Preparing a crisis communication strategy is crucial, but beyond the theory, knowing how to react when disaster strikes is also very important. 

If you are rethinking the best way to handle a public relations crisis, we have created a list of seven steps to help you weather the storm. These are best practices. Adhere to them and you will truly have them under control. 

Categorize the issues and don’t overreact 

Not every negative comment about a brand constitutes a public relations disaster. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t respond to negative statements. Just don’t involve your CEO to respond to a negative review on Google. 

Think about the impact of the crisis on your company’s overall performance and reputation. Some issues will fade away on their own. Reacting to negative messaging can draw attention and focus your audience on an issue. Sometimes, doing nothing is the best possible option when it comes to reputation management. 

Respond quickly 

It’s best to act quickly when you know you’re facing a public relations crisis. Time is of the essence. The sooner you address the issue, the higher your chances of controlling the narrative and minimizing the damage. People expect immediate feedback. It will take longer to come up with some carefully considered answers. 

That’s why you should prepare general responses to post immediately on social media. Think about which social media channels will be effective for your company. You could post a statement on your company’s Facebook page, write a blog post or article, or make a video. Find a communication channel that is effective with your customers and other stakeholders. The goal is to create the impression that you are in control. There will be time for more detailed explanations later in the process. 

Define the first responder unit 

You need to train your staff so they know what to do and how to act. It is important to point out the right personnel and clearly define their responsibilities. 

Even the best team has only knowledge if they know who should perform certain tasks. Typically, your first responder unit is your customer service team or your social media team. Customer service teams have the privilege of talking directly to your customers. They can spot any public relations issues before they reach a wider audience, such as the press. A potentially viral negative opinion may appear on one of your social media channels. 

If one of your communications professionals receives a threat, there is still time to protect your organization’s reputation. If the crisis escalates, you need a comprehensive team you can trust. This team will handle the message you want to send, manage press releases, and try to maintain customer confidence. This will ensure that your crisis communication efforts will go smoothly and everyone will be in the right place at the right time. 

Evaluate the crisis 

Trained staff must assess the public relations risk situation and take appropriate action. Every public relations crisis requires a different approach and response. 

That’s why the first action of a public relations response team must be to assess and control damage. Depending on the scope and potential impact of the public relations crisis, the team should choose the appropriate response. Once the team decides what to do, they should begin to counter the impact of the crisis. 

Prepare the final action plan 

You have actionable statements, which will give you more time. Now is the time to prepare the final action plan. Your response will depend on your industry. However, there are some general rules you should follow. 

First, be honest. Of course, you want to minimize the damage, but denying the crisis, blaming, or omitting details will only make the crisis worse. Admitting your mistakes will show that you are a mature organization, willing to make amends for the damage you have caused. 

Collaborate with influencers 

When your brand, product, or service is criticized, you should find someone who can vouch for your brand, product, or service.

That’s why you should consider top influencers and public figures who can endorse your brand during and after a crisis. Selecting the right people to work with is key to a successful influencer campaign. The most appropriate influencers might have already talked about your brand. A media monitoring tool will help you find the best influencers to help you deal with a public relations issue.

Based on the analysis, choose the right influencer to promote your brand.

Public Relations Crisis Analysis

This final step is as important as the previous ones. Remember that you can learn from every mistake you make.

That is why it is so important to analyze your public relations crisis management plan. What was done right? What parts failed? What can you improve? This is the time to assess your crisis response team’s performance.

Do team members need additional training? Should you change roles within the team? Add new members? Look at the feedback for the public relations messages you have sent. Is there any way you can improve them?

Use different distribution channels? Change the tone? The wording? Public relations crisis management evaluation will provide you with the necessary insights into your public relations crisis strategy.

Public Relations Crisis Management Tools

Once you know what to do before, during, and after a crisis, you might want to know which tools can help you deal with the situation. Besides the previously mentioned media monitoring tool, you should research and have public relations crisis management tools. First, you need a tool for easy communication with your staff.

You make calls, create dedicated channels, and share documents in a safe environment. Because you never know when a crisis will occur, you should have other ways to communicate with your public relations crisis response team.

How Can a Crisis Response Team Prevent Such Public Relations Issues?

Every public relations professional dreams of maintaining a positive brand reputation. But knowing all the events mentioned above, you probably have a question-can you completely avoid a public relations crisis?

Unfortunately, you can’t. You rely on others—suppliers, vendors, employees, or circumstances that you can’t predict. However, you can always be prepared for a public relations crisis. This is not easy, as you never know what might happen to you or how long the crisis will last.

When handling a public relations crisis, you should always expect the unexpected.

Crisis Management Objectives

Crisis management seeks to minimize the damage caused by the crisis. However, crisis management is different from crisis response. Instead, crisis management is a comprehensive process that is implemented before a crisis occurs. Crisis management activities are applied before, during, and after the crisis.

Crisis Recovery Management vs. Risk Management

Before a crisis begins, the purpose of pre-crisis planning is to identify risks and find ways to mitigate or limit those risks.

However, it is important to note that crisis management and risk management are two different things. Risk management means finding ways to minimize risk. Crisis management involves figuring out the best response when the incident occurs.

Risk management is a vital part of crisis management, but crisis management includes incident response, while risk management usually does not.

Special Considerations

Insurance contracts providing crisis management coverage may narrowly define the types of events they cover. The types of events covered may include workplace violence, assault, food contamination, and workplace accidents. Covered events may also include credit card fraud or a third party hacking into the company’s computer systems. In addition, it may cover damage from internal work or employee sabotage.

Whether in a local or national forum, news coverage of an event can bring publicity. The news is often applied for a certain period of time, such as 60 days, after the crisis event occurs and is subject to an aggregate limit.

Coverage may include paying for various types of advisors, such as communications experts, to assist the insured in identifying and implementing strategies to mitigate any further impact of the event on the media. For example, a business may need to hire a public relations expert. The policy may also include loss of business income for a certain period. In some cases, policies may include post-event issues such as counseling for individuals involved in the event.

Businesses implementing a continuity plan in the event of unforeseen unforeseen circumstances can mitigate the impact of a negative event. Having a business continuity plan during a crisis is called crisis management. Most companies begin by conducting a risk analysis of their operations. Risk analysis is the process of identifying potentially adverse events and estimating their likelihood. By running simulations and random variables with risk models, such as scenario tables, risk managers can assess the likelihood of future threats, best and worst case outcomes, and the damage a company would suffer if the threat materialized.

For example, a risk manager might estimate that the likelihood of a flood in the area where the company operates is very high.

The worst-case scenario could be the destruction of the company’s computer systems, resulting in the loss of relevant data about customers, suppliers and ongoing projects. The crisis management team plans to prevent any emergency if it occurs after the risk manager is aware of the risks and potential impacts. For example, a company facing the risk of flooding may create a backup system for all computer systems. In this way, the company still has records of its data and work processes.

Although business operations may slow down for a short period of time while the company purchases new computer equipment, operations will not be completely stopped. Having a crisis resolution plan, the company and its stakeholders can prepare and adapt to unexpected and unfavorable developments.

Stages of a Crisis

Warning and Risk Assessment. While it is important to identify risks and plan to mitigate those risks and their impact, it is equally important to establish monitoring systems that can provide early warning signs of any foreseeable crisis.

These early warning systems can take many forms and vary greatly depending on the identified risks. Some early warning systems may be mechanical or electronic. For example, thermal imaging is sometimes used to detect heat buildup before a fire starts. Other early warning systems may include financial metrics.

For example, an organization may predict a significant drop in revenue by monitoring customer stock prices.

Key Steps at Each Stage of a Crisis

The key to effective pre-crisis planning involves as many stakeholders as possible. In that way, all areas of the organization are represented in the risk identification and planning processes.

A company’s crisis response teams often include representatives from legal, human resources (HR), finance, and organizational operations staff. A designated crisis manager is also typically appointed. Crisis response and management When a crisis occurs, the crisis manager is responsible for directing the organization’s response according to the established crisis management plan. The crisis manager is often also the person designated to handle communication with the public.

If a crisis affects public health or safety, the crisis manager should make a public statement as soon as possible. The media will definitely be looking for staff to comment in a public crisis.

Organizational staff must know who is and is not authorized to speak to the media. Staff members authorized to speak to the media must do so in a way that is consistent with what the crisis manager is saying.

Post-crisis and resolution After a crisis has subsided and business operations begin to return to normal, the crisis manager should continue to meet with members of the crisis management team, especially those from legal and finance, to assess the progress of recovery efforts. The crisis manager will also need to keep key stakeholders updated on the current situation.

After a crisis, the crisis management team should also review the organization’s crisis management plan to evaluate how effective the plan was and what aspects might need to be modified based on lessons learned throughout the crisis.

Best Practices for Crisis Management

The field of crisis management is often considered to have originated from how Johnson & Johnson handled a situation in 1982 when Tylenol capsules laced with cyanide killed seven people in the Chicago area.

The company immediately recalled all Tylenol capsules in the country and provided free products in tamper-resistant packaging. Thanks to the company’s swift and effective response, the impact on its shareholders was minimized, and the brand recovered and thrived.

All large corporations, non-profit organizations, and public sector organizations now utilize crisis management. Developing, practicing, and updating crisis management plans is critical to ensure that businesses can respond to unforeseen disasters.

However, the nature of crisis management activities may vary by organization type. For example, a manufacturing company might require a crisis management plan to respond to a large-scale industrial accident, such as an explosion or chemical spill.

Conversely, insurance companies are less likely to face such risks. Of course, something doesn’t have to be as serious as an industrial accident to require activating a crisis management plan.

Any event that could damage an organization’s finances or reputation could be reason to put the crisis management plan into effect.

Crisis Management vs. Risk Management

Crisis management differs from risk management. Risk management involves planning for events that may occur in the future, whereas crisis management involves responding to negative events during and after they occur.

For example, an oil company may have a plan to respond to the possibility of an oil spill. If such a disaster occurs, the scale of the oil spill, the public outcry, and the clean-up costs could vary greatly and could exceed expectations. The scale makes it a crisis.

Types of Crises

Crises can be self-inflicted or caused by external forces. Examples of external forces that could impact an organization’s operations include natural disasters, security breaches, or false rumors that damage the business’s reputation. Self-inflicted crises are those that originate within the organization, such as when an employee smokes in an environment containing hazardous chemicals, downloads suspicious computer files, or provides poor customer service that goes viral online.