Crisis management: how to handle a PR disaster
At Rewired, we’re here to support our clients on every step of their comms journey. This includes preparing for the unexpected.
An in-depth crisis communications strategy is a key part of ongoing PR activity, ensuring you have a clear and agreed approach for when things don’t go to plan.
Here, we explain the importance of effective crisis management and how an experienced PR agency, like Rewired, can help you and your brand be best prepared.
Why is crisis comms important?
“Public Relations is about reputation - the result of what you do, what you say and what others say about you.”
PR is designed to build awareness and enhance the reputation of a brand, through compelling campaigns and creative activations that grab attention, communicate key messages and, crucially, build trust and engagement with target audiences.
Therefore, it’s vital to have a comprehensive crisis management strategy in place as part of your ongoing comms activity, to ensure that your brand - and its reputation - is best protected.
In particular, for clients that are public-facing or offer a service, such as financial institutions, visitor attractions, shopping centres, or education providers, the actions taken in response to a crisis are critically important for public safety and awareness, as well as brand reputation.
How to build a crisis comms strategy
If possible, a crisis communications strategy should be considered and prepared in advance of a crisis. This may sound obvious, but it’s often one of those tasks that is delayed or pushed back in response to more pressing priorities. However, it’s important to give your strategy the time and attention it needs - so you can collaborate with colleagues and agree the best approach in potential scenarios for your brand.
Here are some key considerations to make at the start of any process:
Who is included in the core crisis management team?
What is the sign off process? Who will have overall approval on a comms response?
Who are the key company spokespeople? Have they been media trained?
Who are the key audiences and stakeholders and are these different in certain scenarios?
What is the preferred communication channel and format?
And suggestions of what to include in your strategy document:
Contact details (including out-of-hours) for your core crisis management team
Agreed protocol for how a crisis is communicated / escalated internally
Classification guide to identifying incidents - and the corresponding response
Key questions / facts to confirm in the case of an incident
List of key stakeholders (internal and external), audiences and channels
Key considerations before issuing comms
Draft press statements for example scenarios
Whilst it’s important to have a plan in place, you must also remain reactive to the situation. Things can change quickly in a crisis and you need to respond accordingly. It’s worth keeping your crisis comms strategy as a ‘live’ document that can be easily updated as required.
Managing a crisis
When handling a PR crisis, it’s natural to panic, freeze, or rush into a response. However, having a coordinated and planned approach to a PR issue can mean that the negative impact on brand reputation can be mitigated, minimised or diminished.
In a crisis, remember the ‘three C’s’:
Clear
Focus on clarity - do not get bogged down in technical terms or jargon. You need to communicate quickly and clearly to your key audiences, in language they can easily understand.
Consistent
Make sure your messaging is consistent across all channels, reducing the risk of confusing or conflicting communications.
Comprehensive
Ensure you’ve covered all the key considerations in your comms - anticipate questions, clarify further if challenged and remain responsive to situations that can change or evolve quickly.
Why is media training important?
Your company spokespeople act as the ‘face’ of your brand - and this is particularly important when responding to an incident or crisis.
To ensure your spokespeople are best prepared, it’s worth considering a media training session. This can be provided by your PR agency or in conjunction with a specialist training provider - many of whom have previous experience working in newsrooms and can share first-hand expertise.
The session can be shaped to meet the needs of your team, from practising example scenarios and responses on camera, to learning expert hints and tips on how best to communicate your key messages. A radio or TV interview can be an intimidating prospect for even the most confident of spokespeople, so investing in a tailored media training session is often a wise investment as part of your overarching crisis comms strategy.
The crisis is over - now what?
At an appropriate time after the incident, it’s important to reflect on what went well and what could be done differently next time. Try and do this relatively soon after the crisis, as it’s easier to capture key learnings while they’re still fresh in your mind.
Did your crisis comms process work effectively and if not, how could it be improved? Do you need to review any policies or procedures and if so, who needs to be involved in those discussions? Remember, your crisis comms approach is an evolving strategy - one that must be regularly evaluated to ensure the best outcomes.
How an experienced PR agency can help
As trusted advisors and an extension of your in-house team, your PR agency should play a central role in devising, agreeing and communicating your crisis comms strategy. Their role is to advise and consult - and this is never more important than when tackling a PR issue. The right PR partner can help you to create a comprehensive strategy and support you in responding appropriately to a crisis.
Rewired has lots of experience of handing crisis communication strategies and responses for clients, from scenario planning to live PR issues, we can help you navigate any challenges along the way.
Want to find out more about our crisis comms services? Talk to us.