The best Crisis Communication plan that your team can make.

We can’t run away from crisis. We never know when they might land up. These are a part and parcel of a business and accepting it and moving graciously ahead with the plan is what counts. Crisis can prove to be quite bad for any company but it doesn’t mean one can’t get out of it. One can get out of it and can also be just as successful as before if placed and executed properly. From a Public Relation’s point of view, a crisis is the real challenge and how to get the company out of it is the real fun.

No one car stop the crisis but there are a few things that one can do to manage it and solve it in a timely manner. First and foremost, plan. Always keep a back-up plan ready in case a crisis occurs. A company should always have the answer to “what if”. This is one of the most important steps of the crisis communication plan that one shouldn’t miss in any way. When crisis take place, a company doesn’t have a lot of time to clean up the mess. This is where a back-up plan comes in very handy and saves the company massively.

Secondly, know your assets and keep them close to your chest. Every company and brand have an asset and identifying that is very important. The asset could be anything, loyal audience, quality, experience, ambassador, anything. Using that to the advantage of the brand is very important. These little things come in very handy and useful while your brand is in crisis or trouble.

Being honest and transparent with the audience and the media is so important. When the company and the brand is in crisis, being open about it to their loyal consumers is so important. It helps the consumers trust the brand and be loyal to it in spite the situation they are in. This is a very important part of the crisis communication plan.

Let’s take an example of the much-loved Cadbury here. We all know the crisis Cadbury went through when germs were found in the chocolate. A brand like Cadbury going through severe crisis was shocking but the way they game out of it was surprising and a perfect example of how Public Relations were used. What they did was they came in front of the media and apologized to them and their consumers which helped them gain trust and loyalty. They appointed Amitabh Bachchan as the brand ambassador of Cadbury and made an advertisement saying that all rules and regulations are being followed at the factories and Mr. Bachchan has himself inspected those. They knew their asset and used them to perfection and made a great comeback in the market. 

This is just an example. Most brands go through highs and lows, and success and crisis, the way one takes it and the way one comes out of it determines its real strength.