While chatting with Jo Baker at Pegasystems this week she pointed me to a piece on the BBC website about how to manage a crisis by Clarence Mitchell from Freud Communications.

Crisis management used to be seen as a bolt on to PR activity and thankfully (or rather unfortunately, as it does get the adrenalin going) I haven’t needed to get involved with this type of activity too often.  The difference now, is that a few years ago it was easier to contain the outbreak of news, but the increased usage of Twitter, blogging and YouTube to name but a few, has ensured that when brands face a disaster it can be spread and re-run many times over. As Clarence explains:

“Reputational crises don’t die away any more, they get posted online for prosperity. That world is here and now and effective crisis management has never been more relevant or valid.”

I agree with the sentiment and have listed below ten simple steps you can take should your organisation ever be affected by a crisis:

1. Never ignore the crisis/media and hope it will go away.
2. Find out everything about the crisis in hand before taking the next step.
3. Try to understand how negative publicity will affect your reputation with key audiences.
4. Be a boy scout and always be prepared. Have a plan in place so you can react to a problem if it arises without wasting too much time trying to work out what to do.
5. Try to keep calm. If you appear panicked, the media will believe there is more to the story they will continue digging.
6. Keep things simple and don’t try to hide from the crisis.
7. You’ve heard people say the customer is always right. In PR terms, the public is always right. Don’t attack them when responding to a crisis.
8. Quickly understand where to direct comment and ensure that person has been fully briefed and has all relevant tools to communicate truthfully with the media. This should be communicated with everyone within your organisation.
9. Try to remember that actions speak louder than words. Be seen to respond rather than just issuing a statement and hiding behind it.
10. Use the experts available to you. If you employ a PR agency, contact the team straight away – you don’t need to suffer by yourself.

Paul Stallard