One of the most important disciplines in PR is crisis communication. But for it to work, it must begin before the crisis. This is the only way companies can prevent it from spreading further and further. With just five most important dos and don’ts, Do’s and Don’ts crisis communication becomes more efficient.
- Corona has shown: a corporate crisis can hit any B2B company at any time
- Empty order books, delivery bottlenecks and investment freezes were just three common reasons for crises in B2B during the pandemic
- Even without external circumstances, the risk of crisis is always lurking: poor working conditions at foreign production ghana number data sites, environmental damage, liquidity bottlenecks and quality defects
- This makes it all the more important to reduce or completely avoid damage to your image. If you react incorrectly, you risk a Do’s and Don’ts drop in sales, attacks from critics and an ever greater loss of image.
The 5 most important dos
B2B companies should definitely follow these five principles of B2B crisis communication:
Be prepared
Professional crisis communication is only successful if B2B companies prepare themselves. This is the only way they can react quickly and correctly. Otherwise they risk the communication actually making the crisis worse.
Good preparation includes the which strategy is better suit to the company following factors:
- Setting up an early warning system such as social media monitoring
- Define crisis team
- draw up a crisis plan
- Clearly define the coordination path to ensure consistent communication
- Pre-formulate helpful press releases/texts for foreseeable scenarios
- Training staff for crisis situations
- Have an address book with the most important contact details ready
- Create and publish a crisis manual
- Setting up dark sites with information about companies, personalities and products
Clear competencies and uniform rules help to react flexibly.
Recognize crises in a timely manner
Early warning systems are essential in order to be able to react quickly. This includes social media monitoring to prevent shitstorms, monitoring growth forecasts and market developments or setting up a crisis team that keeps an eye on b to c database short and medium-term company planning and identifies actual-target deviations. Soft Do’s and Don’ts information such as rumors, laws and innovations should be brought together in a central location, checked regularly and reported to the crisis team.
Communicate in the right order
Nothing is worse than stakeholders feeling ignored in a crisis. In order to influence public opinion in an appropriate way, the following order in the flow of information is usually recommended in practice:
- crisis team, board of directors and management
- Employees
- The most important customers
- partners, suppliers and service providers
- Placing the information online on the company website
- Press release to journalist contacts by PR agency
- Publish information via social media channels
The crisis team and management determine the measures. They then inform the employees about them. The further order of action is determined by which stakeholders are affected. Depending on the situation, deviations from the order make sense. Are suppliers the main victims of the crisis? In this case, they move up in the information order. Is it limited to social media? In this case, the PR team must take action promptly.
Be quick and keep customers informed
The quicker a B2B company can inform about the crisis, the better. If all the facts are not yet known, it is sufficient to publish the most important facts. This briefs employees and crisis communication can be initiated. Stakeholders can prepare themselves and draw initial conclusions. This is fair behavior, especially in the B2B sector, and shows respect for customers.
Stakeholders must continue to be informed in a continuous process, especially the group that is particularly affected by the crisis. Relationships with customers must now be maintained with particular care. Ongoing dialogue helps with this.
use social media
Social media is essential for the early detection of crises. Many signs of crises appear early on social platforms. If you recognize the danger early, you can gain many hours of time and possibly prevent the worst from happening. Please note: Even if B2B companies are not present on social media, they cannot prevent people from talking about Do’s and Don’ts them. They must therefore carefully consider whether they can do without a presence on social media. Because if you are not online, you are less able to react. This is the only way crisis communication can have a direct impact at the source.
Arguments and wording must be clearly agreed upon in advance. Under no circumstances should untrained employees take over communication with (critical) followers. It is important to communicate an understanding of the negative consequences of the crisis. One’s own responsibility must not be denied on social networks. Otherwise the shitstorm will be fueled. Respectful treatment of skeptics and those affected is the basis for success. Nevertheless, social media employees must not allow themselves to be drawn deeply into discussions. This increases the risk that agreed principles of crisis communication will be violated.