A Simple Set of Tools and Tactics for Great Crisis Comms

FEATURED POST

As the saying goes, failing to prepare is preparing to fail, particularly when it comes to any business’s form of PR.

A simple, well-rehearsed toolkit can turn a chaotic PR crisis into a moment that strengthens trust in your brand and protects the investment you have made in your marketing efforts.

A reputation can be broken in hours, despite the years put into it, so the combination of tools and tactics is what will keep your company in control of the narrative, instead of endlessly reacting to it.

Here’s some approaches businesses can put in place:

Real Time Visibility

In a serious PR crisis, your speed and presence are critical.

Using live broadcast technology can let you get high-quality video from wherever your leaders or spokespeople are, straight to the appropriate news outlets, social platforms, or physical locations, turning your response from a static written statement into something human, accountable, and visible that audiences can see and judge for themselves. 

When used well, you can host live briefings and sessions and correct misinformation in the moment rather than waiting for the next news cycle, and it also means you can maintain a consistent visual and verbal message across multiple channels, which is critical when rumors are traveling faster.

Media Monitoring and Social Listening

You cannot manage what you cannot see.

This is where a media monitoring tool should be running at all times, with clear alerts for spikes in mentions, changes in sentiment, and new keywords linked to your brand. 

During any crisis, this becomes your radar for early warnings and your real-time feedback loop, and we should use these insights to decide when to correct our narrative, when to escalate concern, and to decide which channels are most useful. 

A Command Hub for Any Central Crisis

Under pressure, teams default to endless email addresses and pointless busy work.

The feeling we need to discuss rather than act is a fine balance, but a central command hub, which could be something as simple as a project management board or shared workspace, means everybody stays aligned on the latest facts, approvals, and actions.

The goal is to create one message that everybody in your organization can rely on. 

The hub should contain a number of simple components that we can turn to, such as contact lists, key documents, agreed lines, and a log of what has already been said and where, which can reduce inconsistent messaging, duplicating work, and accidental contradictions.

Templates and Messages

The worst time to start a selection of words from scratch is in the middle of a crisis, particularly when everything is overwhelming. 

This is where a small library of templates for holding statements, apology messages, FAQ responses, staff updates, and customer notices, written in plain language, means that everybody can operate from the same vantage point.

Let’s not forget, once the storm has passed, we need to see what worked and what didn’t, from response times to media coverage, and the consistent questions that kept coming up, but we didn’t answer.

Failing to prepare is preparing to fail, but we also need to make sure that we learn.

Every crisis is an opportunity to learn, so make sure you have exactly what it takes.