The time to prepare for a crisis isn't when you get the call. The time is now to start putting a process in place to handle crisis communications to help save your organization's reputation.

1. When “it” hits the fan
By Red Shoes PR

2. Today’s presentation you will
learn:
 Basics on how to prepare for a crisis
 What to do when “it” hits the fan
 The importance of consistent messaging
 The important role social media plays
 The speed of communications and sequencing
 After the crisis

3. The question is …
 How many of you
have a crisis plan in
place?
 Flickr photo by comicsrainbow

4. It’s not a matter of if …
 It’s a matter of when
 Flickr photo by AlanCleaver_2000

5. Before “it” hits, you need to:
 Determine or define what a crisis is to your
organization
 Accident?
 Issue?
 Emergency?

6. Time is on your side …
 BEFORE a crisis hits

7. What a crisis is
 An action or event that has the impact to stop
your business in its tracks and the potential to
shake your organization’s long-standing
credibility
 The situation has the potential to “bring the
brand and subsequently the company down.”

8. The many faces of crisis
 Layoffs
 Employee embezzlement
 Workplace violence
 Bomb threat
 Disgruntled customer
 Accident/injuries
 And the list goes on
 Because of the speed of communications,
something seemingly benign could get the best of
your organization. Oftentimes through
misinformation

9. From Social Media to Mainstream
Media and beyond
 Video found on The
Consumerist

10. Domino’s Response
 YouTube video from  Video found on Vojtech(PR)
president

11. Typically …
 An organization wants to duck and cover
hoping the situation blows over
 An organization is unable or unwilling to see
the situation for what it is … or could be (they
are too close to the situation)
 Unable to deal with or recognize the speed of
communications today

12. Some other recent crisis
 Toyota and sticking gas pedals
 Japan and earthquake
 BP
 GAP logo change
 RIM (Blackberry)
 Former congressman Anthony Weiner

13. How to plan
 Draft a simple yet impactful plan
 Solicit others involvement in development of
plan, this encourages awareness and
discussion (include other departments)

14. How to plan
 Identify a core group to handle crisis
communications/operations
 Identify outside resources you may want to
use for planning or when “it” hits the fan
 Have simple statements drafted so you can fill
information in when the time comes (if
possible, identify crisis scenarios and write to
those)
 Develop or participate in a drill

15. How to plan
 Have working
knowledge of
communications
platforms now …
don’t wait until you
are under fire
 Twitter
 Facebook
 YouTube
 Dark website

16. How to plan
 Identify a spokesperson (have a plan B, C,
too.)
 Have a contact list of your key stakeholders,
executives, etc (from electronic to printed)
 Outline your target audiences (staff, vendors,
public at large, board members, etc.)

17. How to plan
 Have a discussion with key leadership before
a crisis hits
 Walk through the plan and process
 Build relationships with local fire, police,
OSHA, etc.

18. How to plan
 Raise difficult questions and try to find
answers (better to be aware now of potential
pitfalls than later when the media calls)
 Have ways to monitor online conversations
and coverage
 Monitoringsoftware
 Google alerts

19. How to plan
 Remember, crisis communications begins with
you and the team!
 Communications should be centralized … this means
all communications need to be reviewed by central
team
 Communications team/specialist distributes all
messages (internal and external)
 One spokesperson
 Identify individual(s) who will handle all media calls
 Notify organization of point person and process
 Put yourself in the shoes of your audience(s)

20. And remember …
 Media train!
 Tips such as:
 Relaying factual information
 Paying attention to body language
 Answering questions succinctly

21. The impact of social media in
today’s crisis communications
 Many organization’s focus solely on media
 You need to remember social media channels
can work in your favor … or against you
 Make sure your messaging is consistent
 You don’t have the luxury of time today like
you did a few years ago

22. Sequencing of communications
 What do we mean by sequencing?
 As much as possible, time the
communications
 8a.m. internal all staff memo
 8:15 board members
 8:30 media
Tip: Keep in mind that once you send an e-mail to
internal audiences, the media is only one click
away … be ready to roll

23. What your audiences expect
today
 Transparency
 Honesty
 Listening
 Response
 Humility

24. When “it” hits the fan
 Have you ever
surfed?
 Surfers know that to
ride a wave, they
have to think ahead
and catch the wave
… before it catches
them
 Think of your
communications the
same way

25. Be proactive in your
communications
 As much as possible, be proactive in your
communications (even if there is no new
information, let them know that)
 If you have any sense that a story is going to
break, get ahead of the communications

26. Be proactive in your
communications
 Anticipate questions you might be asked and
the responses you are going to give
 Project confidence, manage your messaging
 You should consider calling a press
conference before they call you

27. Develop key messages
 Determine three to five key messages you
want your audience to know
 Utilize key messages as often as possible in
communications
 Make sure your messaging response is
appropriate (and not way out in left field)
 What you send internally should closely match
what goes externally

28. What happens if you wait for the
media to call you
 You are scrambling to grasp the situation
 The right people to answer questions might
not be available
 Your organization looks like it is trying to
“cover” something up
 Ultimately, your audiences might doubt your
credibility

29. Organizationally you need to be
prepared
 Make sure “front line”
is set up to handle on-
going questions from
customers
 What you are
promising publically to
change, your
organization needs to
live up to these
promises
 After all, you can’t put
lipstick on a pig
 Flickr photo by YannRopars

30. Even after a crisis, there’s work to
do
 Pull the team together to go through what
worked and what didn’t work
 Discuss what you could do differently next time
 Figure out what steps need to be taken to
regain trust again

31. Remember …
 Like snowflakes, no
two crisis are ever the
same
 And always have your
finger on the pulse of
trends and public
sentiment
 The Golden Hour of
communications …
the first 60 minutes
set the tone
 Flickr photo by James Clarke

32. Questions?
 Contact
 LisaCruz, President
 920-574-3253
 920-205-9796 (the bat phone!)
 Lisa@redshoespr.com