When to Engage

First of the five W's from the Rules of Engagement of On-Line Media

When will you engage? Here there is a reasonably clear rule of thumb: as soon as humanly possible. There may be legal obstacles to overcome, but consider that lawyers often do not consider the public relations impact of their advice. Rapid response means that a monitoring system is in place. If you wait until the problem has reached the point the media or an admistrator is bringing it to the media relations office, the high likelihood is the Golden Hour is missed and the public opinion is already formed.