A crisis can occur in many different shapes and forms. The situation falls under the bigger category of what is known as negative PR. Negative PR is anything that can harm the image of a brand and impact its relationship with the target audience in a way that makes them lose interest or become more distant from the brand and its product or service.
A crisis thus includes any event or publicity that damages the core features of a brand and the relationship with its target audience. In this regard the loss of trust in the brand, decrease of credibility, legitimacy and public support all count towards constituting a crisis. Of course, the degree to which these core features are lost is important, but overall any harm to trustworthiness and legitimacy is sufficient to deem a situation as a crisis.
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PR in crisis management focuses on two areas. The first involves implementing management strategies within your business. The purpose of PR in this aspect is to prepare you for the media when something goes wrong. For example, a product return or a scandal within your organization can quickly catch the attention of the media and you must be able to respond well and fast.
PR in crisis management also dictates how you communicate with your consumers and clients when an unexpected scenario arises. These are situations that occur on a larger scale and have a widespread effect on your industry. Although these situations may not require the protection of your individual reputation quite as much, people may experience greater uncertainty and less trust, so adjusting your communication to empathize with your audience is essential.
Public relations and crisis management are very closely related. This is because PR will outline effective communication between you and the public. During a time of crisis, communication is key in reducing the uncertainty that may be surrounding your reputation and therefore impacting your revenue, customer acquisition and customer loyalty.
A PR crisis management plan is necessary in order to effectively communicate and maintain a level of trust between you and your audience. As an experienced PR crisis communications agency, PRLab offers a range of services that can be used to prepare for and actively deal with any unexpected situation. We can help you plan an effective content marketing and social media strategy, through which you can implement your prepared response.
We can also provide the media training necessary to teach your team the skills required to respond internally, keeping everyone calm and informed, and externally, ensuring that your team responds to the media in a manner that will reduce the effects of a public relations crisis* and communicate your brand’s value.
The first thing you should do is execute a ready-made crisis management plan immediately, promptly addressing both your team and the public. Being open and honest is the best policy, as it demonstrates good values that will be associated with your brand. Mistakes do happen, and it is better to admit and work on improvement than deny the existence of a situation. The situations in which you can deny a crisis* is when you are certain the accusations are false.
Another strategy you can implement to manage a PR crisis is the diminishment strategy. In this case, instead of denying all faults, you can try to minimize the degree of responsibility on the organization. This only works when it is plausible to deny some of the responsibility. In situations where you cannot deny or diminish the events in question, there is the rebuilding strategy, in which you can make efforts to mend an organization’s reputation, usually in the form of an apology or compensation.
These strategies can be supplemented by bolstering your positive image, presenting your audience with new positive information about your organization or reminding them of your previous achievements.
PR specialists have many responsibilities when it comes to running a crisis communication firm. First is to conduct a full assessment of the situation before using our expertise to offer advice and guidance on your PR crisis management plan. This is best done following the steps necessary to gain an understanding of the company’s background and the context of the situation.
Public relations in crisis management will also help manage the press and media attention during these tricky situations. As a PR crisis communication agency, PRLab will help you to craft statements and train you and your team so they can interact with the media and give good interviews that will help with the reputation of your company and ensure the continued loyalty of your customers and investors.
It is also the role of PR to provide ongoing support after the situation has blown over. Part of this means analyzing the effectiveness of your PR crisis strategy, looking at what worked and what could be improved upon in the future. PR can also help to direct attention away from the PR crisis by creating a marketing strategy that focuses on the other positive achievements of your brand.
