Planned Parenthood: External Communication

External Communications
The importance of external communications cannot be measured when it comes to crisis communications. Currently many forms of media is used by companies to communicate with the public, some of the most common ones are Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and the most widely used television and radio.
In the case of Susan G. Komen’s fallout when they informed Planned Parenthood (PP) that they will be defunding their organization, the actions that were taken prior to the announcement could have avoided what later became a media fiasco that almost destroyed the organization. These guidelines will focus on after the fact, on what needs to be done but it is also important to highlight preventive measures that can be taken in the future

Firstly, in term of audience, SGK being a non-profit organization had to deal with the public, supporters, member of the organization and corporate sponsors. There is definitely a lot more at stake when it comes to crisis communication as it could mean the end of SGK if the situation was handled poorly. In addition, SGK’s situation did not start from a message they disseminated but it came from a response that was made by Planned Parenthood. In the first quarter of their 30th year, the board of directors decided that they were going to defund Planned Parenthood due to a consensus from some members and supporters that was pro-life that supporting the organization went against the very core of what SGK stood for. Thus to show their support for pro-life followers, SGK made changes to their guidelines for organization that they continue to fund. Plan Parenthood being a pro-choice organization took the decision as a political move because the current chairperson was running for governorship based on a pro-life

This of course did not help their cause, the best measure they could have taken would have been admitting fault and how there has been a pressure from various groups within their ranks to abide by the new policy. A swift action in reinstating PP on their funding list would have create less media attention and would have cause less damage to SGK image in the public’s eye.
Television and Radio
During the period of the crisis, most of the communication from the organization was done by representative instead of the Chair of SGK. The problem should have been addressed personally by Nancy Brinker herself, which would have been personal and better for the situation. The prerecorded message recorded was impersonal and ineffective. SGK chair should have called a press conference, announcing their decision to retract their decision and apologizes for their actions, and while doing so allowed any question to be ask to increase trust and transparency in the situation.
Facebook,Twitter and