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by Mary Sawyer on 5.11.2011 in Public Relations, Strategic Planning 0

Having the ability to think and react quickly when the need arises is good, but any professional PR person can tell you horror stories about executives who mistakenly thought they didn’t need a crisis communications plan.

Imagine this: A disaster occurs that impacts your business, customers and employees. The media is persistently calling for information, employees are anxious, and customers are confused and concerned.

Without a plan, valuable time is lost trying to assemble a response and course of action. There is potential for miscommunication and additional chaos.

However, with a plan, you’ll be able to provide audiences with accurate information in a timely manner, relieve tensions, take positive actions that can mitigate damages, and continue or restore business operations.

While every situation is unique, there are common PR elements that should be addressed in any plan.

1)      Executives and representatives from the HR, IT and Corporate Communications departments will all play key roles. Their input into the plan is critical.

2)      Designate a spokesperson. Appoint the communications department and the owner of the company to address the consumer base, employees and media. The head of the company needs to be in the forefront to show empathy and command of the situation.

3)      Write a timeline. Include not only who you plan to tell, but when you plan to tell them. For instance, if there is a fatality, family members should be notified before the information becomes public as a means of respect for their grieving and privacy.

4)      Acknowledge the facts and be as transparent as possible. You must be credible to dispel rumors, engage the public and make amends if necessary.

5)      Communicate with employees. A company’s most valuable resource is its employees and the plan must provide a section for internal communications. Employees must have accurate information so that they can remain calm and will be able to move forward after the crisis.

6)      Embrace social media. Act as rapidly as possible to send messages. Social media is the most valuable way to send up-to-the-minute information and creates better opportunities to explain and interact with audiences.

7)      Don’t ignore traditional media. While not as up-to-the-minute as outlets in the online realm, traditional media reaches a mass audience, and has an important role in the plan.

8)      Learn from other mistakes. Educate yourself about past crises and how they were handled. By looking into the past, companies are able to better plan for the future.

Hopefully, your company will never have a crisis, but why would you take such a big risk by not planning for it? Lives and livelihoods could depend on it.

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