PR Crisis Management & Business Continuity Plans.
Public relations and crisis management PR are intricately linked. Corporate crisis management and PR professionals play a vital role in preparing for and navigating crises.
At Altitude we know that sometimes businesses need a little bit of help. By partnering with an experienced and agile team who excel at forming strategic responses in a fast-paced environment, you can ensure that everything is handled efficiently.
Reputational damage can be managed, and often mitigated, with smart planning and quick intervention.
It can be difficult to formulate a strategic and well-thought-out response in a fast-paced and challenging environment. Altitude can support you with detailed scenario planning and media training as part of a comprehensive crisis management plan. Whether it’s a social media blunder, product recalls, HR issues or corporate irregularities, our experienced team is on hand.
Any business can be hit by a crisis but the good news is you can prepare for this as part of your business plan or PR strategy. Having good crisis management PR and business continuity planning in place can save valuable time and ensure your employees know how to handle situations as soon as they happen.
What is Crisis Management in PR?
Crisis management PR is the process of business continuity planning to prepare for or navigate a major event which may threaten the organisation’s reputation. Crisis management planning usually falls under the remit of PR and communications practitioners.
Find out more about crisis management in one of our recent blogs - ‘What is Crisis Management in PR?’
How Do You Manage a Crisis As a Business?
The key to successfully navigating a crisis is being prepared. This involves having the right people, with the right skills, in place to handle a crisis.
Any business can be affected by a crisis but the best way to survive is to have an expertly crafted crisis management strategy in place and to have PR professionals, trained to react to crises, on hand to call when something happens. Key employees should be media-trained and each department should feed into a crisis plan.
For free tips and advice on managing a PR crisis, why not read one of our recent blogs?
What is a Business Continuity Plan?
A business continuity plan outlines how a business will respond to an unplanned event, crisis or disruption.
It will outline contingencies and procedures and will typically contain information on what to do when a certain crisis takes place to safeguard operations so that nothing has to be paused.
The best crisis management happens when no one knows its happening in the background. A significant part of a business continuity plan will focus on communication. How do you inform stakeholders? Who has the authority to speak to the media? What will the key messages be?
The most solid plans involve anticipation, scenario planning and clearly defined roles and responsibilities.
How Can a PR Crisis Management Agency Help?
A specialist agency can help you plan effectively and anticipate the steps you may need to take well ahead of any crisis. PR professionals can advise on appropriate messaging and help you ensure that your response doesn’t make any situation worse.
Working with an agency will highlight any skills gaps you might have and enable you to put a comprehensive crisis plan in place. This plan should give you peace of mind.
An agency can provide specialist help at times of crisis and extra pairs of hands and PR practitioners can also act as intermediaries with the media.
Why Choose Altitude PR For Your Corporate Crisis Management?
No one likes to think that things will go wrong. But occasionally they do and that’s when you want Altitude in your corner.
As experienced media professionals, we’ve helped diffuse a number of potential crises. We’ve helped organisations with their response, developed crisis management strategies and we’ve media trained their spokespeople.
The key to managing crisis communication involves good planning. We work with clients to fully understand their potential crisis points and plan accordingly.
We anticipate, work through scenarios, and think of every potential reputational hazard. We encourage businesses to actively work on continuity and reputational planning and give them the tools to build in strategic planning.
At Altitude, we co-develop strong crisis plans and subsequent resources and give senior leaders the confidence and skills to engage with the media.
Book Your Free Crisis Management & Business Continuity Planning Consultation Today
We offer a free 30-minute consultation for corporate crisis management and business continuity plans, and are happy to discuss your needs and goals with you. Get in touch with a member of our friendly team today to start preparing.
PR Crisis Management FAQs
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A PR crisis could be any negative event that will affect or damage a company’s reputation.
You may be familiar with KFC running out of chicken – this was a PR crisis. Their PR team were quick to navigate the situation by reacting through humour.
‘A chicken restaurant without any chicken. It’s not ideal’.
This got their audience and stakeholders talking more about their apology than the incident that caused it in the first place maintaining, if not improving, their reputation.
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Be prepared. Reputational damage can be managed with smart planning and quick intervention.
Be visible. Often hiding from the public eye can cause stakeholders to wonder why and this can affect your reputation.
Be transparent and authentic. Honesty is sometimes the best PR.
Show empathy and don’t be afraid to say “sorry”.
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Reputational crises can come in all shapes and sizes. Here are a few to consider…
Financial
Personnel/employee such as death, injury or criminal behaviour
Organisational such as product recalls
Technological such as a data breach or system failure
Confrontation such as blockades or protests
Workplace Violence
Crisis of Malevolence, for example, product tampering or malicious rumours.
Natural such as flood or fire
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An analysis of the key functions and processes you have
A prioritised assessment of potential risks
Use this to define strategies and policies to follow in the event these happen
Monitor the effectiveness overtime and amend as necessary
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The best way to navigate a crisis is to know what is coming, have planned a way to succeed through it and do it as seamlessly as possible.
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In larger organisations, departmental leaders have responsibility for the continuity of their respective departments and are likely to feed into the overall business continuity plan. The Chief Operating Officer or Chief Executive often owns this. In smaller organisations, it can rest with the Head of HR and occasionally, the communications lead.
It is vital that any business continuity plan, including any crisis PR plan, has the full support of the organisation’s senior team. The time for disagreement is during the planning phase, not during a crisis.
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Some organisations are tightly regulated and require a business continuity plan. Whilst it isn’t a requirement in all sectors, it certainly makes good business sense. Business continuity and crisis comms planning not only protects your reputation, but it also mitigates lost revenue.
Having a solid business continuity plan and crisis PR plan in place means you can rest assured that if things go wrong, you’re well prepared.