The complete guide to PR in crisis management

Just like life, running a business is always a series of ups and downs. Throughout a business’s lifespan, there’ll be all matter of storms you’ll need to weather. Out of the potential storms that can come your way, a PR crisis is the biggest. Not only can a PR crisis do irreparable damage to your brand reputation, but it can also disrupt the flow of your business, costing you money and causing considerable stress and agitation.

While you can control much of what goes on in your business, you can’t control everything. That’s why it’s important to be prepared for when the proverbial hits the fan.

In this blog, we're going to give you our top tips for PR crisis management. We’ll show you how to prepare for a crisis and what you can do to limit the damage if and when one arrives at your door.

What is a PR crisis?

A crisis is an incident that could potentially…   

• Have a significant negative impact on your bottom line
  and/or

• Severely damage your reputation

It’s more than the usual run-of-the-mill issues that you deal with on a day-to-day basis - negative posts on social media, employee disputes or supply chain issues. 

That’s not to say that small issues can’t escalate to a full-blown crisis level, and it’s always worth being aware of and keeping a handle on day-to-day rumblings and managing them accordingly.  It’s worth noting that these issues are ever-evolving beasts and can move quickly, sometimes in a matter of hours.

A crisis is when you see a disaster tidal wave approaching.  It can take on a whole plethora of guises: a whistleblower exposing a toxic work culture, criminal activity or potentially life-threatening health and safety violations.

This is when you gird your loins and send for the crisis cavalry, your crisis communications team. 

PR in crisis management is all about preparedness

When it comes to PR in crisis management, you can do everything possible to avoid a disaster, but ultimately, it might be outside of your control when the unthinkable happens. In the face of uncertainty, it’s always prudent to plan for a rainy day. Preparation is key and although you don’t know what’s around the corner and how exactly the crisis will unfold, there’s plenty of certainty in a crisis, which you can plan and prepare for.

You’ll need to have a crisis communication team in place made up of the key internal departments, including:

• The chief exec or relevant board member

• PR

• Social media

• Customer relations

• Human Resources

• Legal department

• Internal communications

Depending on the nature of the crisis, the crisis comms team will also need to include parties directly involved with the crisis. 

Media training

Having a bank of potential spokespeople is crucial.  Anyone representing your business in front of the media will need media training, which is something you can undertake in advance.

Media training is imperative for giving your spokespeople the tools to cope with journalists’ questions.  A media interview can help you communicate your company’s key messages, layout the facts and put your company’s side of the story forward.  When handled correctly, it’s an opportunity to gain your audience’s trust, correct any misinformation that might be circulating and turn a negative situation into a positive outcome.

Being doorstepped, interrogated and interviewed live down the line by a media trainer provides invaluable experience, which you can then analyse afterwards and learn from.  Undertaking this in a safe environment before being put in front of a camera in a real-life situation is vital. It’s also very helpful in other aspects of work-life as you’ve got the skills to collect your thoughts and communicate well in a stressful situation.

Ensuring you’re selected spokespeople are up to the job

Once you’ve undertaken media training, it’s always worth asking your potential spokespeople how they feel about being put forward for interviews in the future.  These spokespeople are representing your company and have the potential to either save the day superhero style or make a bad situation a whole lot worse. 

You want your spokesperson to be uber-confident and ready to face the media storm head-on, chomping at the bit to step up and be heard.  You may need to make a judgement call if your spokesperson is not feeling confident – you need to gauge it and never put someone in front of a journalist who doesn’t want to be there.  Ahead of a media interview, there’s a difference between nervous energy and an outright dread of what’s ahead.  If it’s the latter, then chances are the interview isn’t going to go well and there’s a potential for disastrous consequences. Do everyone a favour and don’t add them to your list of spokespeople.     

Having a bank of media-trained spokespeople who are ready and waiting in the wings means you know who to call on when necessary and helps you be as prepared as possible.

How to manage a crisis once it’s in motion

We’ve seen what you can do to prepare for a crisis, but what should you do once you’re in the thick of it? The rest of this blog will outline all the do’s and don’ts when the horse has already bolted. With careful thinking and a solid plan of action, you should be able to coax the horse back to the stall.

Assemble the comms team

The crisis comms team should meet regularly throughout the crisis lifecycle. This is a huge part of PR in crisis management. It’s the command room and central crisis hub and is where key decisions are made.

create a communication tree

Once you’ve got your crisis comms team in place, everyone needs to know the channels of communication and where they fit within the team.  A communication tree is an easy, visual flow chart for people to receive and issue communications.  When information regarding the crisis is received, for example when lab results come in or a health and safety inquiry is published, this information needs to be communicated to all members of the comms team so the information can be acted upon by the different parties.

Again, this is something that can be done ahead of any crisis so everyone knows who is passing information onto who and who is receiving information from who. 

A communication tree also allows you to see the channels of communication and who is responsible for communicating information to wider audiences outside of the team.  Each team member will have key stakeholders to communicate with and will be responsible for disseminating the information to those stakeholders effectively and in good time.

It’s important that your communication tree is up to scratch and that you don’t lose control over the messages being communicated.  All members of the crisis comms team must only use statements, Q&As and copy that’s been approved by the PR team.  Keeping control over messages being communicated both internally and externally is the key to having a consistent approach and ultimately protecting the company’s reputation.  This is no time for mavericks.

Messages should cascade down the branches of a communications tree like water flowing down a stream, carried along a defined path and channelled into the sea.  Blockages will occur if obstacles are put in the way so absolutely make sure everyone knows where they fit on the tree and that people’s contact details are all correct.

Business as usual?

During a crisis, it’s important to look at the other areas of the business and make a call on whether it’s appropriate to carry on day-to-day business as usual. For example, a big part of crisis management is being aware of what your company is putting out across its various channels. That includes social media, marketing and TV advertising, and any other external activities and campaigns taking place. If you’re putting your CEO forward as a crisis spokesperson on TV News then you don’t want a humorous brand advert running in the break, or a light-hearted social media post about another area of the business running at the same time. 

You need to have a handle on the wider picture across the business so you’re not undertaking inappropriate activity and can be sensitive to the crisis you’re dealing with.  The crisis comms team you have in place will help with this and it’s always worth having an item on your agenda in your regular update meetings so you can flag any potential activity that needs pulling.

Writing media statements

When it comes to media statements, it’s always best to attribute it to an actual person, not a generic spokesperson.  Be human and speak from the heart.  Depending on the nature of the crisis, there’s a potential opportunity to work in a positive message here too.  It’s important to remember that, whatever the issue or mistake that’s been made, this is a one-off and not the usual manner in which the business conducts itself. 

If possible, spell out and remind people of the high standards you adhere to, and add any accreditations to help back up this claim.  Not only are you showing that this is an extraordinary event, but you’re also reiterating your key messages and communicating something positive.  Be careful that you’re sensitive here. Depending on the crisis, promoting a positive message might not be appropriate, so tread carefully.

Tailored versions

Once you have your approved media statement, you can tailor it for various stakeholders.  Don’t alter the statement so much that you risk changing the meaning or content of the statement but adjust the tone and level of detail needed for your different audiences.  Always produce a social-media friendly version that can be easily tweeted and a version for internal colleagues.  It’s worth noting that internal messages always filter externally so never include anything in an internal statement that you wouldn’t want to see externally.

Producing Q&As

Having a robust, informative and detailed Q&A document is an absolute lifesaver and is just as, if not more, important than your media statement.  It’s the difference between a calm, managed, and strategic approach, and a headless chicken act, scrambling around for information.  The Q&As are a series of “if-asked responses” and need to have gone through the same rigorous approval process as the statement.  You don’t want to be trying to get a comment approved when you’ve just issued your statement and you’ve got a national journalist on the phone baying for blood.

The Q&A is a working document and needs to be updated regularly as the crisis evolves.  Always ensure the crisis comms team have the correct, most recent version of the document.  This is where the communications tree is useful. You can send updated versions via the communications tree, ensuring that all messages are consistent and follow your corporate stance.

Have difficult conversations.

The crisis communications team can be an intimidating and difficult environment, and the representatives around the table often have very differing agendas, views and opinions.  It’s your role to protect and enhance the company’s reputation and often this can involve having to challenge the status quo and persuade people to see another view.  Don’t be afraid to ask difficult questions and integrate the information in front of you – you’re the master of avoiding disaster.

Review and reflect

Although it’s difficult to see when you’re in the middle of it, the crisis you’re dealing with won’t last forever. Things move on and sands shift.  After the battle has been fought, reflect on what’s just happened and look to the future.  After a storm there’s always a rainbow and believe it or not, there’ll be positive outcomes borne from what you’ve been through.

The debrief process is invaluable and should always be part of the crisis lifecycle.  It’s important to look at lessons learnt and what can be improved ahead of a future crisis.

A crisis can be a catalyst for change, be that in the way the business behaves, the culture or policies and standards adhered to.  The Q&A document that you painstakingly crafted can be used to highlight areas of the business where improvements are needed and you can use it to lobby for change. 

There’s nothing like a crisis to bring people together, not just members of the crisis comms team but wider internal and external stakeholders.  There’s a real sense of camaraderie when you’ve fought battles, weathered blows and overcome it all together.  You can use this shared experience to your advantage and strengthen relationships with people you now (hopefully) have a renewed respect and understanding of.

Recommendations

If the business can respond to the crisis by building back better and stronger then this puts everyone in a better place for the future.  The crisis comms team is in a strong position to put forward recommendations for changes - improving work conditions, putting better safety measures in place or making changes to the supply chain are just some of the areas where you can have a positive influence.

Hopefully, you feel a little better prepared for a PR crisis. As we state in the article, preparedness can be the difference between a disastrous response and an articulate sensible one, so make sure you prioritise putting processes and safeguards in place for if and when there’s a PR storm a-raging.

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Looking for someone to help you plan for a rainy day? Give Luma a call and we’ll help you future-proof your brand.