Crafting the Perfect Crisis Communication Strategy: 7 Steps

Crisis communication is an essential component of an effective strategic communication strategy and a must for all companies and brands. dpa / Britta Pedersen

One of the most important aspects the COVID-19 pandemic has understandably brought to the forefront is crisis communications. The situation has enlightened many companies and brands to the need to evaluate their current crisis communication strategies and identify any cracks that may exist. For companies and brands that do not have an existing crisis communication strategy, the current situation should open their eyes to the need to rectify this gap immediately.

The reality is no organization, no matter how successful, efficient, well-managed, etc. is completely immune to experiencing a crisis at some point. And that is why crisis communication is an essential component of an effective strategic communication strategy and a must for all companies and brands.

Here are a few steps for developing an effective crisis communication strategy to help weather almost any storm.

Do a Risk Assessment - The first step to developing an effective crisis communication strategy is to conduct a thorough risk assessment. This includes mapping out all the potential threats that could affect your company - both man-made (e.g. theft) and natural (e.g. hurricane damage) and rating them as low, medium and high (high risks being the ones most likely to occur). For example, for a company located in the Caribbean, the threat of hurricane damage is a very high risk.
Identify How Each Threat Will Impact Major Categories - Once a full risk assessment has been completed, it's time for your crisis management team to identify how each threat will impact the three most important categories any company has to think about - their customers, internal stakeholders, and their brand perception/reputation. Understanding the impact on all three categories will help better guide the appropriate response for each threat.
Craft Key and Pre-Approved Messages - After identifying how each threat will impact the company's major categories, the crisis management team must then collectively decide on the appropriate approach for each potential threat and construct key and pre-approved messages for each. These messages will be the basis for any talking points when addressing the media.
Identify Key Stakeholders & Their Role - It is essential to also identify the key stakeholders for any crisis and their role. For example, will the CEO be called upon to speak or will it be solely the responsibility of the Chief Communication Officer (CCO) to communicate with the media and the public at large? Regarding social media responses - will someone be assigned to wholly own all posts made during the crisis? Identifying key stakeholders and their role are essential to ensuring a company is fully aligned during any crisis.
Have a Media Relations Plan - With key and pre-approved messages in place, stakeholders and their roles identified, it's time for the information to be organized into a media relations plan, which is part of the larger crisis communication strategy. The media relations plan must include a current and updated media contact list, the company's existing relationship with each specific media house and individual contact, if applicable, etc.
Have a Social Media Plan - Social media has changed the communication world in so many ways and its impact on crisis communication is substantial. Because of social media, customers and the public at large now expect and in some cases demand, immediate responses from a company for any crisis. However, rushed responses are some of the worse things a company can do on social media. The wrong word, phrase, hashtag, etc. can quickly escalate a situation and create a major P.R. disaster. Therefore, an important part of any crisis communication strategy is developing a specific social media plan that includes pre-written and approved posts, identifying a social media spokesperson, deciding on how often to post and when.
Have a Post-Crisis Plan - Lastly, your crisis communication strategy must include a post-crisis plan. When a crisis has passed, it's not the time to simply forget about said crisis and your crisis communication strategy and decide it is "business as usual" again. A post-mortem of what worked and didn't work is imperative. Were key messages appropriately communicated, did key stakeholders successfully deliver on their roles, was the social media response well-received or should there have been more posts or less, etc.? It is important to remember that your crisis communication plan must be a living document, i.e. something that evolves as the need arises.