Although, public relations or PR is a minor part of a business’ strategy, it doesn’t make it insignificant. As a business you can’t expect to not get into unintentional trouble. And therefore, one must deal with negative newsflashes and event problems. To think that your business is crisis-safe is being ignorant and ignorance will affect your relationships with your stakeholders.
Today, especially with public and consumers expecting brands to be transparent, businesses need to own up to the human factor in them. Scandals, negative incidents happen. But what’s more important is how do you deal with it.
But are all problems PR crisis? No. A PR crisis is when the negative about your business outweighs the positive news about it. It can be an internal business issue, or a consumer issue or even a CXO-level issue. How a business deals with a crisis is imperative because at the time all eyes are on you. And it is most certainly going to paint a picture about your brand into your consumers’ heads.
But are all problems PR crisis? No. A PR crisis is when the negative about your business outweighs the positive news about it. It can be an internal business issue, or a consumer issue or even a CXO-level issue. How a business deals with a crisis is imperative because at the time all eyes are on you. And it is most certainly going to paint a picture about your brand into your consumers’ heads.
As a business, no expects you to control a crisis, that’s impossible. But as stakeholders, we do expect you to put in right practices and tactics to alleviate the harm a crisis may cause. Because as clients, as customers, as partners, as stakeholders: we want to be associated with brands which we trust and are proud of.
So, how do businesses or PR agencies or crisis management consultants deal with a crisis?
1. To start off, a brand or agency must have a crisis response team in place.
And this is even before your brand hits a crisis. A crisis response team makes sure that right POCs are talking to the media, right spokespeople are representing your brand. They also train people on how to dodge questions that are thrown to them.
A crisis team helps a business to react fast and in a right way with a cohesive communication put across on behalf of the business.
So, how do businesses or PR agencies or crisis management consultants deal with a crisis?
1. To start off, a brand or agency must have a crisis response team in place.
And this is even before your brand hits a crisis. A crisis response team makes sure that right POCs are talking to the media, right spokespeople are representing your brand. They also train people on how to dodge questions that are thrown to them.
A crisis team helps a business to react fast and in a right way with a cohesive communication put across on behalf of the business.
2. Know when to be proactive and when to be reactive.
This is extremely crucial. The crisis management consultants or teams should understand clearly what and how much their contribution should be to mitigate the damage. And more importantly, when dealing with media, should they be proactive or reactive?
And whatever the approach is, all stakeholders must be on the same page. Because media spares no one and you get one shot to get the stain off your name.
3. Clear communication with facts-backed message.
When talking to the public, a business should be certain of two things: first, always talk about facts and second, all stakeholders should talk the same talk. A cohesive communication, backed by statistics is the only way tackle through a crisis. Crisis management consultants then work on how transparently the response can be framed.
This is extremely crucial. The crisis management consultants or teams should understand clearly what and how much their contribution should be to mitigate the damage. And more importantly, when dealing with media, should they be proactive or reactive?
And whatever the approach is, all stakeholders must be on the same page. Because media spares no one and you get one shot to get the stain off your name.
3. Clear communication with facts-backed message.
When talking to the public, a business should be certain of two things: first, always talk about facts and second, all stakeholders should talk the same talk. A cohesive communication, backed by statistics is the only way tackle through a crisis. Crisis management consultants then work on how transparently the response can be framed.
4. Know who is the most affected audience and who are you going to talk to.
Once you know what the message is, identify who you are going to communicate that message to, and how. The audience can be media houses, consumers, industry colleagues, employees, or other stakeholders.
Post identifying the audience, the message that has been drafted should now be disseminated. While doing so, special care must be taken when reaching out to media houses. Priority should be media contacts who will take your story forward neutrally and in unbiased light.
The crisis management team should be ready with responses when the dissemination happens because questions will be asked!
5. Keep an eye out on who said what!
Once you know what the message is, identify who you are going to communicate that message to, and how. The audience can be media houses, consumers, industry colleagues, employees, or other stakeholders.
Post identifying the audience, the message that has been drafted should now be disseminated. While doing so, special care must be taken when reaching out to media houses. Priority should be media contacts who will take your story forward neutrally and in unbiased light.
The crisis management team should be ready with responses when the dissemination happens because questions will be asked!
5. Keep an eye out on who said what!
Although all hell breaks loose during a crisis, the businesses should closely monitor how the communication is being perceived. Keep track of who are talking about your brand and what are they talking saying.
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