Contributors: Ishita Shah & Khushboo Alag

Crisis: The word,when heard, instantly brings all PR professionals on their toes. With the rapid rise of social media platforms, we never know when we might land up in a situation which will be out of our control. At that moment rather than panicking and running around with ideas would not suffice. So do we know what exactly a PR professional must do when they hear the ‘C’ word?

Here is a checklist we have curated:

1. Divide responsibilities amongst team: Yes, first get the entire team working on the account, together and decide what each one would do. Ofcourse, everyone should be involved in ideation and strategy building, but other roles need to be defined. It would not be a bad idea to ask for help from additional teams, if the current team size does not suffice.

• Firstly, decide who is going to lead this entire scenario. The one person from the team who coordinates with the client, has updates from every team member and who designates responsibilities.
• Next, have someone take care of all the copy and create content and documentation. So this one team would help churn out everything from press statements, social media posts, press releases, etc., and all teams would coordinate with them to get their documents in place. As everything in a crisis is usually fast-paced, having this one point for creating content would also help getting approvals from the leadership and communications head of the brand in question
• Scenario planning is another important role, which is often overlooked. While the team works on the current crisis, what would happen next, knowing the evolving social media and media space is equally important. A person or a team dedicated to planning what can happen next, would help the leader decide on next steps in consultation with the team
• It is imperative to have dedicated teams to track and handle the brand’s social media channels and someone to track the media channels. These two teams need to work very closely with each other to have a rub-off effect
• The brand’s internal communications team also needs to brief the internal employees of the organization. This can be done with or without the support of the PR agency

2. Prompt reply on social media: Once the above responsibilities are smoothly divided, the teams need to first start damage control on Social media. Creating a robust social media strategy, personalized statements for each channel should be the first priority of the Crisis team.

3. Transparency with your stakeholders: Keep all your stakeholders updated if the crisis is large and might affect them at present or in future in any way. This includes investors, vendors, mentors, and employees. But ensuring that the communication does not cause chaos is equally important. A quick guideline for them to not respond to any media outreach would also be appreciated, and be of extreme help

4. Keep the internal communication team informed about all the happenings: It’s crucial that employees are kept informed on a timely basis because if the team comes to know  post it’ out on all the social media platforms it will create a lack of trust amongst them. Remember a crisis in a company affects the team members on a personal level as well .

5. Do a post crisis analysis: Post crisis analysis helps you understand your strengths and weakness and rectify your mistakes because crisis communication is not only about controlling the damage but also regaining trust of your customers and stakeholders. Being ready for the worst will make you stronger as a brand.

About Nucleus PR

The 13-year old firm has clients across multiple verticals. With an already established presence in 4 major metros, they have successfully created a strong affiliate network across 88 towns across the country via a team of trusted professional experts. With its inclusion in the exclusive and prestigious worldwide collaborative network of PR firms – PRBI Boutiques International, it adds brilliant minds from over 40 agencies across 14 countries to their resource pool. As the first members from the Asian sub-continent, they represent the entire region in the prestigious international PR network. Their current portfolio includes entertainment, lifestyle, media, hospitality, and corporate clients across MNCs, SMEs, and Startups.