In today’s ultra-connected world, news travels faster than ever. Major incidents, minor mishaps or misunderstandings all have the potential to escalate rapidly – potentially damaging a business’ reputation and eroding trust. This makes a comprehensive crisis communications strategy more critical than ever.
Developing a plan
When a business’ reputation is on the line, a clear pre-agreed plan is vital. Companies should take time to identify potential risks (i.e. where might issues or negative comment arise) and define how each situation should be handled, as well as outlining responsibilities of relevant team members.
Preparing a bank of comment templates can also be useful if there are specific risks identified. These key messages can ease approval processes which is critical if journalists are requesting information to deadlines.
Hopefully, you will already have a well-maintained list of media contacts. If not, create one. This will be important if you need to proactively communicate about the incident. Similarly, key stakeholders and how to contact them should be included in the plan.
Get ahead of the news
Having a view of potential problems to tackle them before they escalate can be a game-changer in crisis comms. There are several monitoring and social listening tools available to support this, such as Meltwater, Muck Ruck and Cision. These can be costly, but any good PR agency will have one and monitor for news on your behalf.
Responding quickly to any problems is also key, especially on social media platforms where any response is subject to immediate public scrutiny. Ensuring all senior leaders and spokespeople are media trained can help with this, equipping them to deal with tough questions and keep their composure under pressure.
Don’t forget your Internal Comms
Just like your customers, employees will be able to see any crisis unfold in real-time on the news and in social media so everyone in your team should know what is expected of them when the company is handling the fallout. Keep them informed with clear and consistent messaging and make sure they know the process for sharing/responding to any questions or requests for comments from the media and/or customers.
Learn the lessons
As much as it pays to be prepared, every crisis is likely to be different and it is important to take time to review and evaluate once the incident has been resolved. Honestly assess how the situation was handled and make any necessary improvements to the crisis communications plans. Once the problem has been addressed, it is also worth considering proactive PR to rebuild trust and demonstrate commitment to ensuring the issue won’t occur again.
Unsure where to start with building out a crisis communications plan? Get in touch to find out how we can help.