CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS

Your reputation is the sum of all beliefs, perceptions, and emotions about you by a diverse group of audiences that can include everyone from fans to business executives and from athletic conferences to lawmakers.  Their opinions are shaped to a surprising extent by the manner in which you respond to  situations that have the potential to negatively affect your reputation – “crises.”   These audiences expect and demand a nearly instantaneous public response to every situation, from the most mundane to the direst of circumstances.   You must be prepared to communicate in a prompt, accurate, and decisive manner in even the gravest of controversies.  A timely and well-crafted response helps to mitigate any damage or fallout from the underlying crisis and also ensures that the appropriate people – both inside and outside your organization – have the necessary and appropriate facts and information to plot the most prudent course, to rehabilitate lingering crisis-related effects, and otherwise to convert a reputational threat into an opportunity for brand enhancement.