As the economy continues to sour, an increasing number of companies will be announcing disappointing news, such as missed quarterly sales goals or layoffs—or both. Every company should be prepared to deal with negative news, whether it’s generated by the company’s own bad decisions or unforeseen circumstances, such as failed servers that shut down services to thousands of people.
When a crisis hits, your corporate PR person or outside PR firm should act immediately to stifle rumors and negative reporting. But they can act efficiently only if there is a Crisis PR plan in place.
Here are five steps to creating a Crisis PR plan:
1. Appoint a crisis team.
• This team must have the authority to be decisive about what to do and say in a crisis.
• Include a lead person from your outside agency.
• This team should not be lead by someone in the Legal department. Lawyers tend to be overly cautious, which in a crisis can mean the company ultimately says nothing out of fear of legal ramifications.
2. Appoint a spokesperson.
• This is the primary point of contact for media inquiries.
• Just because your CEO is the top official does not mean they are the best person to address the media.
• This person should be comfortable answering questions and savvy enough to avoid landmines.
3. Gather all pertinent facts.
• The crisis team should collect all information related to the crisis: what happened and why; product info; launch dates; toll-free customer service numbers; and a list of who was impacted adversely.
4. Identify your audiences.
• External audiences include general media; friendly reporters; and investors.
• Internal audiences include the board and employees. Why are employees crucial to your Crisis PR plan? Every employee can either be an evangelist or a critic of the company. You want to arm them with information that presents the company in a positive manner, so they will repeat the same message as corporate PR when their friends and former coworkers contact them for the inside scoop.
5. Plan to tell the truth.
• The crisis team, PR firm and corporate executives should agree at the outset to be truthful about the company’s responsibilities in any crisis.
The final step should not be taken lightly. A Crisis PR plan is intended to minimize damage to the company’s brand and reputation. Seasoned PR people can sometimes use the response to a crisis to help a company turn a negative incident into positive coverage, thus evoking goodwill about the brand.
But a Crisis PR strategy should not be a way of avoiding responsibility or dodging the truth. Not telling the truth to the media and other audiences leads to a slippery slope that usually results in corporate embarrassment and a high-ranking official becoming the fall guy.
As a former journalist I can tell you that corporate lies always find the light in the end. Remember Enron?
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