How to Expertly Steer your Way through a Communications Crisis
PR nightmares are made of this.
It’s that scream into a pillow moment when the press phone rings at a quarter to midnight on a Sunday, informing you that a proper marmalade-dropper of a story is about to hit the headlines and you have minutes to respond.
No matter the crisis. The conditions are always the same.
Low visibility. High adrenaline. Maximum panic.
So, how do you ensure a safe landing when every road sign is screaming danger?
Here’s our guide to crisis communications: staying in the driver’s seat.
Panic PR Won’t Help; a Plan Will
Reputation is the beating heart of any business. Reputations can take decades – sometimes generations – to build, only to be destroyed in minutes by social media.
Plunged into a public relations nightmare, it’s important not to panic and to have processes and systems in place that serve as your first line of defence and buy you valuable time.
Businesses – large and small – can be quickly overwhelmed during a storm, so having a comms plan in place beforehand will help to minimise bad publicity and mitigate the long-term reputational damage.
A crisis managed well will allow your business to bounce back quickly; a crisis managed badly will mean sustained disruption and damage. I know which option I prefer!
Predicting the Unpredictable
Like Harold Macmillan famously said as the Profumo affair rocked and ultimately ended his government: “Events, dear boy, events”.
Sex scandals, data hacks, impromptu wars, economic shocks.
Whatever your line of work, we’re all hostages to fortune.
A crisis comms plan that predicts the unpredictable will help future-proof your business from such ‘events’.
Risky Business
Do everything you can to mitigate your risk before a crisis happens.
Map out your risk: News travels fast – bad news even faster.
Think of real-life scenarios your business is likely to face, and detail process and response mechanisms to prevent a crisis or lessen its impact.
Assessing your organisation’s risk register means identifying potential issues and knowing how to respond quickly organisationally to those challenges.
Give equal thought to the impact on your business and your customers, for example, factor in different regional/national/global/demographic impacts. Can these impacts be minimised in any way? Do segmented audiences need specific messaging?
Blizzard Warning
Future risk to a business is at its height in those initial hours after a story breaks.
At first, you almost certainly won’t have the full picture, as initial information can be scant or based on hearsay evidence.
There’ll be a blizzard of information, most of it contrary or plain wrong, so it’s up to you and your team to get the facts out there. ASAP.
Your customers expect you to act fast and address their concerns. You need to accept what has happened, acknowledge the uncertainty, outline the immediate steps being taken to fix the problem, and identify the lessons learned to move forward. You will need grip and sure-footedness in the face of media scrutiny.
One thing you can always count on is that in the dizzying speed of social media, you won’t have long.
Misinformation spreads like wildfire in dry season.
Stories can gain traction online in minutes, and a one-hour turnaround crisis time on social is pushing it, and not much longer for mainstream media, so it’s key to get a statement out faster than the news cycle.
It will also minimise speculation and the false reporting of facts, which, if not instantly refuted, can become accepted as a nailed-on fact all too quickly.
Vacuums, by their very nature, can create a sense of chaos and panic. A simple ‘no comment’ in a crisis won’t fly.
The Art of the Apology
We’re all human and mistakes can happen.
This is the moment you need your CEO to show up.
Be upfront, transparent, and honest about your shortcomings and don’t be afraid to apologise.
If an apology is required, it’s better to do it out of the gate than have it foisted on you by a media backlash, which often incurs longer-lasting damage.
Wording of statements really matters in a crisis, so it’s important to make sure your words mirror the public mood on an issue.
Reading the room is a key skill in any crisis situation, and factoring in how your messages will land is critical to success.
Think of the United Airlines CEO who found himself in hot water after an incident on an aircraft where a passenger was forcibly dragged off an overbooked plane, which went viral.
Instead of issuing a quick, unreserved apology, he initially tried to dismiss the incident with a lukewarm response, calling the passenger ‘disruptive and belligerent’. It was a miscalculation of the public mood, and a day later, he was forced into a full-throated apology after a fierce public backlash made United the top-trending topic on X. An immediate apology would have limited the damage to both the brand and its share price.
Know your Audience
Basic crisis comms is all about knowing and reflecting your audience. How they think, what motivates them and what doesn’t. Who are they? What are their core beliefs?
A good rule of thumb for brand building is this: To know your audience is to know thyself.
Take another airline that made the headlines for all the wrong reasons. Air Canada. When their crisis moment came last month, they didn’t even speak the same language as their customers. Literally. Their CEO had to step down because he spoke English and not French in a video tribute he gave to the families of pilots killed in a collision.
In a four-minute condolence message to the families of the victims, the CEO spoke just two words in French: ‘bonjour’ and ‘merci’.
Not a great look for an airline headquartered in French-speaking Montreal, Quebec, and serving a bilingual audience.
There was a public outcry and much mockery online, leaving the airline red-faced and in search of a new boss.
Get a Solid Crisis Communications Plan
Need a plan? That’s where we come in.
Our team of experts can help you plan your crisis communications. Get in touch for expert advice.
For a deep dive into how to survive a crisis, you can read our post on crisis communications and how humour can turn a crisis into a win here.
