What incident or event would cause the most damage to your business if it happened right now?  Quick, think about it.  Now, if that crisis happened today, what would you say to multiple news organization covering it?  Far fetched?  No way.  Just ask Agriprocessors Kosher Meat Packing in Postville, Iowa.
 
In May their meat packing plant was raided by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and 400 of their employees were arrested in one of the largest single-site immigration raids in U.S. history. That was bad, but it gets worse.   A number of activist groups began a negative PR campaign about the company including claims that the meat they were producing was not kosher.  That's a big deal to their customers, who ultimately say whether that business exists or not. 
 
The ensuing media coverage was a disaster for the company and their reputation, and there's no end in sight.  The Virginian-Pilot's Sept. 10, 2008 issue reported that the owner and managers of the plant are also being charged with 9,000 misdemeanors alleging they hired minors and had children handling dangerous equipment such as circular saws, meat grinders, and power shears.
 
You really can't make this stuff up.  Yet many businesses are sitting on similar powder kegs in one form or another.
 
Agriprocessors responded by firing their CEO, hiring an expensive compliance officer, and finding a high-priced public relations agency from New York City.  Then they began trying to rebuild their credibility. 
 
Their marketing included a nationwide advertising campaign, media access to their facility, and tours of their plant and the community they reside in by a group of 25 prominent Rabbis.  The Rabbis had unfettered access to the plant, spoke with Agriprocessors' employees, and met with community leaders. 
 
The media and Rabbis found a clean plant that was packaging quality Kosher products, contented employees, and a community that loves the company.
 
So why is their business on the brink of becoming number two, or three, or worse? Competitors are just waiting in the wings for the eventual miscue and an ever-so-slight opening.
 
It's the same old song and dance:
- CEOs and "their" people run the business without thinking about the impact of all their actions.
 
- These leaders make mistakes they should have discovered and corrected on their own.
 
- They get exposed and then spend a bunch of money buying a slick advertising campaign and impressive words to gain back credibility.
 
Sometimes it works, but why let things get to that point, especially when the company is pretty much doing the right things in the first place.  Good PR looks like this:
 
- Let it be clear that actions speak louder than words.  A proactive public relations strategy involves saying things that the company really stands for.  A company's public relations strategy should reflect all of the values that leadership holds dear. 
 
- A good public relations consultant can sniff out the BS and feed back to senior leadership that the messages he/she wants to use are not reflected in the reality of the company.  When a company learns this reality, they can change directions and adjust their actions to the words they want to say.
 
- Be prepared for a crisis.  Every company should have an idea of the five worst things that can happen to them.  A PR response plan should be developed around these crisis situations and they should be practiced enough times to know you'll get it right when THE day arrives.
 
- Get ahead of the bow wave of publicity.  Don't wait for some hidden adversary to fill the void.  The issue for Agriprocessors was illegal immigrant labor, not the quality of their product or kosher status.  Why allow activists to use your company to further their cause.
 
- Every business regardless of size should have consistent access to professional public relations consultants.  This alleviates all the mistakes that inherently come from living in the industry and company bubble, and losing sensitivity to the outside world, which is ultimately the world you need to succeed. 
 
- To operate a business without the strategic insights of a public relations expert is asking for trouble.  Not only are you unprepared for a disaster, you're missing things that could have avoided the crisis in the first place.
 
Don't read the newspaper and say, "I'm glad that's not me."  Odds are, it will be some day.  It's Murphy's Law and no one is immune to it.  If that day is tomorrow, will you be ahead of the curve, or suffer a major, expensive setback?