If you’re a company in Leeds and are looking to safeguard your reputation from possible crises or are in a difficult situation already and need a way out, you can get the help you need through our expert services. Prohibition PR is a recognised and award-winning Public Relations and Crisis Management firm that has helped many businesses in Leeds stay afloat and ahead of different forms of crisis, whether immediate or imminent.
Are You in a PR Crisis?
If your good name is dragged through the mud and your business could be facing significant damage, what you require is an immediate short-term strategy to deal with the situation as well as a long-term crisis communication plan to reinstate your profile. You can get things running with the help of a professional team that has experience in restoring, rebuilding, and retaining brand image and reputation. At Prohibition PR, we are a proven PR crisis management agency. We deploy a range of expertly-streamlined services to dodge emergencies, reduce additional risks, go through legal means if necessary, and construct a new, favourable media narrative.
Are You Prepared For A PR Crisis?
Smart businesses always have a plan ready to salvage their reputations in the face of threatening situations that may ruin their image. Carrying out a full audit of potential online and offline risks is key to ensuring that you stay on top of events when they occur or completely avert them. We understand that long-standing reputations can be destroyed in the blink of an eye, which is why we employ a multi-pronged approach to crisis management to ensure that we’re on the frontline of potential issues through our specialist efforts and streamlined services.
Managing An Online Crisis Vs An Offline Crisis?
Before the internet boom, brand’s reputation damage was limited to the offline realm, including word of mouth, TV, radio, and print media. With the proliferation of the internet and social media, the potential lasting for brand damage has multiplied exponentially. While enraged consumers can and still utilise these offline channels to tarnish a company’s name. While it’s crucial to handle online PR crisis situations urgently, it’s also important to get ahead of damaging opinions that may be spreading through traditional media too.
Our Crisis And Reputation Management PR Team
We have a team of professionals that have handled many high-profile issues and turned ugly narratives around in a short period. We know how reputation affects the growth and stability of every business and, as a result, make sure all our clients maintain their good name in the long run. Our professionals employ an integrated approach to make sure you always use your emergencies as an opportunity to meet a wider audience with a positive message.
We Understand Urgency
Due to the nature of the internet, and how damaging information can spread, any company’s reputation can be tainted if not managed with conscientious urgency. Our approach seeks to immediately defuse the negativity that has shrouded a client’s reputation and promptly work to turn around the narrative.
We Are Experts At Restoring Brand Reputation
While curbing a negative situation is the key to helping your business survive, it won’t be enough in the long run as you don’t want to leave your customers and the public with that negative image as the last thing in their mind. It’s necessary to infuse a new, brighter image into the minds of everyone who encounters your brand, so things can only get better. Our experts at Prohibition PR understand this and have helped rebuild the reputations of well-known brands in different industries.
We Provide Crisis And Reputation Management Consultation
We also provide consultation concerning business crisis management issues to other PR firms and even media companies. Whatever industry you’re in, we have a specialised crisis response team that can help your business survive and fight external forces that threaten its reputation.
The 3 Stages Of Crisis And Reputation Management PR
It’s never easy to consistently maintain the reputation of a brand as a single wrong move could escalate things extremely fast. Different factors from numerous sources are always threatening brand reputation or a personal reputation crisis. This is why there should be an effective strategy in place that will help you prepare, respond to issues that flare up, and revive your brand image. The following is our crisis and reputation management approach.
Crisis PR Response:
Once a Public Relations crisis breaks, it needs to be responded to rapidly and in an expert fashion. Despite the urgency of the case, reacting too rashly could escalate things even further. The team of crisis communications experts at Prohibition will help you get ahead of the situation by creating key brand messages and appropriate responses to bring the situation under control and begin to repair your brand reputation image. We will go through different channels to quell the situation. From conducting short-term surveys, understanding the source of the problem, and taking back the narrative to launching social media and traditional PR campaigns, as well as going through legal means, we’ll ensure you follow the right path once we have promptly assessed the situation.
Crisis PR Preparedness:
Through careful, strategic preparation, you can take a principled approach to avert certain situations or tackle them when they surface rather than making hasty decisions that may cause further damage. Our crisis team can help you put a crisis management PR plan in place that will prepare you in advance to stay on top of scenarios that will threaten the reputation of your business. A good crisis PR agency will work alongside your management specialists as communications consultancy to give proactive direction and support.
Crisis PR Recovery:
When the situation has been dealt with, and the nasty comments about your company have begun to blow over, you need to reinstate yourself once more as a trustworthy brand and try to get back the customers you may have lost. We’ll work with you to strengthen and safeguard your reputation, prepare you for future risks, and enhance your brand image through training and expert consultation.
Our Crisis And Reputation Management PR Expertise In Leeds
We have consulted with top businesses in and around Leeds and across the country over the years and have helped our clients prepare themselves for unforeseen events as well as get on top of these situations should they occur. With our help, not only will you be ready to face any emergency head-on in different channels both offline or online, but you’ll also experience steady growth as we’ll be providing regular advice on how to enhance your brand image.
Business Reputation
Businesses depend on a robust reputation to be successful. With a negative review hanging over any company, customers will be wary of engaging with that business as they won’t want to fall victim to whatever narrative may be trending. Whether you’re a start-up, a small retail outlet, or a big business that handles different types of customers, you may be hit by unforeseen public relations issues. These can be a recollection of a civil lawsuit, contaminated or dangerous goods, or another unexpected disaster that may badly affect your sales. You can defuse these situations and resolve them favourably by employing some of our proven strategies.
Corporate Reputation
As a corporate organisation, you don’t have to wait until you’re faced with a crisis before you act. Being prepared for unexpected circumstances will give you the advantage. For corporate firms, crisis issues can see share value fall sharply, cause tremendous damage to downlines, and result in loss of clients as well as pressure from stakeholders and lawsuits. Having a pre-emptive strategy in place will keep you ready and tackle the problems as they appear. At Prohibition, we can create a short-term plan that will get the issue under control by coordinating with executives and other top employees on how to salvage the crisis and prevent further damage.
Regulators
Regulatory bodies in Leeds and Yorkshire are not free from reputational damage as certain wrong moves could lead to a serious backlash from the general public and even the international community, putting intense pressure and scrutiny on the body involved. For example, investigations carried out by sports regulators or institutions like the Environment Agency, Health and Safety Executive or other industry bodies that lead to criminal charges can become seriously problematic if not handled correctly. We can help with assistance in crisis preparation and management regardless of the body involved and the case they’re faced with.
Entertainment
The entertainment industry is one that continually works with a diverse audience and is always in the spotlight. We have experience working with artists and other prominent figures in this industry in regard to crisis and reputation PR issues. If you’re in Leeds, Yorkshire or the North in general and are in the entertainment industry, we can help enhance your career and see that things go smoothly, whether you’re a record label, performer, or agent. We can help with strategic planning and preparation for crisis management and recovery, whatever is required.
School Reputation
Academic institutions in Leeds and across Yorkshire are not exempt either. Reputational issues can easily lead to the loss of students, lack of patronage, and a severe dip in academic ratings. We can provide consultations on best practices to avoid such issues, deal with them when they occur, and also boost the public image of your school.
Charities
Not-for-profit organisations carrying out admirable work could be easily misrepresented as something else. If any negative story hits the media or any social media channel, it can easily spread far and beyond, tarnishing the reputation of such a body and hiding the excellent work it’s carrying out. As your PR partner, Prohibition will see to it that unfavourable stories never drag down the name of your organisation.
Private and HNW Individuals
As a high-net-worth individual, you may think that you’re out of the public eye and have nothing to be scared of. However, in today’s digital world, a simple public incident or clash with the authorities can see you caught in the web of viral social media, which could severely impact your reputation and self-worth. If you want things to remain clean and private for you, we can help. If you find yourself in a PR crisis, there’s no need to panic as we can get you out of it.
Crisis PR Prevention Services In Leeds
If you own a business in Leeds or Yorkshire and are worried that you may face issues with your reputation in the future, rest assured our services can keep you protected by equipping you and your team with the right tools and resources to stay alert to possible crisis outcomes on different channels, whether through social media or traditional media.
Social Media Issues Monitoring And Brand Tracking
The proliferation of social media has made it easier for news, especially damaging news, to spread fast. As a brand, your customers will, more likely than not, try to communicate with you or express their opinions about your products and services through social media.
It’s crucial that you monitor these channels in case any news about your brand breaks out and begins trending. Through our social media issues and brand tracking service, we can make sure you’re always in the know about situations concerning your brand, how you should respond and manage undesirable situations, and how to take advantage of specific outcomes.
Crisis Plan/Handbook Development:
Our team of experts will help you develop resources such as handbooks and flowcharts that will help you prepare for issues that may threaten your company reputation. Through these, your in-house PR crisis management team will be equipped to use the appropriate responses to situations that may develop through online social channels or traditional media.
Prohibition Social 360:
At Prohibition we offer a 360 social service that will provide a complete audit of your social media footprint, social media listening in your product or service category to identify any problem areas and create you a clear social media strategy to help you manage issues that may come from any of these channels.
Yes, we can provide you a free, no obligation quote when you give us a call. Our service is guaranteed to be hassle-free, cost effective, and at your convenience.
Media Training:
Every working crisis response strategy uses an effective spokesperson, which is essential to the successful deployment of any communication plan. We have crisis-specific media training that equips every spokesperson with the techniques and skills required to face the media comfortably, be able to navigate difficult questions, maintain the set narrative, and know-how to stay in control throughout an interview. Through our media training programme, which includes a thorough overview of the media’s methods and processes, we’ll empower the spokesperson by going over the do’s and don’ts as well as reviewing interview clips from our vast video collection.
Preparedness Planning:
A poorly-managed crisis can lead to the destruction of any organisation’s reputation by causing serious strategic, commercial, and financial damage. This is why it’s important that every brand be ever ready for a PR crisis. It’s good to always hope for the best but, as a business, it’s far better to prepare for the worst, and we can help with this and even turn things around to your advantage. With our years of experience in reputation management, we understand that handling a crisis works best before it occurs, as your organisation will be crisis-ready with the right planning and strategy in place.
Social Media Crisis Workshop:
The founder of Prohibition Chris Norton wrote the CIPR’s text on social media crisis management. Whether your brand or organisation is on social media or not, you will still be faced by crises that will grow through these channels. Unlike traditional media crisis cases, a digital and social media crisis can easily spread like wildfire and cause substantial damage in a short space of time. Preparations for social media crisis situations need to be in place way before the situation breaks out in order to manage the issue in the best way possible. Through our bespoke workshop for social media crisis, you and your crisis management team will be taught by one of the finest minds in the country on social media crisis work, how to track issues through social media as well as appropriately plan, prepare, and preside over any problems that develop.
Crisis Scenario Testing:
Crisis management scenario testing involves putting the organisation through mock incidents that could realistically happen based on possible outcomes inferred from extensive audits and analyses. This is part of the public relations crisis management process is to keep brands readily prepared in the case that similar issues occur in the future. This way, these issues won’t be unexpected.
Stakeholder Research:
Stakeholder research identifies every stakeholder in the brand, describes their different expectations or needs in respect to the organisation and the projects being carried out. Through this research, you’ll further identify your primary and secondary stakeholders and analyse their level of interest and influence on your brand so that you can adequately manage their expectations to avoid possible crisis situations.
Reputation Audit:
Our reputation audit service is streamlined to the framework, structure, and involvement of any organisation to help them correctly understand their critics and customers and how these elements together influence their image and public perception. We have different strategies for carrying out proper analysis to estimate the reputation of our clients and what kind of risks they may face in the future.
Brands That Trust Us
Issue Management Services In Leeds
Many crises occur in Leeds, Yorkshire or anywhere in the UK not due to random incidents but as a result of specific issues. Issues, if escalated or ignited by an event, can cause crisis management operations to be put in motion, which may result in the organisation being put under intense pressure and scrutiny. While this is true, these issues don’t have to trigger a full-blown reputational crisis. These issues can be managed with proper preparation and planning, and they should be because they can easily drain valuable time and draw attention away from favourable developments and news. Prohibition helps clients to properly manage and resolve issues to safeguard – and often boost – their reputation. We develop and implement strategies that will guide clients towards making the right decisions when it concerns public image to avoid, as much as possible, issues that may lead to reputational damage.
Issue Identification:
Organisations with healthy crisis preparation strategies will have the resources to predict imminent reputation risk. Identifying possible issues that can lead to these risks is also vital, and we can help with this at Prohibition. Understanding the problem at hand can provide insight on how to provide timely and practical solutions.
Strategic Planning:
We can help organisations plan better for certain engagements by advising them on the risks involved in certain strategic decisions such as commercial and financial engagements. In the event that a company would like to press on with a move, we will help with proper strategic planning on how to navigate and execute a public narrative for the benefit of the company.
Planning Of Reactive Statements:
No organisation has total control over how people talk about its brand despite their best efforts. In certain situations, rivals can fill the media with false stories to boost their own agenda. Reactive statements are a type of communication made to tackle negative conversation in the marketplace. As an expert crisis management firm, we can help produce reactive statements based on the situation unfolding and will also plan the execution to produce desired results.
Leadership Message Development And Positioning
Excellent communication in leadership can immensely contribute to a crisis management endeavour. Without a practical message from the leader of a brand, a small problem could easily morph into a full-blown crisis. However, with the backing of Prohibition, your brand or business in Leeds or Yorkshire can gain from our message development and positioning models to communicate potent and powerful messages to the public.
Litigation Communications
Employing the right strategy in communication will help any company achieve a balance by supporting the brand’s legal position as its reputation is being protected. Communication out of the courtroom can be tricky, especially when an organisation is battling on multiple fronts and anything said could have a substantial impact across different channels.
Prohibition can serve as a link between an organisation’s legal and communications team. Our litigation communications practice is made up of specialists who have excellent knowledge of complicated legal sensitivities and contexts, and we can work to ensure the best message is passed across to the public whenever a brand is engaged in a legal battle.
Crisis PR Management Services In Leeds
At Prohibition, we’re thought leaders and innovators in crisis management PR, and we provide a full range of services in crisis preparedness and response. Our strategic processes are tried and tested and our accumulated awards over the years are testaments to our success. If you’re in Leeds, Yorkshire or the north and are in need of crisis management for your company, give us a call today.
PR Crisis Management, Assessment And Mitigation
We can assess your entire situation to discover the possible risks you’re facing and come up with strategic plans on how to help you and your team mitigate the issues as they come. First Response Press Office and Spokesperson Services
We offer a first response press office and spokesperson service which will assist you in passing effective messages to the public in a professional manner. We can train your spokespersons on the best practices of media engagement and relations to ensure any problem or unexpected event is properly managed.
Virtual Press Office: We can provide support and guide you on issues in real-time through our 24/7 virtual office, which is driven by the latest cutting-edge technology. This means we can provide round-the-clock assistance without the need to make the journey yourself to our physical offices.
Strategic Counsel and On-Site Crisis Management Support: If you want us to physically visit your office with sound PR advice on how to effectively manage crisis situations, we would be happy to offer this service and get you prepared for anything, as well as make strategic planning.
Out of Hours Crisis PR Service: News and stories that lead to crisis situations can appear at any time, day or night, and before you’re back in the office, the damage may have already been done. However, with us, you’ll have a team that is continuously alert to preventing any crisis issue in its tracks before it escalates.
Monitoring and Analysis: We’ll always help you monitor and analyse possible crisis issues as well as provide an estimate of their damage to your reputation.
Real-Time Crisis Tracking with Hourly/Daily/Weekly Reporting: Our real-time crisis tracking service provides you with data concerning possible crisis situations as they unfold, with no time limit.
Crisis Management Statements And Channel Management
Making the right statement across different channels is key to effectively managing a crisis and stopping further damage. This can be difficult as one message could easily make it across various online channels and spread the problem even further. However, with our service, you can get guidance in making the right statements to save your brand’s image effectively.
Media Relations
The media is one channel that the public relies on to get direct statements and inside stories concerning any company that’s in the spotlight for the wrong or right reasons. This is why it’s important that every organisation has a skilled media relations spokesperson who can engage in constructive relations with the media to turn the narrative around in the face of a crisis. At Prohibition, we can help handpick and train spokespersons in your organisation and let them know the best practices on how to navigate direct questions to share a positive spin on the situation.
Dark Sites
Dark websites, which are often known as ‘response sites’, are a crucial tool when your brand is in a negative situation that attracts a bad public response and affects a diverse group of stakeholders. These sites serve as a hub for preserving news releases, images and other media, as well as operational updates to support a brand’s crisis management. Dark websites are created in preparation for crisis situations, pre-populated with important messages and information, and are ‘concealed’ until they are needed. Prohibition develops these dark websites, as well as crisis microsites, to make brands crisis-ready.
Antagonist Auditing And Influencer Tracking
Through our antagonist auditing, you can have a full dossier on your competitors, the influence they have on your reputation in public, and their likelihood of launching a campaign that may hurt your reputation. We can also help you track influencers who have a strong following online among customers, stakeholders, and other key players in your industry.
Good News Campaigns
We can help you enhance your reputation by carrying out strategic news campaigns that focus on your success stories and the headways made by your brand. This will give the public a favourable impression of your organisation and help ease doubts that people may have. This strategy can also be applied in typical cases of crisis situations to combat the bad news going on through different channels including social and traditional media.
Reputation Threat Assessments
Brands and organisations are driven by decisions such as entering or exiting partnerships and markets, divesting an asset or launching new products. These decisions always come with certain strategic, financial, commercial, and reputational implications.
Brands and businesses are also faced with issues that develop externally of the organisation such as policy, social, performance, and ethical situations that emanate from within. At Prohibition, we provide in-depth reputation threat analysis for our clients as part of their issues management and decision-making process. Adopting our extensive knowledge and vast experience of how certain strategic undertakings will be perceived by stakeholders, how they will receive them, and the impact on the reputation of the firm, we provide a comprehensive assessment.
Other Communications And PR Services
Prohibition also carries out other PR services that can provide enhanced brand relevance and reputation, which will help our clients grow further and maintain their good name in public.
Litigation PR
If you somehow find yourself in a legal dispute, which is common, handling the communications process during this time is very important and can be challenging. Without the right plan and expert behind you, your narrative could easily spark ire among your stakeholders, clients and customers, leading to a reputational crisis.
This is why you need a proven team of professionals that can manage this communication process before, during, and after adjudicatory processing or any legal dispute. We can help you put things in your favour through expert public relations and communication that can encourage favourable or early settlements, protect your reputation at every step, and give the public a positive perception of your brand.
News House
We also engage in PR services relating to the media itself. While media organisations and outlets are responsible for sharing certain stories, a wrong news report or error in investigative journalism could lead to a series of troubling crisis situations that could tarnish the image of the news department. We also have a news department involved in spreading great information about our clients.
Video
The following media explains some of our processes and showcases some of our case studies and testimonials from clients who have been more than happy with our services. You can find valuable information that can further show you the need for a crisis and reputation management partner.
Resources
We employ the use of certain resources including:
Flowcharts
- Graphs and in-depth data on possible crisis situations
- Social media tracking tools
- Videos and tapes to help with media training
- And a host of others
- Free Issue Management Response Flowchart
We can provide you and your entire team with a useful flowchart that can point you in the right direction. With the nature of today’s quick-spreading information, arming your team with a visual reference is key to helping them effectively assess any given problem and manage issues that may arise online by responding in a specific and appropriate manner.
Our Latest Work
FAQ’s
How to balance timeliness and accuracy in your crisis response?
How to manage a live-streamed crisis?
How to define a crisis for your organisation?
How to spot a social media crisis?
What are the four phases of emergency management?
What is an emergency response plan?
What is the difference between an issue and a risk?
What is the purpose of a crisis management team?
What are the three phases of crisis management?
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