Welcome to part one of our content series on crisis communications. Over the next few weeks, we’ll deep dive into all things crisis comms from why your business needs a crisis communications plan, to what goes in it and what you should expect from your PR agency when things start hitting the fan so to speak. We’ll even provide a critical analysis of some of the most memorable PR disasters from the last decade and let me tell you, there’s been some very questionable decision making! But for now, let’s start at the beginning with the role of a crisis communications plan …
Sometimes bad things happen to good people.
While the hope is that you’re never going to need a crisis communications plan, sometimes life throws you curveballs and you will be thanking the universe you had a strategy in place. Acting at a time of crisis within your business can be chaotic, filled with anxiety and may feel like you are walking on eggshells. Thinking clearly and rational decision making goes out the window and that is exactly when it’s time to pull out your crisis communications plan and lean on the professionals.
Different types of crises can occur within your business, one being a smouldering crisis such as embezzlement or mismanagement which can rapidly evolve into a larger crisis. Another is a sudden crisis which may include a product recall or natural disasters. Sometimes it might be something as seemingly insignificant as a comment on social media that escalates and builds momentum.
All businesses, large or small can face a crisis threat, even a worldwide chain like KFC experienced this when they ran out of chicken in the UK1. The public looks at how the business responds to the issue and how
they fix it, in the case of KFC ironically running out of chicken, they issued a clever public apology straight away, getting ahead of the crisis, owning the issue and leaving a lasting memory for all.
Why do you need a plan?
· To help your business act in a timely manner with your crisis comms plan being activated as soon as the issue arises
· To support your team in communicating effectively, both internally and externally, by following clear and concise steps
· To be the voice of reason, your plan will give you rational and reasonable prompts and messaging to lean on when in a state of crisis
At this stage, you may be wondering why you even need a PR agency, if you have the capability to create a crisis comms plan yourself... While it’s great to have a plan in place, it’s even better to be able to hand the reins over to the professionals when it comes to dealing with media enquiries, briefing spokespeople, and drafting up-to-date messaging and statements. During a crisis, anything your business does and says will be up for scrutiny. A PR agency can step in and take charge in a crisis, providing advice, experience, and support – all the while, maintaining a level head and impartial perspective on the situation.
What will your crisis communications plan include?
If you’re ready to start drafting up your crisis communications plan, here’s a few key elements to include.
Crisis Team: clearly identify who makes up the organisations’ crisis management team responsible for implementing the plan, this should include senior leaders, PR professionals, legal counsel and subject matter experts.
Risk Assessment and Identification: conduct a risk assessment and identify potential issues and scenarios that could impact the organisation, start as small as trolling on social media all the way up to the death of an employee or customer.
Response Strategies: define your communication objectives and start developing response strategies based on potential risks, ensure your messaging aligns to your values and brand identity. Create templates that can be readily utilised by the crisis team to communicate information to both internal and external stakeholders.
Audience Analysis: identify the audiences you would be communicating to in a crisis event.
Spokespeople: establish the individuals responsible for delivering key messages or speaking to media ensuring they convey information with empathy, compassion and clarity.
Crisis Response Flowchart: flowcharts prove their effectiveness by offering a simpler approach to absorbing information, serving as a practical reference point, especially in the critical moments of a crisis when time is of the essence. Develop a flowchart to serve as a visual representation of the processes that unfold within your crisis response plan.
Timeline: establish a well-defined timeline that provides a detailed schedule for the delivery of strategies and key messaging, including when stakeholders will be communicated with, if at all.
If you think the above sounds like something you’d rather outsource, we’d love to hear from you. Our team are highly skilled at not only jumping into action in a crisis but also planning ahead and developing thorough crisis communications plans to keep in your metaphorical back pocket. Shoot us an email if you’d like some support with your crisis comms and don’t miss part two of our series where we will be diving into exactly what you should expect from your PR agency in a crisis.