5 Best Practices for Your Crisis Communications Plan
/Let’s face it, all organizations – no matter how big or small – will face a major issue at some point. Especially in today’s connected world where information (or misinformation) spreads like wildfire, a crisis can be lurking just around the corner, causing unprepared organizations to potentially suffer major financial, operational and reputational losses.
Crisis communication is a vital function of public relations and below are 5 best practices to consider that can help you anticipate, mitigate and respond to PR disasters and critical events.
1. Be prepared
While some crises – such as a cyber-attack or natural disaster – can happen at any time and without prior warning, seeking advice early and planning ahead (where possible) can help you navigate these challenges and minimize damage.
Assign and clearly define roles and responsibilities. Make sure that your crisis management team (and internal social, customer service and legal teams) have a clear set of roles and responsibilities.
Develop supporting materials such as Q&As, blog post/website messages, social media statements to ensure consistency for outbound communication. Materials should be reviewed and finalized by the legal team before distributing on any platform.
Hold media training sessions for your spokespeople to brush up on best practices when interacting with the press and to help prepare for difficult questions.
2. Determine when to be proactive or reactive
Some believe that the mantra of all crisis communications is to “tell it all, tell it early and to tell it yourself.” However, not all situations require a proactive response.
Don’t let your emotions run high. Reacting to the heat of the moment can burn you down the line. Proactively addressing a situation can add fuel to the fire, stirring up overall interest and coverage in negative ways.
This does not mean that you should completely ignore the problem and hope that it goes away. It is important to find out all the information you can and assess the situation to determine the best approach.
3. The 3 C’s: Concern, control and commitment
Whether communicating internally or externally, let people know you are concerned about the situation and the people affected.
Express concern and compassion in your communications. Issues are seldom just about the company, there’s likely to be a human impact and it’s important to acknowledge that.
Show how your company is in control and doing everything possible to address the problem.
Demonstrate your commitment to resolving the issue and how you plan to prevent it from happening again.
4. Listen to what people are saying
Crisis communications isn’t only about sharing information, it’s also about listening to what’s being said, by whom and where they’re saying it. It’s also important to be aware of what isn’t being said.
Monitor news/social/internal customer support requests daily for potential spikes in discussions.
Conduct frequent reports and analysis of the discussions.
Use the insight to determine your strategy and communications moving forward.
