Any PR pro or communications department member knows that having a Crisis Communications Plan (CCP) is critical. The more difficult task is keeping the plan’s steps top-of-mind for rapid recall when you need them. Unless the plan is practiced often (good) or used frequently (not so good), it lives in a file until all hell breaks loose and then you find yourself scrambling to review it while media members are parked outside your office urgently texting, emailing and calling for your response.
Based on a survey of communicators PR News and Nasdaq PR Services conducted last year, just 50% of firms have a solid CCP (PRN, March 28, 2016). Of those 50% with CCPs, nearly 60% admitted their company fails to regularly conduct crisis practices and simulations. With these disturbing statistics in mind, this article offers tips to make your CCP more memorable and easier to use.
Our PR department borrowed a motto from the U.S. Coast Guard: SPAR— Semper Paratus, Always Ready—and developed our plan. For us, SPAR stands for Scan, Plan, Act and React. These are clear steps we follow to disseminate accurate information about an emergency situation in a timely manner.
Although your first priority is getting out vital information quickly to protect your clientele, PR also needs to be practiced at attacking misinformation and defending your organization’s reputation, especially in the midst of a crisis.
Here’s how SPAR can help you implement your CCP:
Step 1: Scan – Identify and Confirm
When an emergency or crisis occurs, the first thing you must do is gather your communications team and then collect the facts. Confirm as many details as possible to help clarify the nature and severity of the incident. Assemble a list of what you know and what you don’t (yet). Then pull out your comprehensive CCP so you have it for easy reference and quick access to the tools you’ll need to create your response.
Step 2: Plan – Roles, Responses
Next, you must determine clearly who will be doing what.
Our university’s CCP includes a pre-determined list of possible roles for the PR team that outlines the responsibilities and duties for each position in detail. The plan is flexible, adaptable and scalableto fit the response to the size and type of emergency using the staff available.
In a full crisis situation, a communication contingent could be assigned specific roles such as: Lead Public Information Officer; Media PIO; Social Media Monitor; and Director of Internal and/or External Communications. In addition you may want to designate a Scribe to document the swirl of incoming and outgoing messages.
After roles are assigned, start immediately developing key messages about the response effort. This information can be used to draft news releases, prepare talking points, create quotes or answer questions from media.
Your emergency CCP should also include a tool kit to make the response faster while maintaining accuracy. It is beneficialto identify common emergencies before they happen and create pre-approved messages in text and email form that can be quickly adapted to fit the current crisis and rapidly released.
A comprehensive CCP should also include readily accessible templates for news releases, news advisories, a checklist for staging a news conference and a holding statement that simply acknowledges something has happened and promises more information will be released as soon as possible. Preparation prior to an emergency makes acting on it much easier when one occurs.
Step 3: Act – Respond with Accurate, Updated Information
After the facts are gathered and the team assignments made, it is time to take action. The CCP should list the emergency notification systems and protocols required or available to notify your constituents, the media and the general public.
For example, under federal law, universities are required to alert members of the campus community of an immediate danger or ongoing threat through texts and emails, then provide information about what to do.
Depending on the nature and size of the emergency, a variety of messaging may be required, including: responses to media and social media, call centers to handle questions from the public, changing electronic billboards to visually alert the public and/or establishing a stand-alone website to provide updates or additional resources. Decisions must be made about news briefings and news conferences.
An articulate, credible and empathetic spokesperson should be identified and prepped to represent your organization at a news conference or in high-profile media interviews. All of this messaging should be released in a timely manner to head off inaccurate or misleading information that can spread rapidly when official statements are unavailable.
Step 4: React – Analyze the Response and Provide Feedback
In this age of instant social media and citizen reporters, it is more critical than ever to monitor the reaction to your emergency response and to react. Along with reading and watching local media coverage, the PR team also must monitor Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, other social media, email and even phone calls to see if your messaging is being received accurately and if it is adequate.
The team should also respond to questions and concerns, correct misinformation and provide updates on all social platforms, as well as briefing reporters and stakeholders. Creating a website for the most current facts available and updating it frequently will help control the flow of information.
Another part of reacting is reviewing your communication response during and after the crisis. Was it effective? Could something have been messaged better? Is cleanup still needed to clear an inaccurate report? Was there a hiccup or a logjam that could have been avoided?
Most CCPs are extensive and detailed, containing mission statements, objectives, guidelines, contacts, templates, maps, how-to refreshers and other resources that might be needed in a crisis. This is important information that your team should review and update periodically. But if you strip down your CCP to its basics, the four-step SPAR process—Scan, Plan, Act and React—must be at the heart of it.
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