Dousing Fires With An Essex Crisis Management Agency
If we were to say to you “there’s a fire raging, we have to put it out now!” What wouldn’t you do? Well, for a start you certainly wouldn’t pour a can of petrol on it. It’s beyond obvious when you put it like that. Which is why it baffles our Essex crisis management agency, that many businesses take this approach when they’re receiving flak. They think that attack is the best form of defence, aggressively lashing back out at those scrutinising them; denying wrongdoing where there has been has rarely been a formula for success. The team here at VerriBerri have penned this blog to explain why effective crisis management is so vital.
Why The Need For An Agency?
Have you ever been riled up? Maybe you’ve done something wrong and been attacked for it? Perhaps you’re being wrongly accused for something and still find yourself besieged by negative press and exposure. Whatever the situation, keeping your cool in these instances is tough. As a hot-headed person myself, I can fully appreciate the difficulty of keeping calm when something gets to you. For this reason, you’re not the best person to deal with a crisis; even if you know your brand better than anyone else. You’re too involved and too personally attached to the issue at hand. Getting external help from an Essex crisis management agency, therefore, suddenly begins to make a lot more sense.
These agencies bring with them a uniquely appropriate skillset to deal with these bonfires. Their process includes evaluation and assessment, consultation and strategy and finally, implementation. What you’ll notice from this is that it isn’t an emotional response; it’s driven by logic and rationale. If there’s been fault on the company’s part, before anything they’ll front up to that with an admission, an apology and the establishing of a clear line of communication between the brand and the public.
This ensures the utmost levels of transparency; in a crisis, you can’t afford to give the baying journalists and general public any more rope to hang yourself with than you may have already done. Following that, they’ll look to rebuild trust, show evidence of the situation being rectified and try to gain some positive exposure so that the event of the past starts to fade into distant memories.
It can be a long old process re-establishing your business following a crisis. That’s why it’s so pivotal that you have clear structures in place so the situation doesn’t feel overwhelming. An agency helps you rebuild brick by steady brick.
Our Case Studies
The pet shop: We once worked with a client who ran a pet shop and, for some reason or other, false allegations about the treatment of the animals at the pet shop started cropping up. Allegations that had no basis or fact behind them, simply products of a malicious rumour mill. Bad press sticks and soon a huge amount of negative press was being directed at them. With the help of our agency, we managed to clear the pet shop’s name and establish what was truth and what was fictitious slander.
The property developer: Another one of our clients, a prestigious property development company, had some work done on what at the time was their latest big development. Unfortunately, the work was botched by third-party contractors. We were able to mitigate the problems caused by this by utilising effective and clear channels of communication between the client and the public. Not only that, but in actual fact we managed to generate some positive press and exposure for the client as well. What this meant was that the negative exposure got pushed further and further down the search engine results pages (SERPs) whilst the positive exposure was what was first seen. In this way the crisis was effectively negated. Our Essex crisis management agency and the client slept soundly that night.
What Not To Do In A Crisis
So, there are most definitely things you can do to help bounce back after the crisis. By the same token, however, there are things you should avoid like the plague. Here’s this Essex crisis management agency’s tips on what to avoid. For a start, don’t just ignore the issue. If people are fired up about something, you failing to address them isn’t going to make their cries go away. Sweeping the issue under the carpet simply isn’t an option in the event of a crisis. Moreover, don’t rush decisions. You can act quickly, proactively and decisively without rushing. The phrase is ‘more speed, less haste’ and that definitely applies to all manners of crises. Acting impulsively rather than logically only ever leads to a worsening of the situation at hand.
Also, don’t be afraid to reach out, whether it’s using an agency or just some friends, going through a crisis can have a huge impact not only on your business but yours and your employees’ mental health as well. Finally, keep things in perspective, most ‘crises’ aren’t as large or damning as the word might suggest. And most companies will come back as strong as beforehand following a crisis, so try not to lose sight of that. If you’ve got your health, your happiness and a business to boot, then you’re probably doing alright.
Contact Us
When the proverbial bodily matter hits the proverbial air conditioning unit, you want somebody to be on your side. You want someone attached yet objective, involved yet distant and that’s something that an agency such as ours provides in spades. So, if you’d like to find out more about our Essex crisis management agency, then get in touch! Give us a call on 01376 386 850. The team here are always looking for new projects and clients to help out in their biggest times of need. You never knew you needed an agency until you did indeed need one, and for when that time comes, we’re here.
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