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If your business were to become the target of a bad publicity, would you be able to keep your cool and take action to rectify the situation? No matter what business any given company is in, no matter how successful a company is, there are always going to be issues that come up that could lead to a PR nightmare:
* Dominos Pizza recently had to confront challenges posed after a number of videos showing (now former) staff members engaging in a wide variety of unprofessional acts showed up on YouTube for the world to see.
* The publishing company Viking Juvenile has been confronting bad press from health professionals for releasing Wintergirls, a young adult novel that critics, mental health workers, and many others argue could lead to disordered eating. * Clay Aiken recently made a comment about a performance during the recent season of American Idol and was put in a position in which he had to explain that, no, his ears did not actually bleed.
At first glance, it may seem as though the situations have little in common. However, each situation created a public relations crisis that need to be addressed quickly and effectively to keep it from getting out of hand. In each case, a crisis communications strategy was enacted in order to minimize the damage.
No matter your industry, no matter how small or large your business is, having a crisis communications strategy is essential.
The primary reason to develop a crisis communications plan for your business – or to work with a public relations firm that specializes in crisis communications – is that it will give you the ability to stay cool under pressure. If your reputation is on the line, it's important to keep a level head, address the issue quickly, and to know the best direction to take.
The right plan will address news outlets from the national media to your local newspaper and from television broadcasts to the internet. More importantly, your strategy should focus on what you can do to build relationships in all of those outlets – and should identify which members of your organization will have a role in calming things down. With these relationships in place, you will be able to act more quickly – whether you spread the word with a press conference or you get behind the camera and post an acknowledgment on YouTube, your relationships will ensure that the wider audience quickly becomes aware of your response.
Knowing whom to reach out to, knowing that you have a number of options in place, and that you will be able to respond will give you some peace of mind. It's that peace of mind – as opposed to willful ignorance and the belief that a crisis simply cannot happen to you – that will let you stay cool under pressure. Working with a company like Levick Communications that will help you to identify the best avenues and strategies for outreach will ensure that you have a crisis communications plan that's tailored to your business that will be ready if you need it.
Hopefully you'll never need to set your crisis communications strategy into motion, but if something does go wrong, you'll be ready – and you'll be able to minimize the impact and damage done.
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