| You can never plan for every eventuality but putting a | | | | decisions and take swift action rather than being |
| crisis PR plan together will save you time and effort | | | | bogged down with tasks and research that will distract |
| when the unexpected happens. It will enable you to do | | | | you from managing the crisis itself. Assume that an |
| the ground work and define and develop systems, | | | | incident comes to light in about ten minutes' time - if |
| processes and briefing information that can be used | | | | that happens then you will need a number of things, |
| straight away. You will have your arms full with dealing | | | | including the following: |
| with the incident, so you need to know that your | | | | - contact details for local hotels should you need to |
| communications can go into action at short notice. | | | | hold a press conference at short notice |
| When you are considering writing a crisis plan it's worth | | | | - a checklist for all the items you would need for a |
| considering seven core elements: | | | | crisis meeting with senior staff |
| - an assessment of the risks faced by the company. | | | | - up-to-date briefing material on the company to make |
| Potential risks might relate to any of the following | | | | available to the press and media within the hour |
| areas; staff, service/product provision, legal, financial, | | | | - clarity around the key roles needed in a crisis and |
| corporate, economic, political, technological, customers, | | | | responsibilities for each member of the crisis team |
| insurance | | | | - contingency plans for responsibilities should someone |
| - the policies, procedures, systems and practices that | | | | be away on holiday |
| are in place to minimise risk regulations that the | | | | - out of hours contact details for senior staff |
| business must adhere to - set down by law, by | | | | - a listing of your stakeholders so you can check who |
| governing bodies and membership associations | | | | you need to communicate with |
| - readiness - the process in place that provides | | | | - access to your office out of hours |
| warning of a potential crises and ensures that it is | | | | - contact details for press and media should you need |
| recorded, reported and managed swiftly. This should | | | | to issue a statement |
| be accompanied by up-to-date background briefing | | | | - facility for a customer helpline |
| information and essential contact details that will be | | | | - facility to update your website out of hours with |
| needed should something happen | | | | important information for customers |
| - response - managing your PR so that so that your | | | | - contact details for the person you need to contact |
| stakeholders and key audiences are kept informed - | | | | should you need to halt advertising. |
| staff, shareholders, clients, industry associations, | | | | Never assume that because all crises are different |
| representative bodies, financial analysts, etc | | | | you cannot put in some planning to make handling |
| - recovery - you may need to take steps to rebuild | | | | easier. Exactly what is needed will differ by type of |
| part of the business, once the crisis has been dealt | | | | organisation but that does not mean you shouldn't |
| with. It's important to think about who you need to | | | | make efforts to put a plan in place. Often, you can |
| communication during that period | | | | enhance your reputation with key audiences in the |
| - review - learning from a crisis is invaluable. You | | | | way that you handle a crisis. Handling a crisis can be |
| should review your plan after a crisis to assess its | | | | stressful and fraught with difficulty - a crisis PR Plan |
| effectiveness and how improvements can be made. | | | | will help to take some of the pain out of handling the |
| The aim of the crisis plan is to enable you to make | | | | incident and help put you on the front foot. |