No one expects a PR crisis, but it can strike at any moment. And in today’s always-on world of social media and communications, word of a crisis spreads quicker than ever. 

But as the saying goes, every crisis is an opportunity in disguise. 

With a carefully executed response, brands can emerge from a PR crisis with an enhanced reputation. 

So, what are the secrets to an effective crisis management plan? And how should PR professionals respond to a crisis?

What is crisis management?

Crisis management is the process of preparing for, responding to and recovering from an event that seriously threatens your organisation’s reputation.  

Crises are defined as being urgent and high impact, having the potential to spiral out of control if not dealt with promptly and thoughtfully. 

Here are some examples of crises in the making from different industries: 

• Product recalls 
• Industrial fires 
• Redundancies 
• Food contamination 
• Fatal accidents 

Whatever the event, a crisis can undo years of hard work developing a strong brand reputation in an instant.  

Crisis management guards against this by pre-empting the types of crises an organisation could be liable to and developing a crisis management plan that outlines how to respond should one arise. 

The role of reputation management in crisis response

While it’s true that a crisis can erase years of hard work building a reputation, having the connections that come with a good reputation will always aid in your response to the fallout.

If you have a loyal base of customers, together with a history of making the right decisions, the event will be much easier to explain as an anomaly rather than the result of a repeated pattern of mismanagement. 

Furthermore, through existing communications activity, you’re likely to have established channels and media contacts that can be used to respond quickly and reach the right people, helping you turn the narrative in your favour. 

This is why day-to-day reputation management is one of the best forms of preparation for a crisis. 

The importance of a crisis management plan

Along with general reputation management, a crisis management plan is key to mitigating the effects of a crisis. 

Research from PR News and Nasdaq indicates that nearly half of organisations operate without a crisis management plan, a statistic that shines a light on just how many companies are unprepared for a crisis. 

Without a structured plan in place, brands will take longer to react, with the response also less likely to reach the right people and convey key messages. 

An effective crisis management plan guards against this by outlining key responsibilities and stakeholders in the reaction to a crisis, ensuring everyone is on the same page and a response is issued in a timely and effective fashion.

What to include in a crisis management plan

From forming a crisis management team to media training and stakeholder mapping, there are a number of essential steps to forming an effective crisis management plan.

 

Crisis management team

The first step is to create a crisis management team, assigning roles for key tasks like responding to media, contacting stakeholders and drafting the crisis statement. 

Your crisis management team should include people with previous crisis communications experience and relevant legal expertise. 

When setting up your team, you should identify potential knowledge gaps and train team members where needed to ensure they feel confident with the roles they have been assigned. 

Media training

Arguably the most important role within your crisis management team will be your spokesperson, tasked with being the credible and authoritative face of your organisation in the event of a crisis. 

It’s vital that your designated spokesperson is comfortable dealing with media, and you should put them through media training if necessary. 

Media training will ensure your spokesperson delivers the correct message in a convincing manner, using the right language and avoiding potential interviewer traps.

Risk assessment

The crisis management plan should also make the necessary preparations for the types of crises that are likely to impact your organisation.  

For example, a retail business should have a clear framework for dealing with product defects or damaging customer reviews. 

For each type of crisis, you should prepare a generic response template that can be adapted to fit the to fit the circumstances of the incident when it arises.

Stakeholder mapping

The impact of a crisis may extend to partner organisations. It’s vital that stakeholders are kept informed on events and advised on the best steps for forming their own response. 

Here are some examples of stakeholders to keep in mind: 

• Investors 
• Suppliers 
• Clients 
• Consultants 
• Public authorities 
• Contractors 

Your crisis management plan should map out the stakeholders relevant to your organisation and provide guidance for transferring information, noting their preferred communication channels. 

Stakeholder mapping will help protect key relationships and increase the likelihood of stakeholder support in the event of a crisis.

How to handle a PR crisis in six steps

Even with a robust crisis management plan in place, you still need to act swiftly to minimise damage and restore trust in your organisation. Here are six essential steps for handling a PR crisis.

Monitor conversation

When crisis strikes, the first step is to investigate the origins and get the facts on what really happened. Some crises may be no more than hearsay. 

Social listening and media monitoring tools can be used to identify mentions of your organisation on social media and in the press. 

Some of these tools will automatically categorise mentions of your brands based on whether they’re positive or negative, which can help to focus your attention on the bad press. 

Given that many of today’s PR crises play out on social media, your social media team should work closely with the crisis management team to monitor the conversation surrounding the crisis as it develops.

Classify the risk

With all the information on the cause of the crisis at hand, you can classify the potential risk to your organisation and begin to prepare your response. 

Many organisations use a traffic light system to categorise the severity of the crisis, with green depicting a relatively low risk and red representing a major controversy attracting mainstream media coverage. 

Depending on the level of risk, you may need to contact stakeholders who are likely to be affected by the crisis or release a holding statement acknowledging the event while you prepare your full response.

Pick the distribution channel

The nature and severity of the crisis will also inform the communication channel with which you choose to respond.  

Here are some of the most common crisis communication channels: 

• Press releases 
• Press conferences 
• Media interviews 
• Social media statements 
• Employee briefings 
• Newsletters 

If the crisis is relatively low risk and stems from social media, you may be able to handle it by responding directly to users.  

For larger controversies being covered in the media, you’ll need to prepare a press release or hold a press conference.

Prepare your response

Once you’ve decided which distribution channels to use, it’s time to set about preparing your response.  

When writing a crisis statement, it’s vital that you are honest, direct and issue a clear apology if you are culpable. In most cases, you’ll want to speak about the event in broad terms, leaving out names and other identifying details where relevant. 

You should also explain the steps you are taking to resolve the issue and prevent such incidents from happening again in future. 

To ensure consistency in messaging, it’s often a good idea to share the crisis statement internally in case staff are questioned about the crisis. You may also want to hold an employee briefing to clarify the details of the event.

Continue to monitor the reaction

With your message out in the world, it’s important that you keep a close eye on social media and the press to see how your crisis communications have been received. 

In some cases, it may be necessary to provide updates on how the crisis has been handled or share new information that has come to light.

Evaluate the response

When the dust has settled and you can look at the situation objectively, it’s time to evaluate the performance of your crisis communications. 

Consider how well the crisis management team performed in line with their assigned roles. Does anyone need additional training? Could the team benefit from new members? 

By analysing performance, you can rectify weaknesses in your crisis management plan and be even more prepared for future incidents.

Need help with crisis management?

While you can never be fully prepared for a PR crisis, a solid crisis management plan goes a long way to developing an effective response. It can even help you transform a crisis into an opportunity for growth. 

How prepared are you for a crisis? If you need help crafting a crisis management plan or delivering killer crisis communications, we’re a Birmingham PR agency that can help. Get in touch today for an informal chat on how we can support your team.