Public Relations And Crisis Management

Have a plan—even if everything goes haywire.
No one wants to believe something horrible will affect their organization. But life throws curveballs, so why not be prepared? This is why a plan is crucial. Who should be apart of the crisis team? Who calls and wakes them up in the middle of the night? Who speaks to the media? What’s the chain of command? How will social media affect your plan? The answers of these questions will prepare you when the “impossible situation” strikes.

The first hour after a crisis is perhaps the most important. As we’ve seen many times before, the first hour following a crisis usually contains little bits and pieces of the whole story—and these fragments can severely harm an organization.

Focus on the most immediate issue. What exactly happened? Gather all the facts available, contact your trusted news sources on the ground and find out what’s going on. Know when the crisis began, where it happened and other pertinent details.

Who’s going to talk to the media? Refer to your plan! When a crisis occurs, there’s no time to gather and assign roles. Make sure your plan includes who is allowed to speak about the crisis and note which channels are acceptable.

To comment, or not to comment? Time is of the essence. Reporters will flood the phone lines within the first hour asking for a reaction. When nothing is prepared, valuable time is lost. Prepare statements for the media and make decisions quickly—the longer an organization takes to respond, the more time the media has to feed off of your ‘no comment’ (remember Malaysia Airlines delayed response after their plane disappeared?).

Get someone on site. For national brands this should be easy. Have a spokesperson in each region, equipped with the ability to respond to a crisis. They’re the individual who can gather information for corporate and also speak with the media.

Be social. Nowadays, social media is often the place where a crisis breaks. Make sure your social media team is prepared to monitor all trending keywords and respond to negative comments.

The public relations team should be prepared to handle a crisis, should one arise. Of course, no one wants to think something horrible could happen today, tomorrow or next month. But as we’ve seen, and we’ll continue to see, the unexpected happens more often than not and it’s up to you to be prepared.