Should We Risk It, A discussion of Crisis Communications

Brianna Myers

Successful public relations practitioners define a crisis as something you prepare for but hope never occurs. I believe that the way that a company handles a crisis really defines them. So then I started to think. Wouldn’t it be crazy if a company caused a slight “crisis” but then already had a sure fire way of recovering? The recovery could possibility boost sales or services and prove to be more beneficial.

I think this applies a lot more to celebrities and publicity stunts. One day, the news is that two musical artists are feuding and the next thing you know they’re at the same event together and they’re both releasing projects on the same day. This article talks about the best PR stunts in 2014. In those cases, it worked in the favor of the brand to create a discussion or buzz about them. Is it worth riding the fine between success and disaster that could potentially create a crisis and have to go into damage control (which is what shouldn’t be your focus, because an effective crisis communications plan would take care of the damage)?

So there is a difference between doing something to bring attention to your brand by taking a risk and just creating a full blown crisis. But, if a crisis does occur, here are some tips to keep in mind.
1. Get information out early

2. Get that information out yourself
3. Get it out on your terms.

It’s very important that you are communicating with the public as early and as often as you can. That is why it is called a crisis communications plan. In times of struggle, it’s not just fixing what went wrong in your business, it’s about being as transparent as you can to your audiences without jeopardizing your brand. Honesty will always be something that should take you far in your personal life and professional life. In the occasion that your business is dealing with something controversial or has potential to harm your company, people are looking for truthful answers of how it happened and how it is going to be fixed.

Creating and maintaining that trust with your publics and stakeholders is what is going to keep you afloat. Once that trust is compromised, it is impossible to get back. That is why it is vital to the success and longevity of your company to focus on being something that can be relied on.