What is a Crisis?
A crisis is any situation that has the potential to damage your brand’s reputation or interrupt business. If a threat of some type hasn’t yet affected your company, don’t be naïve to think it won’t happen. Something as simple as a negative tweet or something as massive as a product recall or SEC investigation can rock and sink the ship you have spent years building.
How to Prepare
It is unhealthy to constantly focus on the “what ifs,” but it is equally as unhealthy to lack a plan of action in case a crisis does happen. One of the first steps to drafting your plan is to assemble a crisis communications team that understands the potential damage and consequences that can unfold. On this team, you’ll also need well-spoken individuals who can deal with the press, if needed.
Next, discuss with your team what potential crises might look like for your company – they could be specific to your industry or organization – and work together to find a solution. Conduct a vulnerability audit to see how susceptible your company is and what action you can take to minimize both damage and risk.
It only takes a matter of minutes for a serious crisis to reach the media and/or cause a company’s stock price to plummet. It may take some time and additional resources, but building a crisis communications team could be the only thing standing between your company and catastrophe. If this seems like too much to handle, a third party often provides unique insight into a situation.
StockMarketRelations provides a range of crisis communication solutions coordinated by professionals with years of relative experience. Should a potentially damaging event occur, our team steps in, sufficiently analyzes the situation, and creates and executes a strategy to minimize if not eliminate corporate damage. Our goal is to smolder the flames so you can get back to business as usual.