By Kim Brown
When it comes to business, there’s one thing you can count on: things will go wrong.
Customers may leave negative reviews. A water main break could shut your doors for days. A hacker could get into your system, risking identity theft and regulatory fines.
Risk is all around us. So why do so many organizations fail to prepare?
Perhaps it’s because they don’t know where to begin.
In July, my co-founder, Abigail Hoover, and I presented on this topic at the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce’s Marketing Camp. Playing off the summer camp theme, we ran attendees through an exercise called “Putting Out Fires Without Getting Burned” and simulated a crisis in real time, asking participants to work through how they would respond if a situation spiraled out of control in a matter of hours.
What do you do when social media becomes a firestorm?
What about when the local media starts calling?
Or let’s up the ante. What happens when the national media is knocking on your door?
Too many great organizations pay the price for thinking it never will happen to them. Or that if it does, they’ll inherently know what to do. As a crisis manager who has seen crises unfold more times than I’d prefer, I can assure you: the worst time to figure out how to respond to a crisis is during one.
Every organization, big and small, should have a plan for how it’s going to communicate when things go sideways. In PR, we call this a crisis plan, and it’s more than a sheet of paper with a few phone numbers. It’s a document with designated roles and responsibilities that can be activated at a moment’s notice.
Who writes the message that will be posted on social media?
What does that message say?
Who reviews and approves it before it’s shared?
Who speaks to the media?
Is that person trained?
These are just a few of the questions you should consider before things go wrong.
I’ll also introduce a concept in PR called the “Golden Hour.” This is the first 60 minutes after a crisis breaks, when speed, accuracy and tone determine whether you own the story or allow speculation to drive the narrative.
You want to establish control with a strong message during this window because the first message people hear is often the one they believe. In psychology, this is called anchoring bias, and it’s one reason changing someone’s opinion can be so difficult.
One thing we shared with the Chamber audience was an acronym we created called ACT. It’s the messaging framework we use when responding to crisis situations. It stands for:
• Acknowledge
• Connect
• Take action
When deciding how to respond to a situation, the first step is to acknowledge that it’s happening. Let people know you’re aware of whatever is going on.
Then you connect. This means speaking to the pain of the situation and leading with empathy. Be careful if your plan is to hand over all of your messaging to AI. Human connection comes from humans. If you use AI exclusively, chances are people can tell.
The last piece of the messaging puzzle is to take action. By this, we’re talking about what you’re doing to address the situation. Are you working with a third party to investigate? Are you ensuring all data is secured? Are you working with authorities to resolve the issue?
Whatever you’re doing, say it and commit to transparency. This is an important step in retaining trust. Let people know you’ll keep them updated, whether through a daily press conference or updates on your social media channels. Tell people how they’ll receive new information and when they can expect it.
When responding to a crisis, or any situation that threatens your reputation, you want to communicate with calm reassurance. Reactive or defensive language will worsen your position. It’s also important to remember that perfection is not the goal. Clear communication is.
Don’t wait until you have all the facts before responding. In a crisis, every minute you’re not owning the narrative, someone else is. Don’t let anyone else tell your story for you. They’re likely to get it wrong.
And finally, make sure your internal audience knows where you stand. Prioritize your employees, volunteers, board members and anyone else who may be on the receiving end of questions. Giving them information empowers them to be your voice in the community. It also reinforces their role on your team.
At the end of the day, responding to a crisis is about trust. Every business depends on trust, but failing to respond quickly and appropriately when things go wrong is one of the fastest ways to lose it. If you take the time to build a crisis plan today, your chances of retaining that trust, regardless of what comes your way, increase dramatically.
Kim Brown, APR, is the co-founder of Story and Strategy PR.
