Shoestring Marketing Alf Nucifora is a marketing consultant in Atlanta. Frequently, both small and large corporations are hit with crises accompanied by banner headlines and a rash of unwanted negative publicity. Public relations professionals define a crisis as an event or occurrence that creates or threatens to create a firestorm of harshly negative media coverage that could damage the reputation or future viability of an organization. Few crises suddenly threaten the viability of a corporation like those that are media-related. But most media crises can be met with a prepared strategy.
Experience suggests an effective process can be followed in most crisis situations.
To plan ahead, you should assess your vulnerabilities and thereby avoid or limit crises and risk. In some situations, almost 50 percent of everything you need to respond can be prepared in advance. How the organization responds to a crisis ultimately has more impact on the containment of damage than the event itself. Most companies in crisis situations resort to arrogance, obfuscation and delay, all of which exacerbate the problem. In those situations, speed, honesty and candor should be the preferred response.