Welcome to this edition of B2B Marketing at its Core, an industry newsletter with news, nuggets, and information on best practices in business-to-business technology marketing and public relations. With it, we hope to share information vital to any organization looking to generate revenue and accelerate growth through intelligent strategy, messaging, branding, public relations, and demand generation.


Crises can happen at any time, and they often arise when you least expect them. Hypothetically, if a major crisis happened to your company in the next hour, would you be prepared?

According to a recent survey by BtoB Magazine, 57 percent of companies do not have a crisis communications plan in place, yet 53 percent have experienced a crisis resulting in negative media coverage and decreased sales affecting their company’s bottom line. Clearly, there is a disconnect regarding the value of proactive crisis planning even if B2B marketing executives experienced a crisis first-hand.

First, create a crisis communications plan in advance. Crisis curve balls are bound to occur, but this is your opportunity to brainstorm any anticipated crises; think about what may happen internally and externally; and how it can be managed.

Second, determine your crisis management team. We emphasize the word “team” because in a crisis, a company should have an entourage of behind-the-scenes team members to coordinate media interviews, brief spokespeople and brainstorm strategy. Also consider conducting crisis-focused media training.

Third, craft targeted messages in response to the “what if” and know your primary media targets. For each anticipated crisis, develop clear and consistent messages, inform spokespeople of the messages and determine key media outlets to target as appropriate to your company’s audience(s). When a crisis breaks, be prepared to answer the “what if” question before someone else does.

Fourth, be proactive, not reactive. Granted, some situations call for a reactive response, but nine times out of ten, crises can be averted or contained by a well-formulated, proactive plan. The key is to communicate early and often either through a press conference, statement, in-person briefing or phone interview to keep the public informed – and you in control of your message. Remember to communicate with your employees before communicating externally. Also consider creating a “dark” Web site where pre-organized content such as news updates and executive messages reside on the server until readied to go live.

Fifth, keep information flowing as it develops. Make sure to update all audiences frequently on what is happening and how you are helping. When asked tough questions, admit you don’t know instead of speculating or estimating damage. Additionally, do not mention any names involved in the crisis unless next-of-kin have been notified.

Sixth, speak simply and succinctly. Avoid using industry jargon. Speak clearly and to the point, presenting only the facts at hand, so any miscellaneous information is not misconstrued. Remember, we live in a world of 30-second sound bites.

Seventh, show your human side. During media interviews, it is completely acceptable to acknowledge people’s fears and concerns, but the key is to focus these emotions toward a positive future based on what your company has done to handle the situation.

Eighth, remember the golden crisis rule: The Triple Positive. For each negative response, follow with three positive or solution-oriented statements about what the company is doing to alleviate the crisis or how the company plans to rebound. These statements will demonstrate how proactive your business is in rectifying the problem.

Crisis Communications… 8 Tips to Weather the Storm was developed to help you maintain your company’s reputation and brand in the event of a crisis. If you have any questions, ask Arketi – we’re always glad to help.

Sincerely,

The Arketi Group
core@arketi.com  

PS. Check out Arketi's creative work building Hospitality Ventures’ new Web site: www.hospitalityventures.com.