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Strategy
Crisis planning
There will be times when your business faces a crisis. The difference between a significant reputational impact or not is crisis communications. And here, planning ahead of time is paramount.
With 30 years of experience, CCGroup has guided some of the biggest B2B technology brands in the world through both the good times and the bad. From issues monitoring to crisis handbooks and media relations, CCGroup has developed the methodologies, the tools, and the expertise to steer industry giants to disruptive start-ups successfully through a crisis.
Crisis planning knowledge & expertise
A crisis can strike at any time. And the only way to reduce the risk of a crisis is to plan. Preparing for potential crisis scenarios ahead of time is critical.
Crisis planning is just like the first aid kit in your office, in that you shouldn’t wait until after an incident to go and buy one. Treating a serious cut quickly and effectively helps to limit the chances of infection and scarring. A crisis within your business is no different, but you can only do this if you’re prepared.
Effective crisis planning is about three elements. The crisis infrastructure, the crisis content, and training individuals within the business to execute on both.
Inevitably a crisis will occur when you least expect it to, and only by building organisational “muscle memory” will a business be able to rapidly and effectively respond to a crisis.
Our crisis planning approach
The first step in crisis planning is to map out two elements. Potential crisis scenarios and internal/external stakeholders. By identifying potential points of crisis and scoring them based on likelihood and severity you can begin to prioritise the most important possible scenarios. By mapping out which stakeholders are impacted in each scenario, we can then begin to develop communications and content that accelerates a crisis response.
The next step is infrastructure. That is do we have the processes and tools to respond quickly with quality. The focus here is on establishing internal roles and responsibilities followed by escalation and approvals processes. Tools from CRM systems to media monitoring software through to WhatsApp groups need to be readied for execution.
The final step is training. A crisis is a stressful situation. When under pressure people rush, the make mistakes, they forget processes. The best way to combat this is to run a simulation of a crisis so that we can understand how the business reacts under pressure.
Practice always makes perfect.
Why choose CCGroup?
Connect Communication & Growth
At CCGroup we’re all about Connection, Communication and Growth.
At CCGroup we’re all about Connection, Communication and Growth. Through people-centric best-in-class PR-led marketing, we drive the future success of B2B technology brands. We have unparalleled industry expertise across mobile & telecoms, fintech, cybersecurity and enterprise technology. Our 30+ year PR heritage means we’ve been there for some of these sectors’ biggest developments, telling their stories as they’ve grown and evolved among the ever-changing business landscape.
Our journey so far has equipped us with the foresight to predict future technology trends, ready for whatever the fast-paced world of technology throws at us. And our integrated, channel-agnostic, audience-centric approach allows us to tailor our services to the needs of our clients, no matter their size or scale of their project. All of our ideas are creative, structured and effective, from traditional PR, to media relations, to content creation and marketing services.
Awards
2023-24
PRovoke Media - EMEA Technology Consultancy of the Year
2023, 2022, 2021 & 2020
PRmoment - Technology Agency of the Year
2023, 2022 & 2020
PRmoment - B2B Agency of the Year
Crisis planning explained
What is crisis planning?
Crisis planning is assessing the potential risks a business may face and then putting into place a plan. This involves analysing the likelihood of various crisis situations, assessing who receives what communication, developing content – statements, emails, FAQs etc. – ready in response, and establishing the processes and tools necessary. And once a plan is in place, train the organisation against it, and run a simulation to understand the businesses’ readiness.
1 — 3Why is it important to plan for crises ahead of time?
The old adage of ‘fail to prepare and prepare to fail’ still rings true. Without a crisis plan in place, it is inevitable that mistakes will be made which could further compound the situation. In the worst cases, there may be legal or criminal repercussions of your organisation’s inadequate response. Planning is the best and only way to mitigate the impact of a crisis.
2 — 3What are the challenges with crisis management?
We live in a real-time global information environment from 24/7 news channels to online forums. This means there is more pressure for organisations to respond quickly. And with social media almost anyone can make their voice heard about a situation, often changing that situation in the process. At the same time, organisations are increasingly global, interconnected and often operate hybrid working practices. This means that bringing together a team quickly and effectively to respond can be challenging. And the growing reliance of one business on another means it’s more likely that a crisis will take place – often due to a counterparty – and it’s more likely to be complex. Along with increasing political, economic and environmental turbulence, effectively managing a crisis is more difficult than 10 years ago.
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To find out more about the crisis planning services we can provide, or if you’re looking for a B2B tech specialist marketing agency, we’d love to hear from you.