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Crisis Management In The Media

CRiSIS Planning And Media COMMUNICATION EXPERTS

The Drill’s crisis management consultants make news headlines: Part of our crisis planning ethos is to try to help businesses shape the developing narrative via judicious media and stakeholder engagement, to take crisis-hit companies from unsafe ground to safer terrain.

Also, when crises break, media journalists/producers often ask Drill experts - all crisis management specialists - to offer insights and observations to boost understanding of the crisis communication issues at play. Our experts have vital international and hands-on crisis management consultancy expertise, which is transferred into our crisis management planning tools and crisis software.

Drawing on years of frontline crisis management consultancy, Drill staff enact crisis fixes and crisis solutions to help businesses overcome their PR and operational problems. Your crisis response plans can be improved just by reading some of the articles below, featuring our proprietary approaches and methodologies for crisis management puzzles. The articles do not constitute specific advice or counsel, but we believe their principles to be, without guarantee, thought-provoking! So when you’re ready for better crisis management planning or preparation, call us.

We hope you enjoy the read.

Online crisis simulations - crisis technology trains the team remotely

As the Covid crisis rumbles on with varying intensity, many crisis-hit companies are adjusting to what seems to be a new pace and mode of business. Most crisis communications consultants are acutely aware of what the strain of crisis duress feels like, and now clients are developing an appreciation for crisis software solutions.

But is your company mistaking a heightened ‘operating anxiety’ for the best levels of crisis preparedness? Moreover, is your company using online videoconferencing tools to deliver crisis management training?

Anecdotal evidence from many of my crisis management consultants (Melbourne) and crisis experts in Sydney, suggest many clients still have a ‘Wait and See' mentality when it comes to crisis simulation training; too many think that ‘living through’ a crisis is the same as developing a robust crisis training system that could cope with any crisis!

Having analysed and researched PR disasters for almost 15-years, I know that the W&S phenomenon comes from an era - a media age - when brands had the time-luxury to formulate their response to an issue or crisis. That time, literally, has disappeared. Now, in our crisis management drills with clients, we're working to an issue acknowledgement time of 7-minutes (which comes from crisis-ready clients in the aviation sector).

So, could your crisis team command centre activate and publish crisis communications in sub-ten minutes? Could they respond to a Facebook furore or Twitter storm? Are they versed in using SEO while issues and crises rage?

Customers, clients, the public and - more critically - the media make their minds up about any incident, story, or occurrence in the blink of an eye. More tellingly, they're savvy enough to know when something is plainly wrong and should be called out as such. Yet many brands still don’t run crisis training simulations using online and interactive technologies. Some, for example, think that SEO is only for marketing campaigns.

Does your business continuity or risk management team practise for the rising prospect of facing a modern reputation crisis? Is it ready for the speed and severity of post-COVID impacts? Could your team deliver while your staff is apart, dispersed and remotely Working From Home ? Well, if you use an online crisis simulator you can develop those skills and practice those capabilities using your computers and our crisis portal!

Given the acceleration of fact-free, agenda-driven, opinion-forming, pronouncement-making, speculation-indulging social and news media - and the influential SEO narrative that accompanies it - slow comment in a crisis is becoming the next worst thing to no comment. It can leave you out of the crisis conversation entirely. And if you'r business would prefer ‘no comment’ to slow comment you may be more out-of-touch than is helpful should a crisis escalate: We deliver crisis training courses online and you can now get your crisis management certification that way too!

Modern crises examples don’t happen on boardroom tables with foolscap paper and felt pens; modern crises are increasingly digital in their origin, character and impact That’s why online crisis simulations are so effective; our crisis planning exercises mirror the real-life pressures you can expect to be put under in a modern crisis.

Perhaps your organisation has been considering - or really needs - a crisis simulation; a crisis management drill; or a crisis workshop ? Maybe you’re looking for crisis training courses or crisis certification for your staff?Feel free to reach out to us for a demo or a testimonial from any of the clients we’ve trained using our interactive crisis simulation technology portal; there’s nothing to lose from gaining more understanding. There’s nothing to lose by running a crisis simulation online; your staff will love the learnings and thank you for the opportunity to connect using virtual crisis technology!

gerry@thedrill.com.au

Gerard McCusker