Your brand—and your brand’s reputation—is one of your most valuable assets. And, much like your home or car, it requires ongoing care and protection. An unexpected crisis or issue can put your well-curated reputation in jeopardy. Establishing a strong, reputable brand can be a long and strenuous process—so a proactive defense strategy is essential to keeping you and your team prepared for potential threats. 

 

Crises and issues differ in both severity and scope. Issues are typically more common and tend to affect specific segments of an organization’s operations; whereas crises generally have more serious, immediate impacts such as personal injury or physical harm. Regardless of the severity, crises and issues can affect your brand as a whole and both require similar levels of preparedness. 

 

At JDPR, we understand the many types of crises and issues that can impact your company and the importance of being prepared. With extensive experience in crisis communications, we develop strategic, proactive plans that ensure your company is equipped to navigate any challenge.

 

What is a crisis?

 

A crisis is an unexpected problem that upends a company’s stability¹. An issue is a smaller scale problem that throws a wrench into a company’s plans or threatens its reputation. Crisis events can come in many shapes and forms, often denoted as “clusters.” Common crisis clusters include “victim clusters,” “accidental clusters” and “preventable clusters.” While it’s impossible to predict every potential challenge, what really matters is a company’s ability to respond to each issue swiftly and strategically.

 

Types of crisis clusters and how to respond:

1. “Victim” – or circumstantial crisis: This type of crisis occurs when a company is not at fault, rather they are the victim of the surrounding environment or circumstance. For example, a company and its stakeholders may fall victim to a bad actor or may be affected by a natural disaster. In such cases, there are weak attributions of responsibility coupled with a mild reputational threat. In this scenario, it is important to be able to convey a response that claims the inability to control the events that triggered the crisis while also finding a way to provide support to any affected parties.

The proper response in this type of crisis—after engaging holding statements, gathering as much information as possible, and contacting stakeholders—is to respond with accuracy and honesty without pointing fingers or potentially putting the company in a position of fault. When a company is the victim, they should aim to maintain their positive reputation by avoiding any potential defaming statements and by encouraging stakeholders through being transparent about the steps they are taking to improve or recover from the situation.

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“Accidental:” This type of crisis occurs when the organization is considered at fault, but they didn’t do anything intentionally to cause the crisis. In these cases, there are minimal attributions of responsibility and a moderate reputational threat.² This could be a product recall or software glitch, leading to a lull in productivity. 

In the accidental cluster, information alone can sometimes be enough to manage the crisis, particularly when there is no prior history of similar crises. However, sometimes companies—after engaging holding statements, gathering information and contacting stakeholders—may elect to accept full responsibility, apologize to any affected parties and may offer proportionate compensation.²

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“Preventable:” With a preventable crisis, the company knowingly takes a risk and it doesn’t pay off, leading to a crisis. This cluster poses the highest attributions of responsibility and severe reputational threat.² Examples of a preventable cluster include human error or organizational misdeeds that might lead to a variety of problems, including, but not limited to, customer injury, illness, other loss or even death.

In the instance of a preventable crisis, it is imperative that immediate action is taken. The company must take responsibility for the crisis and offer whatever compensation is deemed appropriate to those affected. The goal is for the company to rebuild its relationship with stakeholders during a time where their reputation has been severely damaged.² While no one wants to be in a position of having to deal with a preventable crisis, proper management offers the unique opportunity for the brand to impress stakeholders and regain significant trust.

 

When developing a crisis plan for our clients, we ensure that we establish a process for communication—both internally and externally—to provide clarity and stability. Through our crisis management planning, we will provide your business with an organized crisis activation plan inclusive of individual responsibilities, key contacts, a phone tree and holding statements as well as sample crisis scenarios and recommended responses for maximum crisis readiness. All of this, and more, live in a physical and digital crisis manual for easy access.  In the event of a crisis, we craft specific materials and messaging for target audiences and act as a facilitator between the media and your brand.

 

The worst time to find out your team is unprepared to manage a crisis is when you are faced with one. Have you taken the necessary steps to make certain your brand is prepared? To learn more about how JDPR can help you prepare for and navigate a crisis, reach out to us at jdpr.com/contact-us/.