For any brand, a crisis is an inevitable occurrence. Every brand is vulnerable to diverse types of unforeseen crisis. These unforeseen events can have a great adverse effect on the brand’s reputation, customer’s acquisition and loyalty, and other brand\’s essential aspects. Adequate crisis management can make or mar your organisation.
Public relations play an essential role in mitigating crises and planning an effective strategy for future occurrences. Public relation helps brands to plan how to manage a crisis actively and efficiently. This minimises the possibility of the crisis having negative effects on the brand when it occurs.
Several events that can result in a crisis for brands include the loss of key executives, Product flaws, government-related issues, business acquisition, Employee relations issues, among others. Public relation reduces potential damages to brands. It also converts such negative events to an opportunity for positive brand message distribution through a crisis mitigation framework creation.
Public relations also uses several strategies comprising of components such as:
- Strong planning: This is an essential basis for effective crisis management. Public relations designs effective response plans ahead after forecasting possible crisis scenarios.
- Training: During a crisis, all stakeholders would look up to your brand for answers. With the response team\’s training, public relations provides your organisation with a footing in crisis management techniques. It also equips them to give damage-mitigating responses.
- Execution Assistance: When a crisis occurs, public relations equips you with strategic advice and counsels through the crisis and post-crisis recovery.
Public relations helps communicate the damage-mitigating responses through its various channels. Public relations respond rather than reacting to crises. Public relations\’ importance can never be overestimated during a crisis. Every brand should have a crisis management strategy and a response team which should consist of public relations professionals to ensure effective execution of the crisis management strategy.