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Covid Crisis Communications: Sample Press Release

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by Gerard Braud, CSP, Fellow IEC

Your COVID crisis communications plan and your COVID crisis communication pre-written news releases need to be modified immediately if your organization is being attacked over policies related to COVID-19 mask requirements or vaccine mandates.

Daily we see news reports of school boards, city councils, and county governments being attacked for their position. Likewise, companies, restaurants, bars, and retail businesses are also in crisis mode as they deal with the Delta Variant.

So what do you do?

I’ve used a crisis communications secret for decades to harness the power of a written and spoken preamble. (One of the things that I love about the SituationHub.com crisis communications app is that every crisis statement has a preamble already written and baked into the crisis news releases that the app writes.)

If you are responsible for making an opening statement in a public meeting or if you have to issue a written news release, the preamble states the organization’s 1) noble purpose and 2) goals.

For example, the president of the school board might make the following statement:

“At the Harris County School Board, our goal is to educate children in a safe and nurturing environment. Effective learning is best accomplished when we are able to have in-person learning, and when our population of both students and faculty are healthy.”

Such a preamble must also be true. You want everyone in the audience to nod their head in agreement.

Admittedly, you will never win over everyone, but your goal should be to win over two-thirds of your intended audience.

Your next sentence must state your action while using the preamble to justify your action. For example:

“In order for us to have in-person learning and in order for the learning environment to be safe for all of our students, staff and faculty, we are establishing the following requirements.”

(Example)

“All children over the age of (X) and all staff and faculty will be required to wear a mask.

All children over the age of (X) and all staff and faculty will be required to have a vaccination.”

If this were your official position, you would then be attacked by those who think masks and/or vaccinations should not be required. Your job in crisis communications is to know that such an attack represents a vulnerability that needs to be researched in advance. (See our past articles on Vulnerability Assessments and the 5 Steps to Effective Crisis Communications. You can even watch the SituationHub.com Master Class on this topic.)

A Vulnerability Assessment will tell you what the objections are of those in opposition to your position, such as:

  • A violation of personal liberty
  • Religious exemptions
  • Breathing difficulty
  • Medical conditions

Therefore, your next statement should acknowledge those objections, in a way that allows those in opposition to nod their heads in agreement that you understand them, such as:

“We recognize that some members of our community may be opposed to this. Some people feel that this violates their personal liberties and freedoms. Some people may say it affects breathing, medical conditions, or religious beliefs. We understand this and we respect that you have strong feelings on this issue.”

Next comes your alternatives to the opposition:

“If your child is not vaccinated and if you prohibit your child from wearing a mask, you will have several options. We will offer remote learning options and parents also have the option to homeschool their children.”

Next, tie everything back to your preamble:

“Ultimately, our goal is to educate children in a safe and nurturing environment. Effective learning is best accomplished when we can have in-person learning, and when our population of both students and faculty are healthy. Health experts tell us that the two most effective tools at our disposal are masks and vaccinations.”

Now address the objections directly, while reinforcing your stand, credit third-party experts, and tie your position back to your preamble.

“We know some people may question the effectiveness of masks. We know some people may question the safety of vaccines. However, experts tell us that masking and vaccinations are the two most effective tools at our disposal. And in order to keep our children safe, experts tell us that the benefits far outweigh the risks.”

Next, dispel any beliefs in the audience that have not been addressed previously, for example:

“Some may question whether this infringes on your liberties and personal freedoms. Some may question if this is an overreach by the government or businesses. Here are examples of similar rules already in place in our society:

  • If you go to a restaurant, you’ve likely seen a sign that says, ‘No shirt, no shoes, no service.’ This is an example of the rights granted to a business, for the safety, comfort, and respect of all of the other patrons.
  • If you drive, you must wear a seat belt.
  • If you drive, you cannot be drunk.
  • If you go into an industrial facility, you must follow safety requirements, such as wearing safety glasses or perhaps a bright, reflective vest, or other safety garments and apparatuses.
  • In school, vaccination requirements already exists.

Our society is full of requirements designed to keep the vast majority of people safe. These rules are in place for the safety of each individual and the safety of society at large.”

Now, reinforce the above statement with a tie to your preamble:

“If our goal is to provide education in a safe environment for our students, we must keep them from getting COVID and we must keep them from spreading COVID to their parents and grandparents.”

Now give a real-life example of the tragedy that you wish to avoid while conveying emotion and empathy, which are critical in effective crisis communications.

“How would you feel if one of our students died from COVID? How would you feel if one of our parents died of COVID because a child brought the infection home from school? How empty would the holidays be if a grandparent had died of COVID because they received a loving hug from a child who got COVID at school?”

Now put a bow on it.

“Every decision this board makes, must always focus on two things: the education of your child and the safety of your child.”

If you structure your crisis communications statement, news release, policy, or letter in this way, every objection that you get simply requires you to retreat and repeat, i.e. retreat to a previous statement and repeat it.

As a society, I’ve never witnessed a crisis in which there are opposing points of view. For example, if a house is burning, everyone is in agreement that those inside should be rescued and that the fire should be put out.

But the reality is, we live in polarizing times where anger and outrage are weaponized, fueled by politics and social media.

  1. Identify your position.
  2. Take your stand.
  3. Write your crisis communications statement.
  4. Use your statement to defend your position and answer all objections.
  5. Stand by your stand.

If we can assist you, please contact us at gerard@braudcommunications.com

Crisis communications and media training expert Gerard Braud, CSP, Fellow IEC is based in New Orleans. Organizations on five continents have relied on him to write their crisis communications plans and to train their spokespeople. He is the author of “Don’t Talk to the Media Until…”

More crisis communications articles:

15 Questions to Ask Before You Use Facebook for Crisis Communications

Can You Handle a Crisis When it Hits by Winging It?

Crisis Management Lessons from Hurricane Katrina vs. COVID19

Photo by Sam McGhee on Unsplash

‘Sprint’ to More Effective Crisis Communications

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Be Prepared. Be Fast. Sprint!

Doing crisis communications right can take a long time; a really long time. Let’s stop doing that. Let’s do it faster. Let’s find a better way. Let’s sprint!

Traditionally, companies set up endless meetings and an inflated collaboration process. People will spend three months to two years talking about the “process” and never really create a usable set of tools. And during the drawn-out process, a crisis might hit and everyone is still unprepared. They have no tools in their toolbox; only notes from those endless meetings.

Does that sound familiar? If it does, let’s stop doing that, which doesn’t work, and start sprinting through the crisis communications process.

A “sprint” is a process for solving big problems and tackling big tasks in five days or less. It’s about both efficiency and focus. 

To simplify your goalsetting and ability to accomplish tasks, you have to break them down into smaller, faster, more achievable tasks. That’s why I created the Five Steps to Effective Crisis Communications. 

What would take your company or organization months to complete, you can now complete in five days or less, with a crisis communications sprint. Here are all of the Five Steps to Effective Crisis Communications you can complete virtually:

Crisis Vulnerability Assessment

What is the worst thing that could happen? Your roadmap to crisis communications begins as you imagine and evaluate all the situations that could go wrong. We are ready to partner with you to harvest insights from your team. Ask about our one-day Vulnerability Assessment Sprint to begin your crisis communications planning.

Crisis Communications Plan

As a situation unfolds, can your organization take control in the first few minutes? The best crisis communications plan plots every step before, during, and after a crisis. If you fail to plan, plan to fail. Our “sprint” crisis communications system can put a plan in place in one day.

Crisis Pre-written Statements

When you write a statement, is the review process bogged down in second-guessing, word-smithing, and fights over commas? Save time by using our library of pre-written statements for the media, employees, customers, and stakeholders. Ask about our pre-written statement sprint, which can be delivered in one day.

Crisis Spokesperson Media Training

When revenue, reputation, and brand are on the line, there is no margin for error. One misplaced word can be costly. We’ve seen companies lose hundreds of millions of dollars in a 12-second sound bite. Our crisis communications media training gets your spokespeople prepared to handle tough questions on your toughest day.

Crisis Communication Drills

Practice makes perfect. Do you routinely test your crisis management team, crisis communications plan, and spokespeople? A crisis drill allows you to make mistakes in private so you never make those mistakes on the day of your crisis. Add a virtual crisis drill to your crisis communications sprint commitment.

We care about your reputation, revenue, and brand. We hope you do to.

Here is your sprint roadmap. Would you like us to sprint with you?

To set goals, talk about your needs, and formulate a budget, schedule a complimentary, confidential call with me https://calendly.com/braud/15min

Crisis communications and media training expert Gerard Braud, CSP, Fellow IEC is based in New Orleans. Organizations on five continents have relied on him to write their crisis communications plans and to train their spokespeople. He is the author of “Don’t Talk to the Media Until…”

More crisis communications articles:

15 Questions to Ask Before You Use Facebook for Crisis Communications

Can You Handle a Crisis When it Hits by Winging It?

Crisis Management Lessons from Hurricane Katrina vs. COVID19

Can You Handle a Crisis When it Hits by Winging It?

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This video asks the question, “Should a PR person prepare for a crisis or should they wing it and rely on hope?” You may know the obvious answer, but you might be surprised to know that too many PR professionals still wing their response to a crisis.

Planning it requires writing vulnerability assessments, writing a thorough crisis communications plan, and having a library of pre-written news releases. These are all time-consuming tasks. So how do you manage it all? We asked Melissa Russo, public relations professional for Coast Electric, to share her strategy for planning it, winging it, or hoping for the best.

Visit this link to enjoy a full replay of this Master Class sponsored by SituationHub.com.

Use this link to schedule a free, private call https://calendly.com/braud/15min

To schedule a free, confidential demo for the crisis communications software SituationHub, visit: https://www.situationhub.com/

More crisis communications articles:

Crisis communications and media training expert Gerard Braud, CSP, Fellow IEC is based in New Orleans. Organizations on five continents have relied on him to write their crisis communications plans and to train their spokespeople. He is the author of “Don’t Talk to the Media Until…”

5 Steps to Effective Crisis Communications: Master Class #1

The Biggest Lie in Crisis Communications

4 Steps Every Company Needs to Take in Order to Avoid the Default Spokesperson

Is Social Media a Good Tool for Crisis Communications?

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By Gerard Braud, CSP, Fellow IEC 

When a crisis hits, should you be engaging on social media with your clients, customers, and stakeholders? Is it better to comment, provide updates, and feedback on social media or to stay silent? Is it the BEST crisis communications tool or just part of your communications toolbox?

As a crisis communications expert, I’m taking the pulse of two public relations professionals in the rural electric cooperative industry, to hear their experience with social media and how companies who have decided to use it, and who have decided not to use it have faired in the unique and individual crises they have faced.

To enjoy a full replay of this Master Class sponsored by SituationHub.com visit this link.

Crisis communications and media training expert Gerard Braud, CSP, Fellow IEC is based in New Orleans. Organizations on five continents have relied on him to write their crisis communications plans and to train their spokespeople. He is the author of “Don’t Talk to the Media Until…”

More crisis communications articles:

5 Steps to Effective Crisis Communications: Master Class #1

The Biggest Lie in Crisis Communications

4 Steps Every Company Needs to Take in Order to Avoid the Default Spokesperson

Your October Assignment: The Truth About Vulnerability Assessments During COVID-19

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By Gerard Braud, CSP, Fellow IEC

Sexiest, teasing headline you’ve ever read, huh? Makes you want to put on your old t-shirt that says, “Only Real Men & Women Do Regular Vulnerability Assessments.”

Joking aside, you need to get on this. Here is the how and why…

We’re 8-9 months into a crisis that should have ended somewhere in the 90 to 120 day range.

Early on, it was your only crisis to manage and for which you had to communicate. I’m proud of you. After the first surge of communications, many organizations fell into COVID fatigue. That was followed by COVID limbo.

But now COVID-19 is part of a compound crisis and it is your responsibility to assess the threats and vulnerabilities that your organization could face next.

Here’s What’s Changed

Generally in the world of public relations and crisis communications, an expert would say the first and the best thing you should do as part of the crisis communication process is to assess every vulnerability that could affect the revenue, reputation, and brand of your organization.

Your initial Vulnerability Assessment is Step 1, and it becomes your roadmap for your next four steps, which include:

  • Step 2: Writing your crisis communications plan
  • Step 3: Writing a library of pre-written statements for your employees, media, customers, community, and other stakeholders.
  • Step 4: Media training your spokespeople (including virtual training)
  • Step 5: Crisis communications drills (including virtual drills)

Traditionally you would do an initial Vulnerability Assessment, followed by quarterly meetings with managers to identify and prepare for new or emerging vulnerabilities. For example, COVID-19 was not really on anyone’s Vulnerability Assessment one year ago. Nine months ago at your quarterly meeting, COVID-19 and all of the issues around it should have been added to your list.

Once on the list, you would update your crisis communications plan if necessary, adding pre-written news releases for COVID-19 protocol, response, outbreaks, and potential fatalities.

More is Better

We’re now recommending to our clients that the frequency should be increased from quarterly to monthly, because most organizations are facing compound crises, such as COVID + hurricane, COVID + wildfires, COVID + you name it.

Would you like some additional resources?

  1. Watch today’s video. It has a clip from a crisis communications Master Class I recently taught for SituationHub.com
  2. Watch the entire Master Class
  3. Watch our 5-part video series on the five steps to effective crisis communications.
  4. Get help with your Vulnerability Assessment by scheduling a free, confidential phone call with us.

COVID-19 isn’t going away anytime soon. Please prepare for what comes next. Please step up the frequency of your Vulnerability Assessments.

Crisis communications and media training expert Gerard Braud, CSP, Fellow IEC is based in New Orleans. Organizations on five continents have relied on him to write their crisis communications plans and to train their spokespeople. He is the author of “Don’t Talk to the Media Until…”

More crisis communications articles:

Covid-19 Crisis Communications Webinar Recording

The Biggest Lie in Crisis Communications

4 Steps Every Company Needs to Take in Order to Avoid the Default Spokesperson

Coronavirus Crisis Communications Plan Truths

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Here we are entering the middle of summer, where we can reflect on and learn from the unprecedented crises that have taken place in the past few months. As the crises unfolded, I wrote about how you can communicate more effectively in these various situations. Let’s look back at where we’ve been this Spring, and examine what rings true for crisis communications, corporate communications, and protecting your revenue, reputation, and brand today.

At the first signs of the Coronavirus, in this blog, I warned companies to get professional media training and to assess the vulnerabilities of their particular organization. I explained that by preparing for the crisis, you could show your executive leadership team you are thinking ahead and thinking on their behalf. Watch the video here:

As the pandemic unfolded I advised in this blog that the answer is YES, you do NEED a crisis communications plan for COVID-19 and other vulnerabilities, and provided 5 steps to write a crisis plan:

I continued to provide update after update, even discussing how to do virtual media interviews, since they were suddenly a MUST, and we all needed to learn to adapt and communicate in a new way.

Finally, I addressed the truth that no one wanted to address. I predicted this pandemic would likely last through the summer, and it became clear that we would not only need to manage the Coronavirus, but we would also need to manage Coronavirus + Tornado (that later ripped through my hometown), or Coronavirus + Weather Events as we entered hurricane season (we were hit later by Cristobal), AND the crises that our organizations are always vulnerable to – such as explosions, fires, power outages, crime, social media firestorms, and more. You can read the blog here.

In this blog in May, I warned that the issue of wearing masks vs. not wearing masks could spur on political issues, protests, and outrage among our country.

As protests took over our country, I was quiet. Social media and the internet was too noisy, too complicated, and too hostile for a time. The point now is not to say “I told you so,” but to acknowledge that when one crisis hits, we have to be prepared, and that we have to prepare for all of the regular challenges and crises that can occur in addition to that initial crisis.

Hopefully, by reflecting on the last few months, you are more motivated now than ever to prepare. You have work to do. It’s challenging to write a crisis communications plan. It’s challenging to think about such tragic events that could happen to your company. But as we can see, they do happen, they can last for months, and they can pile on top of each other.

I’ve broken down

How to write a crisis plan in 5 steps:

1. Start with analyzing the vulnerabilities of your company to certain crises.

2. Write a thorough crisis plan that addresses and outlines every last detail.

3. Write pre-written news releases that you can deliver to the media and the public in less than one hour.

4. Have your spokespeople and your leadership team professionally media trained.

5. Conduct realistic crisis drills.

This can all be done virtually, and I’m here to help.

This 5-part video series outlining the 5 Steps to a Crisis Communications Plan can make your path easier. Schedule a call with me so that I can walk you through it or answer any questions you might have.

Crisis communications and media training expert Gerard Braud, CSP, Fellow IEC is based in New Orleans. Organizations on five continents have relied on him to write their crisis communications plans and to train their spokespeople. He is the author of “Don’t Talk to the Media Until…”

More crisis communications articles:

Covid-19 Crisis Communications Webinar Recording

The Biggest Lie in Crisis Communications

4 Steps Every Company Needs to Take in Order to Avoid the Default Spokesperson

Photo by Edwin Hooper on Unsplash

How to Write a Coronavirus Crisis Communications Plan?

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By Gerard Braud, CSP, Fellow IEC 

Coronavirus is spreading and if you are in public relations, emergency management, or business continuity, you need to be preparing and using your crisis communications tools.

You may be asking:

  • Do I need a coronavirus crisis communications plan?
  • How do I write a coronavirus crisis communications plan?

Those are the two questions I have been asked the most in the past week.

The answer:

  • Yes, you need a coronavirus crisis communications plan.
  • Writing a crisis communications plan for coronavirus, at least for me, is the same as writing a crisis communications plan for any issue.

In the 5 Steps to Effective Crisis Communications,

Coronavirus checks off every box:

  • It is identified in your Vulnerability Assessment
  • Your crisis communications plan should guide you through gathering information, confirming the information, then sharing the information.
  • You should use pre-written news releases to manage the expectations of your stakeholders regarding how the virus is affecting your organization, your employees, and the people you serve.
  • You should conduct media training for your spokespeople using the pre-written news releases, because if you are directly affected, the media will be on you fast.
  • Now is an excellent time to hold an exercise or drill with coronavirus as the topic.

Managing Expectations as a Crisis Communications Strategy

  • If your organization has no crisis communications plan, you are already far behind. I have a plan that you can put in place in one day. Reach out to me at 985-624-9976 if you want details.
  • If your employer or your executives tell you that the company doesn’t need to do anything at this time, they are wrong. The best time to prepare for a crisis is on a clear sunny day, long before the crisis hits. However, human denial and corporate denial are strong. Failure to plan for coronavirus sends a powerful message about the degree of denial within your organization.
  • If you do have a crisis communications plan, and if it is properly written, it should have consistent guidance and rules that universally work for every crisis.
  • If you use pre-written news releases to address the variables of your crisis – which is what I advocate – then your pre-written news releases will be the main tool that needs customization.
  • If you have no confirmed coronavirus cases, send a statement to all employees that outlines how your organization will be responding to this crisis. Give them instructions about any precautions they should take to protect their personal health. Outline what you’d like them to do if they feel ill. Inform them about any changes to your travel policy. You may also wish to send the same statement to your customers, depending upon your type of business.
  • Next, develop a pre-written news release that addresses all the issues associated with a case actually being discovered in your workforce.
  • You’ll want to write a statement that also addresses potential fatalities and long-term impact on your organization in the event there is an escalation of cases that affect your organization.

I’ve long defined a crisis as any event that affects an organization’s revenue, reputation and brand. As evidenced by the stock market, coronavirus checks all of the boxes.

Should you need to do this all quickly, I have some great turnkey options ready for you to use. Use this link to schedule a free, private call https://calendly.com/braud/15min

Crisis communications and media training expert Gerard Braud, CSP, Fellow IEC is based in New Orleans. Organizations on five continents have relied on him to write their crisis communications plans and to train their spokespeople. He is the author of “Don’t Talk to the Media Until…”

More crisis communications articles:

How to Use Social Media for Crisis Communications

The Biggest Lie in Crisis Communications

4 Steps Every Company Needs to Take in Order to Avoid the Default Spokesperson


How to Write a Crisis Communication Plan Part 5: Your Crisis Drill

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By Gerard Braud, CSP, Fellow IEC 

Our crisis communication goal since the beginning of the year has been to focus on consistency and continuity, rather than short-term New Year’s resolutions. Today we look at effective ways to test your Crisis Communication Plan by holding a Crisis Communication Drill.

Many organizations have crisis drills or exercises, but they are heavily focused on emergency response, incident command, and natural disasters. While these are all good scenarios, many organizations fall short in their crisis drill because they:

  1. Fail to write news releases
  2. Fail to go through the news release approval process
  3. Fail to conduct news conferences
  4. Fail to test spokespeople
  5. Fail to test their crisis communications plan

Your Crisis Communications Drill is the 5th element of the Five Steps to Effective Crisis Communications system that we have been discussing since the beginning of the year.

A Crisis Communications Drill should test all teams for their ability to respond to the event.

How to Pick Your Crisis Drill Scenario

The scenario for the drill can come from any of the items you identified in Step 1 – Your Vulnerability Assessment. Your drill scenario does not need to be an emergency type issue. Remember, not every crisis is an emergency. Feel free to creatively select a smoldering crisis issue.

When Does the Drill Begin?

Generally you want to tell your team which day to block out for the drill. Some organizations pick a specific time, such as 9 – noon, followed by lunch, followed by up to two hours for the post-drill evaluation meeting. However, keep in mind that on the day of your real crisis, not everyone is at work, so a drill doesn’t have to have a full staff. Also, if you start a drill at rush hour when people are driving to work or taking the kids to school, you can effectively add stress and realism to your crisis drill.

Test the Crisis Communications Plan

The goal of your drill should be to:

  1. Test your crisis communications plan you wrote in Step 2
  2. Test the pre-written news releases that you wrote in Step 3
  3. Test the approval process of using those news releases
  4. Test the spokespeople that you media trained in Step 4
  5. Test your various teams to ensure they can all work together well

Realistic News Conferences

When it comes time for news conferences, make them realistic. The spokesperson should use the Pre-Written News Release as their script. Questions should be realistic and tough, without getting silly.

Post-Drill Evaluation

When the drill is over, evaluate all of the aspects of the drill and make improvements to your Crisis Communications Plan.

Ultimately, a Crisis Communications Drill lets you mess up in private so you don’t mess up in public.

Schedule a drill at least once a year, although many organizations do it once a quarter.

As we’ve mentioned all year, be consistent in doing this every year so that there is continuity and continuous improvement in your organization.

If you need to schedule a free strategy call or if you need ask about any of the Five Steps to Effective Crisis Communications, please use this link to schedule a free 15 minute strategy call with me.

Crisis communications and media training expert Gerard Braud, CSP, Fellow IEC is based in New Orleans. Organizations on five continents have relied on him to write their crisis communications plans and to train their spokespeople. He is the author of “Don’t Talk to the Media Until…”

More crisis communications articles:

How to Use Social Media for Crisis Communications

The Biggest Lie in Crisis Communications

4 Steps Every Company Needs to Take in Order to Avoid the Default Spokesperson

Photo by Austin Distel on Unsplash

Media Training for Mobile and Other Crisis Communications Tips

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By Gerard Braud, CSP, Fellow IEC

Media Training for Mobile is a new crisis communications and public relations specialty. It is the latest addition to our 5 Steps to Effective Crisis Communications series for the new year.

Quick recap – this is the fifth week of the new year. You have been challenged in the previous four crisis communication blogs to end the cycle of broken New Year’s resolutions, in favor of achieving consistency.

Media Training as a Bucket List

Media training is too often treated like a bucket list item that an executive does once in life. Our challenge to you is to conduct one thorough media training for your key spokespeople each year, along with a thorough practice training before every interview.

Today’s video goes deep into media training for mobile, as well as the use of crisis communications scripts for crisis events. Both of these techniques are great ways to improve and intensify any media training that you have done in the past.

I encourage you to watch the complete video, because it will go much deeper into the techniques than this blog will. Warning – it goes so deep that today’s BraudCast video runs about 12 minutes.

In the BraudCast, I share some media training and crisis communication tips that I don’t normally share with anyone except my clients.

Give Up Old Media Training Techniques

This episode of the BraudCast encourages you to give up the old, failed media training techniques of the past in favor of new techniques.

As more people transition from traditional media to news on their mobile devices, you need to recognize that how a spokesperson delivers a message greatly affects public perception and how a news story is edited.

When someone reads news on a mobile device, they primarily see a headline, followed by the lead sentence. Most people draw their conclusion from those two pieces of the news story. Likewise, most people seldom scroll to read anything else about the story, unless it directly affects them.

Therefore, your media training for mobile needs to focus on teaching the spokesperson to deliver a compelling preamble statement at the beginning of the interview, as a way to mimic a reporter’s lead. Your goal is to be so profound and natural in your wording of that preamble, that the reporter wants to capture the essence of it to write their lead.

Control the Lead; Control the Headline

When you control the lead, you then control the headline. That’s because the person writing the headline only reads the lead sentence, in order to gain the information they need to write the headline.

Can You Control the Edit?

When you control the lead, you control the headline, which means you control public perception.

…And More Control

By watching the BraudCast video, you’ll also learn that the way to eliminate bad adlibs during a crisis is to use a well-worded script that anticipates all of the questions you’ll be asked during a crisis news conference.

Bottom Line The bottom line is that media interviews are hard. The variety of ways people receive their news is expanding. This means you must expand your media training to stay up with the times. It’s one of our secrets to effective crisis communications.

Crisis communications and media training expert Gerard Braud, CSP, Fellow IEC is based in New Orleans. Organizations on five continents have relied on him to write their crisis communications plans and to train their spokespeople. He is the author of “Don’t Talk to the Media Until…”

More crisis communications articles:

How to Use Social Media for Crisis Communications

The Biggest Lie in Crisis Communications

4 Steps Every Company Needs to Take in Order to Avoid the Default Spokesperson

Photo by Hermes Rivera on Unsplash

How to Write a Crisis Communications Plan? Use Pre-Written News Releases

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By Gerard Braud, CSP, Fellow IEC

Two of the most popular crisis communication searches on Google are for these questions:

  • How to Write a Crisis Communications Plan?
  • Do I need a Crisis Communication Plan?

As I sit writing this, I also have an expert eye on the television, where a real crisis is playing out. A massive explosion at an industrial facility has rocked a community and there is no official statement from the company after more than four hours.

Yes, every company needs a crisis communications plan.

Take this quick test:

  • Could a workplace shooting happen where you work?
  • Could an executive be accused of sexual harassment?
  • Could someone be killed or injured in the workplace?
  • Could a natural disaster such as a tornado, hurricane, earthquake or snow storm affect your operations, your employees, and/or your customers?

If you answered yes to any one of the above questions, you need a crisis communication plan. Chances are, you answered yes to all four questions. You need a crisis communication plan.

This is part three or our New Year’s series. Today we look at the third step out of the five steps to effective crisis communications.

Step 3: Pre-Written News Releases

For every vulnerability discovered in your Vulnerability Assessment that we discussed in Step 1 two weeks ago, you should write a pre-written news release. When writing a crisis communication plan for my clients, each organization is given an immediate library of 100 pre-written news releases from my personal library of news releases.

Last week in Step 2: Write Your Crisis Communications Plan, we discussed the importance of being specific in your instructions. One of those should be that within one hour or less of the onset of a crisis going public, your organization should issue a statement to the media, your employees, and other key stakeholders. The secret to fast communications is to have a library of pre-written news releases.

Your Pain, Problem & Predicament

At most organizations, when a situation ignites into a crisis, these things consistently happen:

  • Everyone is consumed by the “fog of war.”
  • Someone sits at a computer, opens a blank Word Document, and they begin to write a news release or statement.
  • After 30 minutes to an hour, the writer presents the statement to a group of executives.
  • The executives fight over the language and debate commas. This often goes on for up to an hour.
  • The writer crafts draft two, based on the feedback.
  • A second review happens with more changes.
  • A final statement is drafted, approved, and released.
  • On average, three and a half hours have passed.
  • While the statement was being written, the media have been speculating, employees have been engaged in rumor sharing, social media has turned public opinion against your organization, and your organization’s revenue, reputation and brand have taken a hit.

Stop

Stop being a part of the same vicious cycle we have witnessed since the dawn of the industrial age.

Start

Start at the beginning of this year to formulate and execute a system that can sustain your organization for decades to come. Start implementing the five steps to effective crisis communications.

Begin now. Today could be the day you have a crisis.

Set dates on your calendar now for when you plan to implement each of the five steps of effective crisis communications.

Your goal should be to do the hard work on a clear, sunny day, so that you are not in a panic of indecision on your worst day.

When you fail to prepare, prepare to fail.

When you fail, prepare to see damage to your organization’s revenue, reputation, and brand.

Crisis communications and media training expert Gerard Braud, CSP, Fellow IEC is based in New Orleans. Organizations on five continents have relied on him to write their crisis communications plans and to train their spokespeople. He is the author of “Don’t Talk to the Media Until…”

More crisis communications articles:

How to Use Social Media for Crisis Communications

The Biggest Lie in Crisis Communications

4 Steps Every Company Needs to Take in Order to Avoid the Default Spokesperson

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