Orange County Web design, SEO Writing, Internet Marketing::HQZ Experts

1. Place operational and communications responses on an equal footing.
2. Have a crisis plan in place, preferably one where the writing is overseen by your eventual crisis person or team.
3. Drill and test the plan so it becomes second nature. Make refinements based on your drills.
4. Media: Train top executives, technical experts, and attorneys. It's the single most important thing you can do to prepare for a crisis.
5. When responding, remember the three Cs:
   • Command
   • Communications
   • Compassion
6. Show authority but remember to comfort affected audiences and their need to know.
7. The media will scream for information, but place the highest priority on communicating with internal or customer audiences. They're overlooked way too often in the crush to respond to reporters' calls.
8. Get press kits, fact sheets, photos, etc. updated now. The middle of a crisis is no time to write company or institutional backgrounders.
9. There are literally no new crises under the sun. What's happening to you, or about to happen, has happened to someone else before. Study what they did right and what you would do differently.  Look at other websites, articles, and books on crisis management for guidance.
10. Make decisions based on what's in your company's best interest - crisis decisions can't be purely legal, purely PR, or purely financial.   

Crises are ultimately about your organization's values, put to the test.  Crisis responders, from the top down, must constantly remind themselves about the motivations and reasoning behind their decisions. 

If your company encounters a messaging crisis, HQZ can help you quickly analyze how to communicate the crisis and help devise a media response both internally and externally.  

Hiding or ignoring is not the solution.  Remember how Tylenol turned a major disaster into a very visible and positive situation.

Pat Dwight
© 2011