Weather forecasters are predicting “the coldest winter in modern times”. Deep snow, blizzards, icy roads, spectacular frosts, the works… Which prompts me to ask; how will your business cope? If you’re snowed in? If your staff can’t get in to work? If you can’t get to appointments? If your suppliers can’t deliver? If all around succumb to the weather, will you be able to soldier on? Have you made contingency plans?
Remember, however, that it’s not so much how you cope with the crisis, it’s how you COMMUNICATE how you’re coping with the crisis. Your publics – staff, customers and suppliers etc – will want to know that it’s pretty much “business as usual” and that you’ll be able to look after them. I’ve worked with many organisations designing, developing and putting into place crisis news management, which is the outward-facing, public expression of what they’re doing internally to manage in extremis.
We’ve devised plans, trained up a team of spokespeople and rehearsed a number of scenarios, including throwing something unexpected and unplanned-for at them. It’s like taking out insurance against your worst business nightmare. The point of having a crisis news management plan in place is that the crisis, whatever it may be, may cost a company some lost sales in the short term, but the long term loss of reputation and customer confidence could be irreparable if the organisation fails to communicate reassuringly, honestly and effectively to the watching world about how it’s handling the situation. Contact The NAKED Marketing Company to learn more about how to put a crisis news management plan in place… http://www.thenakedprcompany.co.uk/
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