Crisis Management With Style
By Tiffany Wright | November 28, 2020
Throughout your career you may experience a client that unintentionally or intentionally makes their target demographic cringe at the very least. Whether your client is an entertainer, company, or politician it is bound to happen. Try as you might, making a good plan is nothing if you cannot complete a few tasks.
Genuine Contrition
If your client is in a sinking ship they are not in it alone. When you tell people that you worked with so and so person or such and such company. The first thing that will come to mind is the scandal, their next thought will be how it was handled. This is where you want to make sure that any contribution of apology and acceptance in understanding the issue comes to play. Do not just say it was a mistake or the situation was misunderstood. Show true growth and change.
Spin to Win
With campaigns that have the best intentions but do not necessarily go as planned, a little spin can always be helpful. Taking something from being out of context and forming it into a genius plan. Revamp and revise or just heavily lean into the miscalculation. Just make sure that who you are trying to reach will understand the concept.
Deflection equals Disconnection
When you are assisting your client in attempting to edge themselves out of a crisis, emphasize that passing the blame is less than ideal. Yes, there are instances where someone else had the idea, created the content and put it out into the atmosphere. However, at the end of the day your client is the face that is tied to the name. Joe in marketing can be fired but your client still has an angry demographic to deal with.
At the end of the day be prepared for your client to make a mistake and plan accordingly. It is better to have a plan and not need it, then to need it and not have it.
Tiffany Wright is currently a lead Security Professional for Farmers Insurance and a student at California State University Northridge (CSUN). Wright has been with Farmers Insurance for five years and is known for being knowledgeable about many different topics and a great planner. Wright while a Public Relations major plans to become either a Corporate Event Planner or a Wedding Planner.
Event Planning has always been a passion for Wright, beginning with assisting in planning her Families Bi-Annual Family Reunion, eventually moving into the primary planner role. She has also coordinated multiple family birthday parties and family vacations. Wright tries to be active in the community by volunteering. She is currently an active volunteer with the California Police Athletic Federation, Junior Diabetes Research Foundation, Mud Girl Run and HSBC Rugby 7’s Tournament.