CTI and the Dale Street fire: PR update

CTI was up and running, providing IT services, as normal on Tuesday.

The contingency planning and information back up ensured that relatively little time nor data was lost.

The PR had to convey this to clients and the industry in general.

The following actions were taken:

Clients actually called CTI to find out the situation from early on Monday. They were quickly reassured by Nick and his team. If this had not happened then the clients would have been contacted to reassure them and accurately describe how the fire has affected the projects they had being fulfilled. Luckily not much.

I advised that they also contact leads and past clients, which had had a relationship as in the latter case you cannot tell if they will re-engage or if they will pass on recommendations about CTI to new prospects. If they think CTI has been badly affected then this could lose opportunities.

A release went out Tuesday morning to all the major North West print and broadcast media outlets.

The Manchester Evening News interviewed Nick as did the South Manchester Reporter. Coverage in the Reporter should be available today. BBC Radio Manchester also set-up an interview, but unfortunately it clashed with the hour CTI was given to go into the premises and recover their equipment. It is still a possible.

There was a fair amount of ringing around and I am waiting to see if this effort comes to fruition.

The North West business monthlies will be contacted shortly. There are a few other opportunities I am working on as well but it is too early to say the results.

I used my blog, with the help of fellow bloggers linking in, to help push CTI's presence on the search engines in relation to the fire. Any search with "dale street fire cti" will bring them up and so will more general searches. Anyone that goes directly to CTI's website, from a search or by going directly to the website will find a statement saying they are in full operation.

The important thing is that any journalist who uses the Internet to find interviewees might come across CTI's story because of the blogging activity.

There is also a wealth of opportunities to talk about disaster recovery and with the case study being CTI themselves there could be some brilliant opportunities to talk about the subject in the next few months.