 Christmas hampers for those in our community who are less fortunate.

There is more stories from where that came from. But you get the point.

What good deeds is your church doing out there in the community? Chances are there is a story there. 

Related Posts
PR Tip #1 For Your Ministry & Church

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