For business owners all over the world, communication is one of the most challenging aspects of managing a business. It doesn’t matter if you’re a large or small company – it becomes harder to communicate when there’s an urgent crisis.

Just like the pandemic crept up on us and made us hyperaware of the need for a system to forge our way through immediate barriers. It is important to have a crisis communications plan because crises unfold quickly and lead to moments where we have to make swift decisions, or risk trending across the media for all the wrong reasons. A proper communications plan can enable success even in the direst of circumstances.

Many businesses were unprepared for a health crisis of the Covid scale, failing to recognise that societal, political, and cultural issues could also have an impact on their operations. This means that communication departments must find a way to convey what is important first to employees -as they are the critical stakeholders before they do so to the public. 

Boeing’s poor handling of its late 2018 and early 2019 crisis where a total of 346 people lost their lives in Ethiopia and Indonesia after the new 737 Max passenger jets crashed just four months apart presented the company with its worst crisis situation ever. 

The 737 Max was soon referred to as Boeing’s “death jet” by the British media, and the ensuing loss of confidence caused anxious investors to initially drop $20 billion from Boeing’s market worth.

Crises are not prejudiced. They come in different sizes, shapes, and colours, and no industry or region is insulated from them.  According to a survey by PwC in 2019, 7 out of 10 leaders had experienced a corporate crisis in the last 5 years – It’s even more prevalent in companies with over 5,000 employees. The survey also found that nearly all businesses expect to be hit by a crisis in the future. 

The Media and Crisis

Today’s crisis scenes are exacerbated by digitalisation and the accelerated consumption of news on social media. We’re now in a dispensation where fake news and disinformation spread like wildfire, so it’s important for businesses to take ownership of issues as soon as they’re public. 

Leaving the public and the media to define or tell your story could be dangerous, so communication experts need to be at the fore and proactively own or define the narrative. They should consider that their decisions may change in the next minute or hour and have a plan close at hand for all possible scenarios. Even the largest corporations in the world may be unprepared for the world’s most serious emerging threats, such as misinformation, more frequent cyber attacks, or employee activism. 

Leaders also need to be able to stay up with the newest digital trends and be prepared to roll out their brand values of being always honest and delivering reliable information in reaction to a crisis. 

Social media can always be a great ally too, as people now have a direct voice and platform to reach people. It is important to address crisis issues on social media too, especially if the conversation broke on social media or now trends on social media. 

The Role of Media Monitoring in a Crisis.

Prevention, they say, is the best cure. Media monitoring could serve as a prevention tactic for crisis as it can help defuse a crisis before it boils over. When a looming crisis arises with a potential for reputational damage, media monitoring helps PR experts identify likely issues, flag threats, and then create a crisis response plan to put out the fires. 

Businesses can learn how their brand is seen and how it is trending among various audiences and geographic locations, by employing media monitoring tools. Monitoring social media, in particular, might help identify potential supporters or detractors of your organization in advance.  You can also anticipate and prepare for any issues you may encounter by monitoring the media mentions of your competitors and how they respond to them.

Media monitoring might even be most beneficial after a crisis, as it will help you avoid repeating the same mistakes. Evaluating how the crisis started, how much harm was caused, and the current public sentiment can all influence how you rebuild and go on.

Curzon PR is a London-based PR firm working with clients globally. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact our Business Development Team [email protected]