Guide to Manage Brand Crises in 2020

The only constant is the fickle nature of businesses. So, you need to be prepared to handle the downfalls and plummeted profit rates of your business. And this guide will help you to combat such challenging times. Without further ado, get ready to understand the term crisis management, its principles, and ways that can help you to bounce back in the race of leading businesses.

Crisis Management – Understanding the Term 

Crises management is referred to as the process, which an organization adheres to deal with catastrophic situations. A crisis has deleterious effects on the business operations, in a gamut of ways menace employees or employer, put a scar on goodwill of the business and bring down the finances of your business.

And if you want to combat any such crises, then you need to look for a comprehensive process that cannot be easily handled by all public relations firms. A plethora of crisis management companies are communication experts with a background in public relations as well as reputation marketing.

But in 2020 and beyond, only these strategies won’t suffice the current competition in the market. This mushrooms the dire need for professionals to comprehend the role of search engine reputation management principals to manage a crisis as well as curb any ill-effects on your brand reputation.

You need to take care that your professionals concoct the best crisis management plan. And business leaders tend to put off risk management when things are with accord to their business plan. And such a mindset can lead business leaders to face repercussions that have a direct impact on their business operations as well as other segments of a business.

• Unequipped stakeholders are most likely to land on ineffective plans and decisions.
• Investors see the businesses in the wrong light for issuing contradictory statements.
• Lack of preparation leads to an increase in recovery time.

Situations of Crises 

In the professional domain, anything that can have any ill-effect on the reputation of the business or bottom line constitutes a crisis. Some of the critical cases include product recalls, stolen data, false accusations, or the loss of a key higher-up. Any of such scenarios could prove to be catastrophic or even hazardous to your company name or earnings.

Some unprecedented situations or natural calamities are not under human control, and it can have a crippling effect on your brand name, but with prudence, this seemingly insuperable predicament can be addressed. If you don’t want to be on the receiving end due to preventable crises that are the consequence of an oversight or a poor decision, then such abject conditions can be sorted with a bang-on crisis response strategy. Also, you should not consider bad feedbacks as nugatory or wait till they snowball out of control.

Learning How to Combat the Crises from Johnson & Johnson

For many media houses, the epitome of crisis communication remains the Autumn 1982 response of Johnson & Johnson to the demise of seven people in Chicago due to cyanide-laced Tylenol. The Chairman of the company, James Burke, went back to the founding credo of the company. His quick response to curb the ill-effects received accolades all-over-the-world. He channelized his expertise in bifurcating two teams, one dealing with how to stop the issue and others for managing the brand reputation.

The brand also worked with the Food and Drug Association (FDA) officials to produce new tamper-proof packaging. And the wise move led to positive media coverage, which saved the brand from hitting rock bottom.

Ways to Manage a Crisis 

A quick professional response coupled with best-in-class brand management and ORM, to a large extent curtail the impact of a crisis.

The next few sections deal with the crisis management process. To comprehend all the aspects, don’t only scroll through, read it meticulously.

Ø Pre-crisis (crisis prevention)

The crucial stage of your crisis plan occurs before the problem exists. During this phase, business owners should be able to reckon the possible perils, train stakeholders, and devise as well as treat a response plan. This is also the perfect time to get on board an adept crisis manger.

The adage, “prevention is better than cure” holds in this scenario as well. However, human-errors and inescapable calamities happen. So, to make sure that the brand reputation does not suffer in any case, preparing beforehand to face such issues is a robust way to keep safeguard the company’s reputation.

Ø Get the professional crisis management team on work 

You need to make sure that the team is lead by your CEO and backed by senior executives, legal counsel, and the firm’s leader of public relations. And to proficiently cover all the loopholes, you would need to hire individuals from all company disciplines and regions to properly assess your backdrops. Also, it is better to slim down your team later than to add new professional amidst the process.

Ø Evaluate your weakness 

Before concocting a response plan; it would be a smart move to jot down your weak points. Hold a brainstorming session with your crisis team and enumerate factors that can be detrimental to the reputation of the company. By organizing a meeting that encompasses the employees from all the verticals, you can reduce the risk rate of something critical.

Ø Devise a crisis management plan 

Crisis management should be the focal point of your business plan, so avert the option of using a generic crisis response template as there is no one-size-fits-all plan. It’s imperative to adhere to the plan in alignment with your business that is drafted based on the outcomes of your weakness audit.

If you are unsure of the first step, then reverse planning should be your go-to option; so, define your goals and then work on the same.

At a minimum, your crisis plan should address the listed factors:

• Contingency plans
• Stakeholders
• Important spokespeople for a gamut of communication channels
• Holding statements
• Crucial communication infrastructure
• Access to emergency funds
• Decision-making chain of command

Ø Create a top-notch crisis communications plan 

Primarily, you need to choose the best spokesperson. This individual will be representing your company in times of crisis. You need to hire a seasoned orator who does not succumb to pressure and does not lower when the brand is put under the pile of accusations.

While it pivotal for CEOs to be active during a crisis, not all executives are well-versed in public relations roles. Also, your spokesperson needs to be comfortable with live interviews and written statements. Crucially, the professional should be able to juxtapose PR with crisis communication.

Apart from this, your communication experts should be able to coherently draft a comprehensive statement for the media. So, once you are done with the draft, seek the approval for the same from your legal team in advance. And this would expedite the recovery process.

Ø Switch to brand monitoring 

Shifting to brand monitoring enables you to filter negative content and address criticism before it causes any ill-effect to your brand reputation. And to tackle such a situation, Google Alerts can act as a benison for informing you with online mentions, and it is free of cost. And to make the best use of this is by setting alerts for trademarks and CEOs.

Apart from this, it is also a vital element of crisis management strategies. Without an iota of doubt, it is a splendid way to be aware of negative articles. But, your consumers might end up posting criticism on social networks, and adhering to this way of detection, you might end up giving it a miss. So, it would be a sagacious move to opt for white-glove services.

To avoid any such situation, it would be better if you would establish a social media team in the event of a crisis that can map brand mentions and more. Also, it is indispensable that your team refrain from using unprofessional language and post in a pre-defined manner to curtail the effect of the negative news cycle.

Handling the Crisis Phase 

When your business lands into a crisis, to curb the situation, your professionals are bound to focus on two areas: resolving issues that led to the unpleasant scenario and communicating internally and externally about the actions you are taking.

You should assign one team the task to meticulously dig out the core reason for the crisis and the best way to fix it. No key area should be missed as the issue could be the result of flawed processes, sabotage, etc. And it is crucial to include financial and legal executives to aid you in the process.

Crisis Communication 

Your team should be capable of addressing a gamut of issues and comprehend a wide variety of data. Different audiences would demand distinct information, and your experts should not be the source of disappointment at this point. This necessitates training multiple sets of individuals. But you need to select one spokesperson who can articulate the crisis internally as well as externally.

Also, make sure to keep the employees and other concerned parties in the loop. This avoids grapevine conversations, and in a way, safeguards the concerned party from being deviated or feeling insecure about the bond or partnership.

Unforeseen Effects of Crisis on Your Business 

An organization handles a variety of crises beyond their control. There can be many unprecedented crises as well as catastrophic disasters such as oil spills, earthquakes, and more, which can be cumbersome and difficult to stop, yet other potential threats may be directly or indirectly by your company or employees. A misleading tweet can cause a stir on social media, and your brand would need to bear the brunt. There are three main ways businesses are impacted:

1. Reputation Damage 

The series of news during a PR crisis can scar your brand’s image and can lead to losing investors and clients. The social media content can also add to the storm, and your companies move and statements can be shown in the wrong light and broadcasted around the globe.

2. Business Operations Disruption 

If you want a perpetual business, then at this point, it would require you to pull people from a variety of departments, and this would exert pressure on the remaining employees and would skyrocket the stress level and employee turnover.

3. Falling Profit Rates 

Constant scrutiny will heap over positive content in your search engine results. And this can lead to a loss in high-quality leads and potential customers, no further, would consider your brand as a good question.

Best approach for crisis recovery

In a nutshell, it can be said that to reduce the crisis, you would need to uplift your digital image. Do you want your potential customers to come across the negatives linked to your brand? So, if you don’t want to forgo the profits coming your way, then it is important to expand and have a strong footing in the digital arena by availing top-notch SEO-driven online reputation management services.

Our services have your back and ensure to mitigate the damage to your digital image during a crisis. Our best-in-class services enable us to retain our clients and their brand reputation. And we make sure that your brand reputation is restored within a short span, our seasoned experts won’t leave you disappointed as well as suggest you ways to enhance your brand image.