Page 48 - Crisis Communication Practical PR Strategies

Proactive Crisis Communication Planning 29
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in front of all the C-level executives who could in the future be a part
of the crisis and its success. Everyone has to be on board with the idea
that a plan is going to be put in place and that they will not have a
problem abiding by it.
This is not easy. Let’s not even try to pretend it is. In this situation,
the crisis advisers normally must highlight to the board:

what PR is, and how it differs from advertising;
what a crisis is;
what possible crises could happen to the company;
how that might appear to the press and what the media might
write/air;
the bottom-line cost to the organization;
the long-term damage it could do to the organization;
that there is a solution that can save/make the company lots of
money;
that, if all agree that time, effort and money will be put into
making a proactive crisis communication plan, then it is only going
to work in practice if everyone abides by it.

Who do you want on your team? You will need:

At least two spokespeople; you need back-up.
The CEO, owner or ultimate stakeholder: basically, someone who,
with guidance, will make the calls and define the actions (and
ideally someone who does not report to anyone else when not in a
crisis situation).
Your lead in-house communication professional.
Your full PR agency team: for breadth of reach and redundancy
reasons – with one key contact point (normally your account
manager).

Who do you not want on a crisis communication team? Your
accountant and your attorney. That is not to say they do not have valu-
able roles to play.
Let’s look at the role of the accountant first. That person needs to be
working with the operational responders, when there is a crisis that
threatens property, for instance, to make sure those people have access
to the funding they need to bring in adequate resources without delay.
And the attorney: we have found that the best time to bring in the
attorney is in the planning stage of the crisis communication plan.
Help that person realize that both the attorney and the communicator
have the same goal – to protect the reputation of the organization.
Have the attorney review the plan in progress. Have the attorney sign