Crisis Communication Game Plan: Everyone Needs One!
Avoiding the truth and questions from the media when a crisis arises could have a devastating impact on your business. If you had a game plan, you could prevent long-term damage to your reputation.
It may be years before people forget the chaotic evacuation, traumatic rescue mission and severe crisis communication problem that Carnival Corp’s Italian unit found itself in. They were reportedly diverted from course so someone could say hello to a family member and the captain abandoned the ship before making sure the passengers were safe. In a situation like this, a solid crisis communication game plan is a must.
So you’re facing a major public crisis, and your company has no crisis communication game plan, or even a role model. There are some things you need to do right away to prevent the crisis from getting out of hand. Your goal is to maintain daily operations while managing the crisis. You need to contain it.
Crisis communication five steps when you do not have a prepared plan.
1. Fact Check: Find out right away what happened, how it happened, and why it happened. Gather as much information as you can so that you can properly inform the public. If there is an investigation pending, explain in detail what you can explain. Don’t leave reporters hanging. You should not only inform the media, but also other affected people, such as family or friends.
2. Bullet Points: Whether you’re writing talking points or a press release for the media, describe the facts in bullet form so it’s easy to read and deliver. This will help explain complicated matters in simple terms.
3. Stay informed to keep others informed: Stay constantly aware of the crisis and gather information as it unfolds. Then turn around and distribute it to the appropriate channels. Use your social media outlets like Twitter, YouTube, Blogs, and Facebook to quickly respond to misinformation, accusations, and distortions.
4. Designate a spokesperson: It is necessary to identify the person who will be the contact with the media and the spokesperson for the company. It can be two people, one is the contact and the other is the spokesperson. Don’t have numerous people from the company talking to the media. This person should be knowledgeable about the crisis and comfortable with interviews.
5. Plan Questions: Write down all the possible questions that you might be asked about the situation and gather the information and mark the answers so that you can easily address them when asked.
Once the crisis is over, evaluate the outcome and then design a strong crisis communication plan that is strategic, detailed, and easy for the team to follow.