In a Crisis

Anybody who thinks sitting down and banging out a crisis communications plan on their computer is the end of that project has a lot to learn. Mostly because a crisis communications plan (CCP) is a living document and it is never at an end.

Well, arguably once you have to implement a CCP full scale you might consider it to have reached an end, but that just means you have all that real life experience with which to start a new CCP.

My experience with CCPs is quite extensive, having worked in two industries that face very serious, dangerous situations daily (forestry and agriculture) and another two industries that face very serious, reputation damaging situations daily (insurance and finance). Different types of crisis, but often the same type of response. And that response starts long, long before the crisis.

This is where having a truly strong brand in place makes a world of difference. If you have built a brand that includes a strong commitment to the community and social responsibility, based on actions not just words, it becomes much easier to manage public opinion in a crisis. And if, while building that strong brand, you have also built a solid relationship with the media based on the basics of media relations you'll find in another post on my blog, you're in a good position to call upon them to help you get out your message when in a crisis.

The thing with crisis is that you never know exactly what is going to be thrown at you - but if you and your colleagues on the crisis response team have done your homework - you have a pretty good guess. Preparation and planning involves a lot of 'what if' scenarios and research. The best crisis response team that I have been a part of was led by Mike Maida, a member of Agricore United's Risk Assessment Department. He was relentless (in a very good way) in making sure we had examined every possible crisis and disaster that we could face. It was great leg work and when we had a collision of an anhydrous ammonia truck with a civilian vehicle, we knew what to do. Everybody knew what their role was and who to call. It was a horrible situation that was made just a little bit less horrible by a quick and compassionate response from the company.

Most CCPs are designed for a massive disaster, such as an earthquake or explosion at your headquarters. It's a good way to think worst case scenario, whereby your entire plan would have to be implemented. In reality, though, most crisis are going to be a bit smaller in scale and will call upon only a portion of the entire plan. And taking it one step further, you could spend a lot of time drafting that plan, meeting with your crisis response team regularly to make sure it is current and understood, and never have to use it. That would be the ideal situation.

Brand Consistency

It takes a lot of work to establish a brand - both with your employees and the public. However, it can take very little to undermine it. One of the easiest, quickest ways to undermine your brand is to show inconsistency in what you are delivering to your audience.

Some people find it hard to understand why this is so important - why is something like always using the same font, for example, necessary? These are the same people who will unwittingly erode your brand by making little changes to suit their personal tastes. That's bad news.

A good example of this is a former colleague who was responsible for sending invitations to various stakeholders. The invitations were to brunches, lunches and special events. To ensure consistency of the brand, I had templates created for a variety of documents, including an invitation template. The template included the correct logo, approved corporate colours and the approved, single font in the body. It was easy enough to use: simply place your cursor on the area that needed updated (ie. date, location) and fill in the new information. The font stayed the same.

For this former colleague, however, invitations represented a chance for her to stretch her creative muscles. On one invitation she had sent out, prior to the template creation, she used five different fonts, a variety of colours and clip art. Not a very professional representation of the organization.

Even with the invitation template, this person, like some you will work with, still needed to have it explained why she couldn't use more than one font on an invitation. She really wanted to use a variety of fonts and script types to 'dress up' the invitation. She needed to understand that consistency, even in use of font, helps to show that the organization you work for is also consistent. Being consitent is a very good attribute for any company - so long as you are consistently good at what you do. Being consistent removes the guess work for your audiences -they learn what to expect from you and grow to appreciate and demand that consistency.

Whether it is using the same font, the same layout, the same logo, greeting with the same positive attitude and smile or serving the same delicious food or drink, a consistent brand is a winning brand.