In today’s fast-paced and interconnected world, the way a company handles a crisis can have a big impact on its reputation and long-term success. Crisis management and optics are both critical components when it comes to navigating turbulent waters and should be managed by business owners, corporate executives, PR professionals, and crisis communication specialists. Major stakeholders, the public, and the media all form opinions quickly and can be harsh judges of how the situation is handled.
All the same, a crisis can and will happen–often when you least expect it. A crisis management plan gives you the option to handle the situation transparently according to research and proven techniques to mitigate the impact of your PR disaster.
The First 24 Hours: How to Respond Quickly and Effectively
When crisis strikes, how you respond matters, but when you respond is really crucial. If you do not have a crisis management plan carefully figured out, or if the situation simply does not apply to anything you could ever think of, then a good place to start is by listing your brand’s priorities. That way, you know definitively what approaches to take based on priorities that have been agreed upon by everyone involved.
The people who are involved should be chosen carefully–ideally long before crisis strikes. They should be cool-headed in an emergency and able to work together. After your crack team has decided on the top priorities, the next step is to mitigate further damage or ‘stop the bleeding.’
Bad information often spreads fast, so it’s important to set the record straight right from the start; the message should be agreed upon by all as something that will allay your customer’s concerns–the press can come later.
Leveraging Social Media and Press Relations
Press relations are a tricky business; they can work to your advantage or backfire. While social media is by no means certain, you are in control of what you want to say, and the customers and press can take your statements in full from social media without the opportunity for interjection or misrepresentation.
Certain members of your crisis response team will be specially trained to handle the press; those with qualifications like a Masters of Communication are ideal intermediaries who can manage expectations and project strength and security at the same time.
Prevention Strategies: How to Safeguard Your Business Against Future PR Disasters
We have brushed over the crisis management plan (CMP), prepared messaging and continuous monitoring until now; that’s because you may need to know what to do right this second about a very real crisis. If that isn’t the case, you have the luxury of time on your hands and can follow some key steps to plan for the worst:
Crisis Management Plan
A good CMP, according to the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD), should set up clear ways to respond, communicate, make decisions, and bounce back. The overall goal: keep the damage to a minimum, whether that’s to operations, reputation, or the people involved.
It starts by figuring out what could go wrong through risk analysis, then adjusts strategies to fit the company’s industry and unique setup. By spelling out who’s in charge, how to stay in touch, and what steps to take to recover, a CMP gets everyone on the same page so the business can tackle a crisis head-on and keep things running smoothly.
Resilience Through Messaging
By preparing messaging ahead of time, you can respond quickly and honestly and keep the messaging consistent. That’s not to say you need an exact script for every possible scenario, but a set of guidelines that the PR team, key communicators and managing board all agree on helps.
Vigilance and Monitoring
The algorithm-heavy world we live in has plenty of advantages for PR teams. You can now track things like the number of mentions your brand gets on social media, how positive they are, and what key sentiments customers and consumers are feeling. Constant vigilance means that when a negative story or a plain lie begins, you get the chance to respond quickly.
Strong Teams, Strong Training
It is the people who make the difference; no company is one person, and a strong crisis team can weather any storm. You could undertake regular scenario planning with the team and brainstorm what to do in situations like product recalls, data breaches, or executive scandals. That way, everyone is involved and has a chance to be heard, so when the real crisis strikes, they know what to do and care about because they were part of creating the plan in the first place.
Post-crisis Evaluations
A good crisis plan can only be improved, and what better way to improve than by evaluating what went wrong and how it was responded to. After the dust has settled, get your team together to go over what went well and what didn’t to figure out where the gaps are.
Take into account the opinions of all parties involved, like staff members, clients, and the media. Keep a record of the lessons you have learned and revise your crisis management strategy as necessary. In addition to enhancing your response tactics, this reflective practice increases resilience, making your company more equipped to handle obstacles in the future. Sustaining your reputation and preserving trust requires constant improvement.
Learning to Grow
As they say, ‘It’s only a mistake if you don’t learn from it,’ and every crisis is an opportunity for growth. Fingers crossed, your crisis response went well, chaos was avoided, and damage was mitigated; if not, well, there is plenty of room to improve and hopefully avoid the storm next time.
Ultimately, good crisis management is as much a matter of response as it is about continuous learning and improvement. With the implementation of a solid crisis management plan, the strategic leverage of social media, and thorough post-crisis reviews, your business can weather PR disasters with transparency and resilience. Keep in mind that all crises are chances to make your strategies more robust and your reputation more robust. Be vigilant, have a highly skilled workforce, and be prepared to adapt at all times. With these practices in place, your company can weather any storm to emerge stronger than ever.