Media training for retailers – what makes a media story and why certain incidents and events don’t generate coverage
Our expertise in issue management and crisis communications for retailers means that we’ve been watching with interest the story of Waitrose’s decision to dismiss a long-serving employee for challenging a shoplifter. The company has been criticised and now Iceland has even offered Walker Smith, who had been with Waitrose for 17 years, a job.
Waitrose has been clear about the logic behind its decision. “We’ve had incidents where our partners have been hospitalised when challenging shoplifters,” the chain has explained in a statement. “Luckily, they have always recovered, but that might not always be the case. There is a serious danger to life in tackling shoplifters. We refuse to put anyone’s life at risk and that’s why we have policies in place that are very clearly understood and must be strictly followed.”
In our media training for retailers, we look at what makes a media story and why certain incidents and events generate coverage in social and conventional media while others don’t. We explore the media’s love of trends and topicality. The recent debate over shoplifting with Marks & Spencer calling for more to be done to tackle the problem means that any story on this subject is bound to be more newsworthy at the moment.
‘Newsjacking’
We also look at “newsjacking” in our media training workshops for retailers. With comments from politicians and LBC presenter Iain Dale among others on Mr Smith’s sacking, this is an interesting example of how a media story can develop.
Retailers frequently have to make difficult decisions and they’re easily subject to crises. We’re experiencing a growing demand from retail groups of all sizes and in all sectors for our issue management and message development and testing workshops. Whether it’s shrinkflation, gender neutral toilets, store closures, supply chain integrity, allegations of sexism and bullying or issues relating to sustainability, more and more retailers are coming to us for help with how to manage difficult issues with the media.
Based on our experience of providing crisis communications training for retailers, here are five tips for retailers handling a crisis.
1. Act quickly
When we first began to provide crisis communications training for retailer businesses, we’d refer to the “golden hour”. This was the brief time, following an incident, where an organisation could take control of the issue. If they failed to act during this period, events would overtake them, with the organisation’s communications team and public relations consultancy finding themselves running to catch up.
Today, with the advent of 24-hour, rolling news and, more recently, the power of social media that “golden hour” lasts just a few moments. Smart retailers come to us for crisis communications training so they can prepare for a crisis before it erupts. We create template statements that teams can update for specific incidents, and we prepare and train spokespeople to handle the media.
2. Make it clear that you’re taking action
The media will demand to know what you’re doing to manage the situation and minimise the impact on your customers. In our crisis communications training courses for retailers, we look at the importance of language. For example, one organisation said in a statement: “It has been brought to our attention that…”. Obviously, this is quite reasonable and is probably true. However, it sounds passive, as if the leadership has been just waiting for things to happen.
You need to demonstrate that you are on the front foot, take action, and maintain control of the situation from the moment you suspect an incident – even before a crisis erupts. In our crisis communications courses for retailers, we advise them to refer in statements and media interviews to carrying out an investigation. This shows that you’re doing something and it provides a great get-out-of-jail-free-card. If someone presses you on an issue or asks you to speculate, you can explain that you need to wait for the investigation to report.
Other examples you might include could be about how you’re providing support to staff or to customers who are concerned about their orders or the safety of their financial details.
3. Express sympathy and concern
During our crisis communications training courses for retailers, we emphasise the importance of expressing care and concern for customers and, in the case of the Waitrose shoplifting incident, employees or partners. You could also include suppliers here. Finding the right words is important. There are so many cliches to avoid here and so identifying words and phrases that sound authentic and relevant to the brand – and the individual spokespeople – is essential.
4. Coordinate your message across all channels
Once you’ve written and approved your statement you need to communicate it across all channels. This means putting out a press release, making your statement prominent on your corporate website and distributing it through your social media channels. It also involves ensuring that managers and staff in all your branches are aware of the situation and know what you’re saying about it in case customers ask them.
As we explain in our crisis media training for retailers, it’s also important to check what other messages you’re putting out. For instance, if you’re a retailer with a store card or financial services arm, you need to be careful about promoting this if, at the same time, there are allegations about a data breach involving customers’ financial details.
5. Monitor coverage
Sometimes, during our crisis training courses for retailers we’ll set up a newsroom. Here, our experienced media trainer journalists will bombard the retailer’s comms team with enquiries – just as they would in real life but obviously operating under NDAs. They’ll then write media stories, based on the answers that they get to their questions, and share these reports with the media team so that they can see how their comments and reactions would translate into coverage.
We’ll also create social media posts (again within this safe, confidential space) from imaginary members of the public and experts. The challenge for the comms team is to identify which of these reports in both conventional and social media they need to respond to and perhaps challenge or correct, and which they should let go to avoid creating a Twitter storm.
“I’ve worked in corporate comms for over 10 years, but I’ve never been through something like that,” one participant on one of our crisis communications training courses for retailers told us. “Being put under pressure and realising that anything you say can be quoted and attributed to you was terrifying. But I’m so glad that I could do it in a safe space and get such helpful feedback and advice. Along with all of my colleagues I feel much better prepared to deal with a crisis now.”
Waitrose has handled this incident well and will obviously recover from the negative publicity. But the risks for retailers are substantial and growing.
Crisis communications training
We create each of our crisis communications training courses for retailers from scratch to meet the company’s exact needs. As a niche agency we are agile and cost effective. Come and talk to us about crisis communications training for retailers and how we can help you. You can follow us on LinkedIn here.
