• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Media Manoeuvres Logo - Animated
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Services
    • Media Spokesperson Training
    • Stakeholder Communications
    • Executive Presentation Skills
    • On Camera Presentation Training
    • Senate Estimates Performance and Preparation Skills
    • Crisis Management Media Training
    • Schools Crisis and Issues Management
    • Royal Commissions and Government Inquiries
  • Online Virtual Training
    • Virtual Media Training
    • Virtual Presentation Skills
  • Trainers & Consultants
  • News
  • Contact Us
    • Perth
    • Brisbane
    • Canberra
    • Sydney
    • Melbourne
Communication Manoeuvres Logo - Animated

Will This Crisis Actually Pass? How Do I Minimise Any Reputation Damage?

January 17, 2019 by Sam Elam Leave a Comment

Your Strategic Planning Guide For Being Fully Prepared For Any Crisis

Many companies routinely ask me how they can prepare properly to communicate when – not if – a crisis happens. While we can be quite optimistic, the realist in us all knows from experience there will always be something that happens. The question is, are you actually prepared to avoid the worst case scenario, in the event of a crisis?

Now, if we can agree that something will happen – a small crisis or a big crisis, there are some simple strategies that will help you to be properly prepared, that will mitigate the risk that you will likely encounter. After all, it’s about being prepared to protect your brand image and ensure business continuity. Here are ten simple strategies I recommend for best practice risk and crisis preparation, and minimising the damage to your brand reputation.

  1. Complete a Vulnerability Audit. What are the things that potentially can go wrong? List them out and see where your ‘weaknesses’ are, and start to identify them.
  2. Create a Crisis Communications Plan. This is not the crisis management plan which is an operational emergency response. I am talking here about an effective crisis communications plan that overlays the operational crisis response. The communications plan is a very detailed plan containing a blueprint as to who you need to communicate with, how to communicate with them, when to communicate and what to say, verbally or in writing, including the all-consuming media.
  3. Complete a Resources Audit to find and list your people, your leadership team and their deputies. Who will be responsible for communications to the staff, to customers, the board, media and also the public?
  4. Complete a Resources Audit for Digital & Social Media. Do you have people on tap to monitor Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or whatever social media is applicable and have you got people on hand to upload statements, or videos perhaps, to your website?
  5. Understand your Technology. How will you contact your stakeholders in a hurry, if you need to?
  6. Engage External Advisors and Experts. Do you have communications and legal experts in place that you can call on immediately? Engaging a reputation management company to be on call in a crisis situation may help you recover from potential crises and save your reputation in the long term.
  7. The all-important one; Media Training. Have you properly trained your media spokespeople to front the media? They need training before they do this.
  8. Run Simulations. Planning is great, but have you actually tested the Crisis Communications plan and the people who have roles in it? Most companies test it when things go wrong. You need to be smarter about it and test it before a crisis happens.
  9. Undertake a Response and Management Assessment. After the crisis has happened and things have returned to normal, how do you assess how well you managed it and what needs to be amended in your plans?
  10. Finally, your Recovery Strategy. If you feel that your company’s reputation has been damaged in any way, how would you recover from that?
Take a look to see what you might be missing, or where some of your weaknesses lie. If you are missing any of these steps, you have a hole in your planning which will leave you vulnerable when a crisis occurs. The key is to be strategic about it and lay down a plan that can work for you – today and tomorrow.

Filed Under: Blog

About Sam Elam

Articles by Sam Elam, Communications Consultant

Sam Elam, Managing Director of Media Manoeuvres, has been involved in the media and communications industry for over 30 years.

Sam established Media Manoeuvres in 1997 as a specialist media consultancy in media training and reputation management. She now combines her media and corporate communications skills assisting clients in media skills training as well as media strategy, issues and crisis management.

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Recent Posts

  • Why are Politicians Good at Media Interviews?
  • CEO Crisis Communications – surely lessons need to be learnt
  • Billionaire Buffett Says This One Skill Will Boost Your Career Value by 50 Percent!
  • International Keynote Speaker Kylie Bartlett on Changing Minds
  • International Keynote Speaker Kylie Bartlett on the Power of Public Speaking

Archives

Media-Manoeuvres-Logo_NoTagline_Full-Colour
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Services
  • Team
  • News
  • Contact
Melbourne:
477 Collins St, Melbourne
Victoria 3000
Sydney:
213 Edgeware Road, Newtown
NSW 2042
Perth:
38 Webster St, Nedlands
WA 6009

[email protected]

PERTH
1800 183 343

BRISBANE
1800 183 343

CANBERRA
02 6282 8660

SYDNEY
02 9905 8266

MELBOURNE
03 9510 6000

ON-CAMERA SKILLS TRAINING

The advent of the digital age has given rise to the importance of online video content. A video with a good presenter/s can engage and influence stakeholders. How others immediately perceive you or your business comes down to the first few seconds of you on camera!

Read more: Camera Presentation Training

VIRTUAL PRESENTATION SKILLS

Your impression when presenting online has been important for many years, but it is now crucial with almost all business being conducted via videoconference. Stand out from the crowd with impressive skills, taught by our international keynote speakers and webinar hosts.

Read more: Virtual Presentation Skills

LIVE ONLINE MEDIA TRAINING

Spokespeople from all organisations need to adapt to new ways to deliver their messages, and journalists are looking for great interviewees wherever they may be. Get ahead of the pack with our live, online media training which is customised and flexible, just like our face-to-face training sessions.

Read more: Live Online Media Training

ELEARNING MEDIA AND PRESENTATION SKILLS

Cost efficiency, time flexibility and the opportunity to train many more people are the significant benefits of online learning. Mobile-enabled eLearning programmes and modules, webinars, live and static digital platforms and forums can be blended (if required) with face-to-face formats.

Read more: E-Learning Training

MAYOR AND COUNCILLOR SKILLS TRAINING

Customised Media Spokesperson Skills training for newly elected Mayors and Councillors is highly recommended to ensure they are in control of their key messages and are able to hold their nerve in the face of a tough community meeting, as well as getting the media coverage they deserve.

Read more: Local Government Training

SCHOOL ISSUES AND CRISIS MANAGEMENT

Media Manoeuvres has a well-established reputation as school crisis management experts. We provide strategic issues and crises planning and organisational media skills coaching to many national and international educational institutions and schools. Before the media calls, schools call us.

Read more: School Crisis Training

EXECUTIVE PRESENTATION SKILLS TRAINING

Whether you are presenting in person or on-screen, you only get one chance to make a first impression and that takes just a few seconds. Getting it right the first time is essential because repairing a poor impression is not easy.

Read more: Presentation Skills Training

SME ISSUES AND CRISIS MANAGEMENT

Every organisation is vulnerable to a crisis – it’s knowing the right way to deal with a situation that changes the way companies are perceived by their stakeholders and the media.

Read more: Crisis Communications Management

MEDIA SKILLS TRAINING

Having good media spokespeople can make all the difference between a superior reputation and a bad one. That’s why training in this area will reap huge rewards for your business.

The Media Manoeuvres approach to media training across Australia is simple: Companies must have effective and efficient media spokespeople. Not only that, but training in this area should be ongoing for senior management, executives and team members.

Read more: Media Skills Training

ROYAL COMMISSIONS & SENATE ESTIMATES

“Democracy in action” is how some describe this exhaustive process whereby Commissioners, Counsel Assisting or Senators can ask endless questions of witnesses appearing. News stories don’t always begin in a Royal Commission or Estimates, but it is often the place where details come out, and reputational damage for you and your organisation can result.

Read more: Royal Commission Training

Read more: Senate Estimates Training

STAKEHOLDER COMMUNICATIONS KEY MESSAGING

A strategic approach to stakeholder and media communications, which addresses the importance of stakeholder needs, will guarantee connection and influence.
Designing thoughtful, meaningful and relevant stakeholder and media messages that align with company objectives is vital.

Read more: Stakeholder Communications Training

How some describe this exhaustive process whereby Commissioners, Counsel Assisting or Senators can ask endless questions of witnesses appearing. News stories don’t always begin in a Royal Commission or Estimates, but it is often the place where details come out, and reputational damage for you and your organisation can result.

    Request for "[article-title]" article