As specialists in crisis management, we know there are times when any business is vulnerable to the public relations fallout of an issue or change.
It could be that an unexpected issue comes out of the blue – or it may be that you are planning a restructure or change or can see a sensitive issue looming on the horizon and understand the need to be ready when the time comes.
Crisis management is all about intelligence, quick-thinking, and the ability to challenge facts and to see the picture clearly with an objective eye.
It also requires an intuitive understanding of how people – including your employees, your customers, the media, investors and other stakeholders – are likely to react to the issue in hand.
Whether you’re facing significant restructuring, allegations of dishonesty, abuse or negligence, or a potentially catastrophic business crisis, the skills we have honed over three decades working in strategic communications and crisis and issues management, and as former journalists on the other side of the fence, come into play.
All retained Polymedia clients have 24/7 access to a director experienced in crisis management, whenever they are needed. We also offer media training which can be tailored to realistic crisis scenarios for your business. This training can be delivered with or without a film crew to ensure your key team members are always ready to handle those trickier moments.
Sometimes a PR crisis is unexpected – every business is vulnerable to the kinds of issues that it is impossible to predict.
Ideally, we would work with you to plan and train for a crisis – all retained clients have 24/7 access to our crisis team. But if your brand is at risk today that doesn’t really help you.
In an emergency scenario, our experienced crisis management specialists act quickly – day or night – to assess what’s happening, who we need to communicate with, and what we should be saying.
We act quickly to protect your reputation, taking the heat out of the situation and limiting the potential damage.
We then work to develop a strategy for ongoing crisis management as the issue unfolds.
While we can react to an emergency at short notice, it’s far easier to manage a reputational issue if you have a structured, prepared crisis management PR plan in place.
Every business should plan for the worst – if something happens, who should be informed? How? What’s your strategy if the issue becomes a social media nightmare, or if the media turn up on your doorstep?
Businesses without a good crisis management plan can find that the reputational damage caused by an issue is far worse if they have not prepared. That involves working with your senior teams to understand the mechanics of your organisation, how its people work, the vulnerabilities it has and the risks it is likely to face.
We then put together a comprehensive, regularly-updated and strategic crisis management plan. You hope you’ll never need it – but it’s there if you do.
Brands can be damaged or destroyed by a poor communications response to an issue or crisis. It's critical to have a team which can make your voice heard if you're in the spotlight.
You may well find yourself trying to sort the issue itself, with the added pressure of media hounding you. Knowing who in your management team is best suited to respond, that they're well trained and understand the process of messaging, brings peace of mind and, ultimately, effective handling.
Putting key players through their paces with changing scenarios in advance of an issue lays the foundation stones of good media handling.
Our own team of print and broadcast journalists devise bespoke crisis media training courses from a three-hour basic introduction to media handling, to two-day intensive crisis training tailored for your business.
Please get in touch to discuss how we may be able to help prepare your business, should the unthinkable become the reality.