Over the last couple of years, given everything that the world has gone through, most companies now think they’re ready to face practically anything. After all, they’ve managed to get first-hand experience on how a global crisis such as the pandemic, can have an impact on all business operations overnight. On the other hand, however, many companies realized that they weren’t prepared to deal with such situations until it became too late. Fortunately, with thorough planning and preparation, companies can be ready to face all kinds of situations more effectively in a way that will protect their brands and mitigate any risks.
Listening
The world has dramatically shifted over the last couple of years and now, most consumers expect a lot more from the companies they do business with. However, it’s not just customers – employees also started expecting companies to do better, communicate transparently and stand for more than simply making profits. Companies that understand what they stand for and are able to show that through action are in a much better position in terms of developing a trusting and loyal relationship with the public. That’s why companies should have a clear purpose, along with values and a mission statement that will help them establish a foundation that can support any response they make during a crisis. Listening to the target audiences can help companies get a better understanding of what they need from a business during a crisis situation.
Planning
To respond quickly, minimize any reputational risks, and recover effectively, companies have to plan and prepare for different crisis situations. It’s best for businesses to begin this process by first figuring out the key and high potential risk situations they might face one day, and defining anything that can trigger a crisis situation. Those situations might be product recalls, incidents, and many others. The response level of a business is then going to be determined by how severe a crisis might end up being, and every crisis situation needs to be assessed individually so that companies can understand how much they can impact the business and its operations. After that, businesses should create a detailed plan that will help in guiding everyone through the immediate crisis response as well as a long-term crisis communication plan.
Team
When creating a crisis communication plan, companies need to establish a crisis communication team as well, that’s going to be made of cross-functional department members and a leader. All of the team members are going to be in charge of the communication strategy during a crisis situation, as well as the initial response from the business. Although the team won’t be able to get all of the necessary information during a crisis situation, all of the members need to be prepared to quickly assess that situation and choose the right response. All of that is going to be a lot easier if the team has a communication plan in place, prepared beforehand that’s going to include the list of team members and their responsibilities during a crisis. The plan also needs to have communication materials that can be tailored and distributed during a crisis, a social listening tool that will help them understand the problem and the response that the public has to it, as well as a designated spokesperson or two that’s going to be communicating with the public or media during that time.