Go to any seminar or panel about crisis communications and the first bullet point is typically the same: Have a plan.
But so often, that advice goes unheeded. It’s so simple, it’s almost too simple. Also, it seems too time-consuming. Too expensive. And where do you even start?
So often, those plans end up as really template operations manuals for times of crisis, prepared by attorneys, engineers or even insurance companies and rarely, if ever, dig deep into communications.
So I want to tell you about the best crisis client we never had.
That’s because they hired us to do a crisis communications plan for an international event they hosted, and beyond the overall communications strategy, which proved successful, we never had to implement any of it. The event went off, without a major hitch. Had any of the plan actually been needed, the client would have been completely prepared to communicate effectively and quickly to their audiences. It gave them all the tools, including knowledge, confidence and peace of mind prior to an exceptionally well-planned event.
The planning process included weeks of work digging deep into scenarios organizers felt were likely or possible, based on past experience and current events. It required meeting with security and law enforcement to plan for how to communicate in event of these very same scenarios for which there were emergency plans in place. It required a deep understanding of audience expectations and communications platforms available to audiences.
Once the plan was developed, we walked through it with organizers to staff with any communications role, so they could each understand their specific jobs in the event of a crisis. Each one was responsible for an audience and/or platform.
It was all ready to go. And it didn’t end up needing to be.
The week after the event was scheduled, the soft t-shirt I received from being a part of the team felt even more comfortable when I put it on because, based on what I heard from the client, that’s what the crisis communications plan felt like to them.