What Is Crisis Management?
Crisis management is how you manage an organization’s response to any kind of negative event or crisis. Remember: Actions speak louder than words, but saying the wrong thing can make a situation much worse.
Crisis management requires a specialized skillset. This comes through hands-on experience, and it’s not something that can be learned overnight. You want to make sure that you hire a crisis management firm that has extensive experience with the kind of issue you’re facing.
There are many ways to handle a crisis, but one thing that is almost always true is that you shouldn’t try handling it yourself. You should hire professionals who’ve been through all types of PR issues before. They’ll know how to handle a crisis effectively on your behalf so that no one gets hurt by what happened during the crisis.
Why Is Crisis Management Important?
Negative PR often does NOT involve the media. It’s about what your key stakeholders think & varies between industries.
- For schools, it can include: students, teachers and faculty, parents, alumni, prospective parents, and the local community.
- For companies, it can include: your customers, employees, board, vendors, investors, and strategic partners.
- For non-profits, this can include: donors, the people or mission you serve, employees, partnering organizations, the board, and the local community.
The goal of crisis management is to protect your reputation and bottom line by minimizing damage to both. A crisis can occur when you fail to anticipate a problem or when you don’t react quickly enough once an issue has occurred. In a nutshell, we work hard to help you mitigate the damage of any event or crisis that threatens your ability to function or operate normally.
Here are some of the most common reasons why you should consider crisis management:
1. Inaccurate information: It’s important to get the facts straight & correct inaccurate information from spreading. Every word matters when it comes to handling a crisis and fighting against negative PR. If left unchecked, a lie repeated often enough starts to sound more and more like it’s true.
2. Affected stakeholders: When a company or non-profit is involved in a crisis, it affects various stakeholders – from employees and consumers to donors and shareholders. You and your team must have an organized action plan to address each group’s unique concerns.
3. Negative press: Our clients don’t believe the old adage, “There’s no such thing as bad press.” Bad or negative PR can spread like wildfire in today’s digital world. This can cause major damage if the situation is not properly handled properly from the get-go and until things return to “normal.” Depending on the crisis, this may translate into maintaining control of the situation for weeks or even years.
Crisis Communications and Crisis Management include responding & defending against allegations, handling employment issues, business and legal disputes, mergers and acquisitions, bankruptcy communications, and other kinds of bad or negative PR. Scroll up to check our services.
Gillott Communications Will Handle Your Crisis Management Needs
When it comes to crisis management, you want to make sure you have a firm by your side that understands what you’re going through because they have hands-on experience with the kind of issue you’re facing. At Gillott Communications, we have the experience, expertise, and specialized skillset to handle any crisis that comes your way.
Our team of crisis management professionals has been through it all, from managing high-profile scandals to mitigating the fallout of negative social media campaigns. We know what works and what doesn’t, and we’ll develop a customized plan of action to protect your reputation and bottom line. You will never get a plan straight off the shelf.
Don’t let a crisis take you by surprise or leave you scrambling to react. Let us take the reins and handle everything from start to finish, so you can focus on what you do best: running your organization.
Contact us today to schedule a consultation and learn how we can help you navigate any crisis that comes your way.
Gillott Communications is a Los Angeles-based PR firm that specializes in high-stakes Crisis & Reputation Management. Our team has more than 50 years of expertise in strategic communications, corporate communications, and working with the media.