Blog Crisis Management: Use a Blog to Tell Your Story

It’s not always good PR to stay silent if your company or organization comes under attack on the Net.

As I’ve previously blogged, the Basset Hound Club of Great Britain could have used a weblog for crisis management after a BBC documentary lambasted breeders for creating monsters.

On Sunday the Telegraph ran an article featuring the Albany Bassets under the headline: “Top breeder says Kennel Club is in denial over ‘deformed’ dogs”. In the article Alison Jeffers, who runs the Albany, claims:

Bassets bred for shows like Crufts are so inbred that most are incapable of being working dogs even though they win prizes in that category

As a basset hound breeder myself I’m frustrated that the basset hound club in the UK again failed to meet Ms Jeffers’ claims.

With a weblog it can be as easy to update your website as sending an email so there’s no excuse really for the leading basset club in the UK to make their position clear –especially as many pet owners won’t necessarily be able to differentiate between the facts and spin that is currently being put out there on numerous websites and dog blogs.

I would have thought it shrewd of the basset club to offer their version of the story as to why Ms Jeffers was expelled from the Kennel Club.

Moreover, by engaging with readers on the web, the club could also illustrate how, say, here in Sweden basset hounds regularly win hunting trials against other breeds.

When bloggers and the national press making statements about you or your organization, engaging publicly in the debate via your own website, in a tone that is accessible and open, can be the best way of getting your version of the story out there for other people to make their mind about. 

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