Fancy Frosting on a Cake

My colleague Susan and I were talking not long ago about a common issue we see with companies of nearly every size. Given the demands and budgetary constraints of today, the decision to invest money and resources in a crisis communications plan for the future can be hard to justify. We also see that the reticence to invest is strongest when a company has never had a serious blow to its reputation. It’s a bit like being on a winning streak in Vegas: everyone is feeling lucky and not really thinking about something that may or may not happen in the future.

I am certainly an optimist myself – but my optimism has been tempered by working for clients that suddenly found themselves in a whirlwind of controversy with a serious impact to both their reputation and market value. And like many other companies in this position, I’ve seen them communicate less instead of more, argue internally about what to do or not do, and on those occasions when they could all agree on a communication about the issue, it was either vague or defensive.

When you read about companies like BP, Netflix, Bank of America, Toyota and many others that have had big PR problems in recent years, we all have a tendency to roll our eyes at the stupid things companies sometimes do and say. But when you see a crisis unfold up close – when you know the company and the people involved – you can see how communications during a crisis becomes driven by emotions like fear and anger rather than by strategy. Without a strong crisis communication plan in place, even a group of very smart, experienced, and articulate senior executives are at such a disadvantage that they cannot effectively communicate when the crisis comes.

This is how Susan put it to me the other night: “A crisis communications plan is not just the fancy frosting on a cake! It helps address the very real vulnerabilities that companies have in today’s world of 24/7 media and allows them to effectively communicate with stakeholders that demand accountability.”

I laughed at her “fancy frosting” analogy and agreed. Every company needs a strong, well thought out and agreed to crisis communications plan. It’s the best hope for effective communications during a PR crisis and often the only way to preserve corporate reputation.