In the past week alone, the news cycle was filled with crises of varying proportions: hurricanes, police shootings, inflammatory leaked videos and transcripts.
The common denominator in each case was that there were people -- millions of them -- vying for the most up-to-date developments and new information, and wanting that information in real time, around the clock.
Behind each story was a person or team with an unyielding, high-pressure mandate -- to devise a crisis communications strategy for officials associated with each scenario, so they in turn could provide clear, on-message, timely information to the media, communities, worried family members or gossip columnists seeking answers.
Crisis communications is not for the faint of heart, and the stakes are always high. As this PR Daily article advises, the key to avoiding panic in a crisis is preparation.
Read on to learn how taking these three prepatory steps may help crisis communicators be the calm in the next storm:
Prepare "holding" statements.
Create a social media baseline.
Create mobile-friendly alerts.
What are your fail-safe strategies when dealing with crisis communications?
