Crisis Communications / Reputation Management

If you don’t have a crisis communications plan ready, reporters will create one for you

How companies handle communicating in a crisis speaks volumes about them, and their corporate culture. In a global 24/7 world linked by social media, privacy is non-existent; news and rumour travel at the speed of the internet.

Good news travels fast. Bad news travels even faster.

Any organization can face a crisis. And if it doesn’t have a crisis communications plan prepared and ready to go, and professionals like us to help you get your message front-and-center, a bad situation can turn horrid very quickly.

At First Principles, we help clients prepare for – and deal with – the worst.

The worst is when reporters are phoning insistently, employees and other stakeholders are worried, customers want answers and local officials want to throw the book at you. When you’re not prepared for the worst possible scenario, that is exactly what you’ll have on your hands.

When you’re not prepared for the worst possible scenario, that is what you’ll have on your hands.

We have four simple rules when helping a company through a crisis:

Get the facts and make them available quickly; they’ll come out anyway so they should come from you.
Always tell the unvarnished truth; “no comment” makes it sound like you’re hiding something.
Make your voice the first one heard; don’t let outsiders tell your story.
Beware the speed of social media like Facebook and Twitter.

You can’t stop a crisis from occurring but you can be ready when it happens.