For most of the past 2 months, BP has been bombarded by negative press regarding the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Imagine working in PR or communications at a company where everyone can see a live feed of oil gushing into the ocean and images of birds and other wildlife coated with oil.
You would assume that they had a crisis communications plan in place before this happened but I wouldn't blame you for thinking that this was not the case or question how much thought was put into it. I know much has been written about how BP has responded to this crisis and I'm certain it will become a case study for many PR, communications and crisis management courses in the future.
However, this blog post is not about BP or the disaster in the Gulf but it's about the question of whether a crisis communications plan for a start-up is a necessary evil or a waste of time. It's easy to dismiss the need for a crisis communications plan when you assume that your start-up will not face a disaster on the scale of BP but that would be missing the point.
A crisis does not need to be on such a large scale for it to affect your brand and your sales. For example, last week an iPad security breach that unveiled 100K+ email addresses was discovered and received a lot of publicity. This negative PR will affect AT&T, and maybe even Apple, not on a large scale but it will still have an impact and a plan needed to be implemented to respond to that crisis.
These are just 2 examples of crises that have happened recently that differ in scope but both required an immediate response. And that's the thing with a crisis, you don't have time to plan your response after the crisis happens. You need to respond immediately or the negative publicity could spiral out of control in this new age of social media.
If something bad happens to your company, you need to tell your side of the story before everyone else does it for you. That's why it's best to think through your response, or if you won't respond, in advance of the crisis and also to lay the groundwork needed to communication this response to your different stakeholders.
So while, your start-up has a thousand things to do on any given day, unfortunately, you need to add the development of a crisis communications plan to the list. Now this may not be at the top of your list but it has to be there. In some cases, it may even need to be at the top if you're making a controversial announcement for example. I'll talk more about how you can develop this crisis communications plan quickly in an upcoming blog post.
The plan doesn't need to be long and detailed but you do need to think about what negative things could happen to or be said about your brand and have a way to respond quickly so that all your audiences hear your side of the story.
Is there a crisis communications plan in place for your company?
Time is precious! We can not waste time! Inch of time is money! I also agree with your opinion ah! I'm glad you are willing to share with us your blog
Posted by: ugg ultra tall | 08/11/2010 at 09:44 PM
It's very well worth spending time preparing a crisis communications plan but it needs to be flexible as no plan can ever cover every eventuality.
Posted by: Communications plan templates | 08/24/2010 at 02:59 PM
I like to spend time in the internet and surf Google looking for something worthy to read or at least look through... There's so much garbage nowadays ( and that's why I'm glad to have found your resource. Simply wanted to say that this site is one of my favorites, there's always something to read. I wish you good luck and many devoted readers ) My resource for you – rapidshare SE ( http://www.filecatch.com/trends/ro/02-09-2010.html ) with huge database
Posted by: Haralambos | 09/03/2010 at 01:45 AM
I totally agree. These big companies used to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars, sometimes millions, for a tv commercial. Bloggers are their new commercial, yet for some reason they think that we should do this for free. They think we have nothing better to do than to sit around blogging about their products while receiving no compensation. Who do they think is going to pay the rent and electric? I can assure you they are not working for free, so why should they expect us to?
Posted by: jordan retro 5 | 10/07/2010 at 05:00 AM
I LIKE THIS POSTS!
Posted by: coach outlet canada | 01/13/2011 at 01:25 AM
One of the best cheap wines of all-time was Benziger's fume blanc, which appeared in the $10 Hall of Fame in its early years. But the wine hasn't been around the Dallas area much lately, and a Benziger spokeswoman said it wasn't being distributed nationally any more.
Posted by: supra shoes | 03/26/2011 at 07:31 AM
I also agree with your opinion ah! I'm glad you are willing to share with us your blog.
Posted by: ClubPenguinCheats | 05/08/2011 at 10:42 PM
So cute! I already like you on FB and also get your posts on Google Reader. :)
Posted by: red bottom heel | 12/20/2011 at 02:55 AM