How to manage a crisis

It’s not just rain clouds that cause bad weather during the Summer. It’s also the perfect time for a media storm.

In my experience, August offers optimum conditions for a media crisis. Lots of PRs are on holiday and fewer people are sending press releases. Journalists are keen for a great story and are digging deeper for news. And BAD NEWS SELLS.

But it’s the worst time of year to be facing a media crisis. The entirety of your senior management team is likely to be on holiday – probably at the same time. There is no one to respond to the story or, at least, no one who is media trained. No one spotted the bad news coming or they ignored it. Then, suddenly, it goes National and you find yourself in the middle of a full blown media storm.

Of course, a media crisis can loom at any time but a situation like this where there are fewer people around to respond can amplify the storm. Here are a few tips to help you prevent the storm clouds from gathering:

• Don’t keep putting your crisis plan on the back burner. Make sure you set aside time and resource to developing a good plan. The plan shouldn’t just sit with your PR team but needs support from your whole organisation.
• Business planning is crucial to ensure that not all of your PR team or all of your senior management team are on leave at the same time.
• Invest in media training to make sure you have spokespeople who are trained and ready to front a crisis. And make sure more than one member of your senior management team is trained and that they are clear and comfortable with their responsibilities.
• Your crisis plan should involve holding statements and an action plan to help save time when you are in the middle of a crisis. It should also have emergency contact details so that you don’t have to spend hours digging these out when you are in the middle of the PR storm. It also needs to cover all forms of communication – news travels fast via social media. Do you want your sponsors to hear the news from someone else before they hear it from you?
• Your crisis plan must not just sit on the shelf. It needs to be updated and rehearsed regularly. People start and leave organisations. You should always be considering who needs media training, who needs adding to your spokesperson list or who needs to be added to your out of hours rota.
• Try and prevent the storm from happening in the first place. Consult your PR team to help you identify any potential issues that could cause a media storm and to plan to manage and handle them.
• Consider bringing in an expert to help you with your PR crisis plan and helping you identify potential reputational issues. Not everyone can afford a dedicated PR team and very few will have live experience of a major reputational crisis. It really helps to learn from others who have weathered the storm and lived to tell the tale.

I have a wealth of experience in reputation management and handling PR crises. In addition to handling the storm, I’ve also helped to prevent storms from happening. Obviously I can’t give you a list but I’d love to talk you through my experience.

If you would like help developing a crisis PR plan for your organisation or helping you to weather the storm if it’s struck and you’re not prepared, please get in touch.

Good luck and I hope you survive the deluge!