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Crisis? What Crisis? - A thought piece by Louise Bucknall
What do The News of The World and BP have in common?
The answer is that both of them have been the centre of recent crises.
After watching pictures of the Murdoch Empire being scrutinised on television I was wondering how News International may ever recover. But what was also apparent is that no matter what the crisis every company and organisation needs to be prepared for the unexpected.
Businesses spend years of effort directed towards establishing the integrity of its products, brand and corporate reputation. And unfortunately at some point these could all be faced with some crisis that threatens its integrity to some degree. If that crisis is handled poorly, decades of investment can vanish in an instant – particularly in our 24 hour news cycle and through the growth of social media channels.
A company can find itself playing catch-up in the midst of a crisis before it even finds its feet. The structure and personality of our media-culture can turn a smouldering crisis into one of epic proportions.
Effective crisis communication management can engender a feeling of community and partnership between the company and the consumer – a sort of feeling that “we’re in this together.” On the other hand, poor communication that makes the public suspect it is being lied to, or that the crisis itself is caused by the company’s lack of competence or even lack of concern for people, can stain a company and its brand forever.
But it’s also what you say and the impression you give which can make all the difference. We all remember Tony Hayward’s (ex CEO of BP) retort about “Wanting his life back” in the midst of the BP oil spill into the Gulf of Mexico.
The key is to plan ahead by formulating an effective crisis communication strategy that is based on the principles of honesty, transparency, and compassion and concern for the consumer. An effective strategy based on these values will minimise the damage to a company, its brand and its products to help it survive and eventually rebound.
Our top five crisis communication tips:
1. Keep your crisis communication plan up to date
2. Ensure you factor in managing the online resource team during a crisis – being able to respond quickly and use social media effectively will pay dividends
3. Ensure you have effective media spokespeople in place – this doesn’t have to be the Chief Executive and you should make sure that more than one person can represent the company in the event of a crisis
4. Be quick to respond to all media enquiries
5. Rehearse and role play your entire crisis communication plan – that way you’ll know what’s working and what’s not and have time to fix it!
Louise Bucknall, PR Specialist at Cogent Elliott