The Dos and Don’ts of Crisis Communications

Every startup is bound to face a crisis at some point. Whether it is a lawsuit from a competitor, a data breach, a criminal charge, a CEO’s poor behavior, or a viral video of employees acting unethically, every startup needs to be prepared for the worst. To help you better navigate these situations, here are a few dos and don’ts that any entrepreneur should know by heart:

Do

• Show that you care and take action: There is a reason that this is at the top of the list. If you do nothing else, make sure the impacted parties know that you care about them and their problem. You need to quickly take action and be genuine. A lot of companies were rightfully called out for jumping on the BLM bandwagon last year without taking any action. Many companies posted a black square on Instagram and then went back to doing nothing. Most companies took no action to help Black employees or invest in the next generation of Black entrepreneurs and business leaders. Companies facing a crisis need to get to the bottom of the problem, and that often means taking swift, decisive action, including firing senior leaders, recalling products, and ensuring that affected parties feel heard.
• Plan, plan, and plan some more: You should never be caught flat-footed. Most of the time when a company falters in a crisis, it is the result of two things: not caring or a lack of imagination. If you are an airline company, you should be prepared in case one of your planes crashes. If you are a restaurant, you should be prepared for a revolting video of your employees spitting in someone’s food. Your PR team is not doing its job if it is not ready for these scenarios. Companies should have messaging prepared for every possible scenario that could impact their customers, employees, or shareholders.
• Make internal communications a priority: Covid-19 has highlighted the importance of internal communications. The practice is too often treated like the red-headed stepchild of the PR industry, but internal communications proved to be vital in 2020, and I don’t see that changing anytime soon. Most companies forget about their employees during a crisis, creating a vacuum where hearsay and inaccurate information can grow. This often leads to employees accidentally misspeaking to the media, friends, and family, or, worse, looking for new jobs — all of which can compound problems.
• Create a clear chain of command and a small circle of decision-makers: Companies often put too many stakeholders in the room, making it impossible to take clear, decisive action. During a crisis, there tend to be too many lawyers in the room. This can result in decision-making paralysis at a time when decisions can be your most important asset — or your downfall. Take a really hard look and determine who actually needs to inform a response. If your company suffers a data breach, put your CEO, COO, head of IT, general counsel, and head of PR in a room, and lock the door. No one else should be allowed in or out until a decision has been made. Everything else is just noise.
• Develop a war room: I’m sure this mindset is the result of my years in politics and working with political campaigns, but creating a physical or virtual space where stakeholders can quickly strategize and respond to inbound requests is just as applicable in the corporate world. Don’t let any accusations go unanswered, and don’t let misinformation spread. In a crisis, you are already behind the eight-ball, so your job will be twice as hard if you let inaccurate claims gain momentum.
• Communicate early and often: Never let the other side or third parties define the problem or outline the rules of the debate. If you are being accused of malfeasance by a regulator or a competitor, you should be presenting your case before they can get their act together. If a reporter publishes a one-sided story without reaching out to you for comment (which unfortunately happens more than you would expect), quickly call them and make sure it doesn’t happen again and ask for a correction.
• Pause your marketing campaigns: This is especially important if people have been harmed. If you are a major airline, you don’t want to be advertising cheap flights to Bermuda on Instagram hours after a plane crashes in the Bermuda Triangle. Consider optics when dealing with crisis comms: You will navigate this event, but how will you be remembered by customers and investors on the other side?

Don’t

• Don’t let “no comment” be your statement: While not providing a statement to the media can be the legally smart and expedient thing to do, it is often perceived as an admission of guilt or wrongdoing. At the very least, until you have a better grasp of the situation, you need to communicate that you are taking steps to review the problem and that you care about affected parties.
• Don’t make the problem worse: In a crisis situation, your mantra should be “do no harm.” Sometimes your crisis is not a crisis at all, and you just need to put everything in perspective. Don’t call a press conference to address an insignificant matter. Just because this is the most catastrophic thing that has ever happened to your company, it doesn’t mean that the media are going to pick up on it or care. Let the dust settle, and sweep it up.
• Don’t sacrifice accuracy for efficiency: Many companies panic in a crisis. They’re so focused on getting a response out that they miss critical information, which leads to more problems. Take a breath and make sure all of your statements are accurate. Providing false or misleading information is when most crises become Titanic catastrophes that sink companies and ruin brands forever.
• Don’t feed the trolls: Don’t start deleting incoming comments on your social media accounts, as that will further fan the flames. Allow for an initial response and one follow-up, then determine whether to move on. Getting pulled into long back-and-forth fights on social media or with reporters will suck up all of the oxygen in the room and be nothing more than a distraction at a time when time is of the essence.

While this list of dos and don’ts won’t keep you out of a crisis, they will hopefully prepare you for any scenario and help you quickly and calmly navigate even the worst situation. Crises make or break young companies, so being ready to navigate them will help you be a more effective executive for your young brand.

Prime Movers Lab invests in breakthrough scientific startups founded by Prime Movers, the inventors who transform billions of lives. We invest in companies reinventing energy, transportation, infrastructure, manufacturing, human augmentation, and agriculture.

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