| Some companies think that they’re immune from being caught up in a crisis. These same organisations then find themselves in over their heads when a media shitstorm hits – be it due to a simple word jumble during a public appearance or a damaging post from an ex-employee. Rather than taking accountability and communicating transparently, they just bury themselves deeper into the sand. |
To keep your company from falling into this PR trap, this blog post will teach you everything you need to know before you can get started with your crisis communication strategy. Let’s start with what crisis communication is.
Crisis communication refers to the communication that companies put out during critical incidents. Information is shared in real time and as the emergency unfolds to keep audiences informed and stakeholders reassured. All this is done to protect the brand’s reputation and keep operations from coming to a halt.
However, crisis comms isn’t just about the actual communication part. It also involves all of the behind the scenes activities that PR and corporate communication teams do to protect their company’s reputation.
Don’t gamble with your credibility. In a crisis, one sure way of receiving negative publicity is by saying one thing one moment and another the next. To avoid spreading contradictory information, PR and corporate comms teams need to decide on their tone of voice well in advance and keep all stakeholders in the loop. That way, when asked to comment, everyone is in agreement about what the company narrative is.
Never delegate tasks when shit has already hit the fan. Instead, build your ideal crisis response team before it's too late. Then, make sure that everyone, both those in the spotlight and behind the scenes, have received proper media training and know exactly what to do. Doing the prep today will pay off when you ace your crisis response tomorrow.
A good crisis communication software strategy is about more than just an initial holding statement that acknowledges the situation. Instead, you need to figure out the truth of what’s going on – and quickly. Without the facts, you can’t rectify the situation or begin to undo the damage to your reputation.
Before a crisis is even on the horizon, you need to map out your key stakeholders and identify their unique communication needs. For example, the way you communicate with the media may (and should!) be very different from the tone of voice you use to address the families of your employees. If you’ve already done your homework in advance, you can keep all of your stakeholders informed and reassured until you’re in the clear.
When you’re standing in the negative spotlight, you’re bound to receive more messages in your inbox than you usually do. That’s why your crisis communication strategy should outline a plan to stay on top of that influx of media inquiries. That way, you can always stay in control and stop an unfavourable story in its tracks before your reputation takes a significant hit.
| Resource Alert Enrol in our media inquiries email course to learn how to stay on top of your inbox efficiently and collaboratively. |
Confusion leads to mixed messages and rumours. To avoid this, companies need to remember to also inform their own employees and keep them updated on what is going on. In case a member of the press then reaches out, everyone will know exactly what to say and in which tone.
While even the smallest mistake can plunge a company into unwanted spotlight, some crisis scenarios are more common than others. Here are several examples that companies should expect to face.
| Example 1: Crowdstrike IT outage The Crowdstrike outage, which affected over 8.5 million devices, caused chaos and frustration across various industries. Particularly airlines and their passengers suffered the repercussions. Over 5,000 flights were cancelled or delayed. This incident – considered to be the largest IT outage in history – cost $1 billion to rectify. It also showed businesses the importance of keeping their crisis communication separate from the tool that is used for daily operations. If that program is down, there’s no way to keep your audience informed and minimize the consequences for your reputation. Read more: Dodging Disaster: Why you need a dedicated crisis comms tool |
| Example 2: Wells Fargo After Wells Fargo found it hard to reach sales targets, two former executives created two million fake bank accounts. Money from actual customer accounts was transferred into fraudulent accounts, giving the impression that new ones were opened. These customers were then required to pay overdrawn fees due to insufficient funds in their accounts. Once the scandal came to light, the two executives were required to use their bonuses to pay back $75 million, and over 5,000 other employees were fired due to their involvement. |
| Example 3: Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7 Samsung found itself having to recall its Galaxy Note 7 phone line after some of the phones caught on fire. Within the first two months of its August 2016 launch, there were 96 reports of overheating batteries and fires, despite the phone being one of the priciest on the market at the time. |
It can seem like the easiest option to believe that you’ll never find yourself having to smooth over a crisis situation. However, the reality is that all companies will face an unforeseen emergency eventually.
In fact, 69% of business leaders were caught up in at least one crisis in five years, averaging three during that time frame. Cyberattacks accounted for 28%, technology failures for 22%, workplace violence for 19% and health-related incidents for 16%. Meanwhile, businesses who have a negative article written about them can expect this to impact their reputation three times as much compared to positive press.
Picture this: You’ve been forced to recall your newest line of products, due to a critical manufacturing error. As a result, your first order of business is to keep your company out of the news, your investors in your good books and to prove to your customers why they should continue to buy your products in the future – despite this little mishap. Rather than trying to improvise on the spot, you turn to your crisis communication plan that has a clear set of instructions for how to cope with this very situation. It reminds you to tell your audience what you know and to do it quickly. This will help minimize the damage to your reputation and paint your company as honest and accountable.
Your crisis communication plan is the ultimate secret weapon of your crisis communication strategy. It’s your blueprint for any crisis situation, which will help you make important decisions in the heat of the moment. Rather than scrambling and delegating tasks blindly left and right, it outlines exactly who should be doing what and which crisis scenarios to consider. Only by creating your crisis communication plan now can you protect your brand’s image tomorrow. Fortunately, there’s nothing stopping you from getting started today.
Companies that know exactly what crisis communication is – and handle it well – all have a couple of things in common: transparency, preparedness, swiftness, understanding and technology. Here are a couple of tips to keep in mind when coming up with your own crisis communication strategy.
When you’re on the crisis timeline, minutes are worth everything. Your first to-do should be to get the information out there – and quickly. The ‘15-30-60-90’ rule is widely accepted as the general benchmark. You should acknowledge the crisis within the first 15 minutes, confirm the details within the first 30, share detailed information within the first 60 and be ready for your first press conference within the first 90. Can your team handle this timeline?
A crisis situation is not the time for making excuses. Tell your audience exactly what you know and reassure them that you’re not only handling the situation, but also taking accountability for what has happened. And don’t forget to do so empathetically by acknowledging the effect that this may have on all of your stakeholders.
There’s hardly a place where the truth can blur quicker than on social media. If you don’t communicate the facts clearly, people can start to speculate and negative publicity can quickly spiral out of control.
When speaking about the crisis – be it via internal emails, social media platforms, press conferences or during interviews with journalists – make sure to communicate in a way that is easy to understand. The best way to set yourself up for success is by preparing a holding statement in advance in the appropriate tone of voice.
Giving your organization a face during a crisis is a valuable way of ensuring credibility. Select a single spokesperson in advance, make sure that they receive the necessary media training and make them responsible for communicating with your stakeholders during a crisis. This prevents mixed messages and slight nuances in your story that could raise unwanted questions.
Just because you’ve gotten your initial crisis messaging out there, doesn’t mean that your work is done. Monitor how the public is reacting to your crisis communication strategy on social media and make sure to respond to this feedback. This will not only send the message that you’re holding yourself accountable, but also give you the chance to address rumors, correct misinformation or provide additional information when needed.
Managing your crisis communication strategy manually is possible, but it’s by no means the best way. Out of the organisations that used SaaS solutions for their crisis management, 78.2% were able to activate their emergency communication plan within 30 minutes compared to 58.6% of companies using on-premise solutions.
When you’re in crisis mode, having a designated crisis communication tool like Presspage can help you save valuable time and keep a cool head in the heat of the moment. At the same time, you should never let your crisis tool collect dust during business-as-usual. Instead, choose a solution that can do both – crisis communication and your daily PR strategy and workload. That way, when a crisis does hit, you can scale your operations and processes without having to learn how to do your work differently.
Make sure that whatever crisis software you choose has at least these features to keep you prepared:
Ready to get started and see Presspage’s PR software in action? Book a free demo today.
Hoping for the best but preparing for the worst – that should be the motto of all PR teams when it comes to crisis scenarios. In other words, you should expect to be faced with a crisis in the near future, but hope that you aren’t.
In the meantime, it’s important to get your crisis prep underway to ensure that – should you be stuck in the middle of an unforeseen emergency – you’re on track to protecting your reputation and rectifying any damage to your business operations.
Not sure how prepared you are? Complete our crisis communication scan to identify any room for improvement and receive tailored resources to help you fill in the blanks.