Three communication tactics to deal with any type of crisis

When the crisis breaks out there are nerves, it’s hard to think clearly, pressure, tension, blocking… In communication there are few things more profitable than your organization being prepared to face a crisis.

Since we started 2023, the crises we have managed at LLYC in Spain can be counted on the fingers of several hands. And all of them have involved companies and brands you know.

This has reminded us again of something we have to keep in mind as people who manage corporate communications.

It doesn’t matter if it is a crisis caused by a labor conflict, a health alert, an environmental issue, an internal corruption problem, … The casuistry is infinite. What is really important is the reasoning that goes into managing the expectations of the target audience.

There are three things we do in every crisis we manage at LLYC (they are not the only ones):

1.Take charge of the situation. Make a plan and take it one step at a time. Taking the initiative does not mean going out to communicate just for the sake of it or talking all the time. On the contrary, taking the reins in a crisis situation means understanding what has happened, what aggravating factors may occur and planning what we can do about it. Contingency plans are usually tedious, require effort, time and clarity of ideas. But done well, experience shows that they work.

2. Respond quickly. A quick response conveys a sense of control. Crisis management is, in large part, response management. Answers to difficult questions. Easy questions answer themselves. Make the exercise of asking them first in order to anticipate them, with a pessimistic approach, in the sense that there is always a journalist willing to compromise the company.

3. Continue with the rest of the company’s communication activity. A mistake we have seen on many occasions is that in the face of a crisis, the organization paralyzes its communication. “Because otherwise they will ask us about the other thing. This is a mistake. Naturally, the risks of each communication must be reevaluated, but that does not mean stopping everything. Moreover, conveying business continuity is a good strategy to mitigate a crisis. So adapt your communication plan, but don’t freeze it.

It doesn’t matter when you read this. If it’s just published the post or if it’s been a couple of years since then. You will see that they are still valid, because the essential remains the same: people and their expectations.

Now comes the important part.

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