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Welcome to the The Marketing Source e-newsletter! Our goal is to provide
you with real-world marketing tips.If you have any ideas for articles,
please send them along.
Don't Postpone Your Crisis Communication Plan Another Minute
Despite the run of recent crisis situations (think Virginia
Tech, Jet
Blue, Walter
Reed Medical Center), plenty of you are still going about
your business without a crisis communication plan. Here's a tip for you
nonprofit marketers and small business marketers: the only time you can
develop a solid crisis communication plan is BEFORE the crisis. AFTER
a crisis happens, you're not planning - you're just reacting. And that's
a dangerous place to be.
Before you decide your chances of a crisis are small and you can handle
it, think again. What if: Your non-profit food pantry burned to the ground
- and a line of clients was stretched around the corner wondering what
they should do next? An unhappy customer goes to the media (unbeknownst
to you) with their story, and you get a phone call half an hour before
the TV station's deadline asking for a comment? A natural disaster causes
a dramatic spike in demand for your product or service and the media
are clamoring for information?
The cold, hard truth is that you don't know when a crisis will come
your way - and you may or may not have any warning. Complete this crisis
communication checklist, and sleep better knowing you're as ready as
you can be.
Think worst-case scenario
You can't anticipate every crisis, but spend a few minutes making a
list of likely crisis scenarios. Think about natural disasters (floods
or hurricanes if they are likely to happen in your area), criminal activity
(a bomb threat or robbery) or damage to your building (like a fire).
Then think about other crises specific to your business or nonprofit
(malpractice in a medical facility, a product manufactured by you that
injured or killed someone, a financial scandal at your parent organization
that trickles down to you). Knowing what you are likely to come up against
brings focus and direction to your planning.
Pull your power players together
In a crisis you'll want all hands on deck, but you need a dedicated
team who leads the effort - and has the ability to make decisions in
the heat of the moment. The CEO, president or executive director obviously
makes the team. But figure out now who else you need from operations,
marketing, safety and other areas of your senior management team and
what role each person will play.
Corral your contacts
Create a list of home and cell phone numbers, work and personal email
addresses and other contact info for staff members, especially your crisis
team. Do the same for key vendors and suppliers, including the companies
who provide your phone and Internet services. Then create a phone tree
or some other contact system for notifying your staff in a crisis.
Put it on paper
Give every member of your crisis team two copies - one for work, one
for home - of a crisis notebook with hard copies of your crisis team
and staff contact lists, media lists, operations plans and other key
documents. If your power goes out, your building is damaged or you can't
get to your office, your electronic lists won't help you one bit. You
can also copy all the electronic crisis files onto CDs and put one in
the back of each notebook so you can use them if you have access to a
laptop or off-site computer.
Have a plan B
After Hurricane Katrina, companies lost not only power, but phones,
servers, access to lock boxes, records and more. Cell phone service was
disrupted, there was little gasoline and employees were scattered throughout
the country. There was limited access to customer files and company data.
Could you recover from such a scenerio? Figure out your key operational
issues, then have some backup plans in place. Your backup might include
anything from asking a neighboring company to lend you temporary space
in an emergency to creating a backup server function for your data and
website to what to do with incoming supplies or warehoused products.
At a minimum, you'll need a place for a crisis communication "war
room" where your team can gather.
Must-have media
Make or update your list of newspapers, radio and TV stations and other
local media. And don't forget newer media alternatives - myspace.com,
text messaging services, web sites, blogs, etc. They'll be an important
part of getting your message out during a crisis. Even if you're not
actively using myspace or a blog, you can set up accounts now so you'll
be ready to roll. Find some more great info on social marketing in crisis
planning at the Resonance
Partnership Blog.
Messages matter
Think about how you will communicate the information you do have, how
you will respond to questions you don't have the answers to, how you
will explain your investigation, how you will talk about your organization.
In short, think of the questions likely to be asked in a crisis. Then
create template news releases and statements you can quickly adapt in
a crisis. Having these materials in hand will jump start your communication
in a crisis, allowing you to focus on collecting later-breaking facts
rather than constructing releases from scratch.
One voice
Not having a designated spokesperson during crisis communication is,
well, a disaster. You need one person (well-trained) who has access to
the latest information to serve as the central point of contact. And
don't forget to check out the front lines. The receptionist answering
your phones or staff members questioned by the media as they come and
go need to be prepared also. Make sure they know how to respond to inquiries
appropriately and how to refer inquiries to the spokesperson.
When it's time to talk
The media will write and air stories with or without your help. And
with the advent of camera phones, easily up-loadable video, blogs and
other forums, it's not just reporters reporting the news. Anyone with
a little tech savvy can create and publish information on line in moments.
All this makes being calm, cool and collected under fire - and having
the facts straight - more important than ever. The two most important
rules for working with the media? Don't say "no comment," -
it comes off badly every time. And don't say more than you know - if
you don't know something, say you don't know and offer to find out. (Get
more at The
Media Interview - a terrific blog resource that covers everything
interview from "The Fear Factor" to "Unrehearsed Interviewees".)
What went right, what went wrong
Once the crisis has passed and you can take a deep breath, call your
team together again. Take a good hard look at what worked, what didn't
and what you need to change in your plan. It's also a good time to say
thanks to vendors, partners, media or others who were helpful during
the crisis.
Looking for help to get your crisis communication plan off the ground?
We can help.
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