For all businesses, whether small, medium or large, it is better to prevent a crisis than to suffer it. But, no matter what means are used, no company is entirely immune to a crisis. It is therefore necessary to think about efficient exit strategies in order to reduce the impact of this crisis on the company’s brand image. Crisis communication is one of the useful ways out of a crisis. But to use it for useful purposes, you must already know what it is. What is crisis communication? What strategies is it based on? What examples of crisis communication strategies have worked? This article gives you the keys to set up a good communication strategy to exit a crisis.
What is crisis communication?
Whether the crisis is internal or external, when it occurs, we must find a way to contain it so that it has as little impact as possible. Crisis communication thus appears to be an interesting option. It consists of preparing messages that are disseminated internally and externally. These bring together information about the crisis, its origins and the means used to resolve it effectively.
By opting for well-prepared crisis communication, the company’s communications team has control over the information that is relayed. Thus, it can easily stem the panic that is likely to seize employees. The company manipulates the information and can use it to its advantage. In addition, if information about the crisis leaks, the communications team can deny some and confirm others. As a result, it seems much more credible with customers. By opting for this moderation of information, the company’s customers hope for a return to normality of the situation.
To further improve your brand image in public opinion, you can collect employee reviews via a trusted employee review platform. Employees’ optimism for an imminent exit from the crisis can thus win over customers and prevent them from turning to the competition. Crises can be due to internal causes: human, organizational, financial, health. As an internal cause of crisis, there is the boreout of human resources. To avoid it, it is therefore necessary to know the symptoms of boreout at work and what to do to remedy it. Crises of external causes can be due to international, health, political crises. This is the case, for example, with the crises experienced by companies during the Covid-19 pandemic.
It should be noted that depending on the cause of the crisis, communication with a view to ending the crisis must be organised differently.
What are the crisis communication strategies?
Crises can be a consequence of employee dissatisfaction. It is necessary to do a satisfaction survey of employees occasionally to collect their impressions. But when the crisis appears, you have to be reactive. Good crisis communication is required. For it to be successful, you need to establish an action plan and work with a team that knows what it has to do. It is important to train the team involved in the communication process and build a good communication strategy. There are three strategies which are: recognition, lateral project, refusal. The choice of one or the other is guided by the nature of the crisis and the objectives of the crisis unit.
Recognition
By choosing recognition as a strategy, you are opting for transparency. For it to be effective, the company must race against time. Recognition in this case is acknowledging the existence of a problem. The company must therefore quickly realize the crisis that is looming in the distance and identify the problem. This communication strategy is only feasible when the crisis is not yet revealed by the media. By speaking openly on the company’s social networks and websites, the communication team offers itself a monopoly on information.
Recognition is therefore about accepting that there is a problem within the company and talking to customers about it. Thus, you retain a certain credibility and you demonstrate a foolproof honesty. Public opinion perceives you as a company run by humans who are not infallible but know how to acknowledge their wrongs. By choosing the strategy of recognition, several alternatives are available to you. The company can openly acknowledge its flaws and repair potential harm to customers. For example, if it is a product sold but defective, you can opt for a refund or replacement.
If the origin of the crisis is a misunderstanding by the members of the company, you can show that you do not yet know the cause of the problem. But this alternative should not give the impression that no means are deployed to identify the cause as soon as possible. Luckily, companies are under the thumb of regulatory authorities in each area. If possible, you prove that this crisis depends not only on you but also on the authorities. The operation of some companies has been affected by barrier measures during the Covid-19 pandemic. A company that has experienced a crisis during this period can therefore prove the involvement of the health authorities in the delay in the delivery of products.
Two other alternatives are also available to you. If the crisis is due to a specific product, the debate must be refocused. In this way, the bad buzz around it does not affect all products. The second alternative is to separate from all the people who have an involvement in the onset of the crisis. You can implement corporate feedback management to prevent mistakes that can cost employees their place.
Taking the example of a company that deals with the agri-food industry, its image can be affected by contaminated production. Thus, it endangers the lives of consumers. To reduce the effects of this poor production, the company’s communications team will decide to inform consumers that those responsible for this situation have been laid off. In this case, it will be some workers and the production manager who must check the quality of the product.
The lateral project
The lateral project is another crisis communication strategy. Where recognition consists in recognizing the problem, the lateral project aims to move it. The communication team therefore arranges for the problem to be seen from another angle and for the company’s responsibility to be minimized. If you opt for the lateral project strategy, you also have several alternatives. You can direct the debate to the people who benefit from this situation. These are often competitors. But, for this not to be seen as a desperate attempt to burnish your image, the allegations must be based on facts.
The communications team may choose to reduce the company’s communication or direct it to another topic. Thus, attention is diverted to something other than the crisis. You can also opt for shifting responsibility to the authorities of the country for example. Finally, the last alternative is to give a positive connotation to the situation. Instead of refocusing the public’s attention on the crisis or its origin, you are leading them to see the results of the efforts that have been made. By using this tactic, the public sees that the worst has been avoided.
Let’s take the example of a company that had to let go of some employees because they were doing their job poorly. Unhappy employees can give the company bad press. In response, the company’s communications team can convince the public of the merits of this decision. Indeed, if they had kept these employees, the quality of products and services could have been affected. In this sense, the worst has been avoided.
Refusal
Refusal is a strategy that is also considered denial. It is only useful when no information has leaked. In this case, your company holds all the information that could harm you. The members of the communications team decide to say that the company is doing its best and is not shaken by any crisis. When you choose this strategy, there is no turning back. It is therefore necessary to ensure that everyone is at the same level of information and involvement regarding the tactic chosen. Hence the importance of internal communication and employer branding.
You have four options. The first is to remain silent. This lack of information is enough not to feed the rumours that may already exist. The second is based on information moderation. You provide some but without compromising the denial of the crisis. But, from a certain point, you decide not to provide any more information. As a result, there is nothing left to animate the crisis. You also have the option of using the missing link principle or minimizing the effects of the crisis.
Some examples of crisis communication strategy
The crisis communication strategies mentioned above have already proved their worth. They have been used not only by small and medium-sized enterprises but also by States. Here are three examples of a corporate crisis and the strategies that helped to get out of it.
The case of Volkswagen
This crisis dates back to September 2015 when a case of electronic fraud affected the German automotive giant. The vehicles had a “manipulative software device”. That software was used to manipulate the emission of gases so that the vehicles passed the emission test. This fraud has therefore had adverse effects on the environment. In Europe, no less than 8.5 million vehicles were involved and 500,000 vehicles in America. Faced with this crisis, Volkswagen has chosen recognition as its communication strategy.
The German company chose to pay the fines and sums related to the prosecution. $6.5 billion has been allocated for this purpose. Volkswagen has therefore chosen the path of transparency for a smooth exit from the crisis. However, at that time the crisis still affected the company enough.
The case of Leclerc
The crisis that affected the Leclerc brand dates back to 2005. Indeed, about fifteen children whose age was between 2 and 9 years old were affected by food poisoning. It was poisoning with Escherichia coli which is a potentially fatal microorganism. This intoxication has led to more or less serious consequences, including cases of renal failure. The competent authorities took charge of the case and very quickly, the respondent was identified. It was the frozen burgers of the brand “Chantegrill”. These products were marketed by the E.Leclerc brand.
The major retailer has opted for transparency. It not only acknowledged its involvement, but made every effort to ensure that the purchased products were found. A commission was set up to find the batch of infected steaks. The retail giant then passed many press releases and made every effort to find these frozen steaks of death. It is obvious that if E. Leclerc suffered from the problems of bad atmosphere at work, the crisis would not have been solved as effectively.
The case of Paris airport
In 2004, Terminal 2E at Paris airport collapsed, killing six people. Faced with many questions, the management responded. It chose the path of transparency and to assure the public that if necessary the terminal would be razed and rebuilt. The management team has also made every effort to support the families. This efficient management of the crisis demonstrates good talent management in companies.
