{"id":4397,"date":"2023-04-11T13:19:01","date_gmt":"2023-04-11T11:19:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/communiko.rs\/krizna-komunikacija-nocna-mora-pr-a-i-test-za-najbolje\/"},"modified":"2025-08-07T15:02:22","modified_gmt":"2025-08-07T13:02:22","slug":"crisis-communications-a-pr-nightmare-and-a-test-for-the-best","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/communiko.rs\/en\/crisis-communications-a-pr-nightmare-and-a-test-for-the-best\/","title":{"rendered":"Crisis communications: a PR nightmare and a test for the best"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>By Katarina Arambasic-Pivic<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Photo: Pexels\/Jan Kopriva<\/p>\n<p>The Internet and social networks have significantly changed public relations, especially the way we communicate in a crisis. These days, it only takes one tweet or a bad review on social media for things to spiral out of control. We live in a time when every person is a potential media, so we can learn about a crisis that concerns us when it is already public. Then, we face a severe problem because our response options are limited. That\u2019s why we must be quick but wise, which is the most challenging formula for success.<\/p>\n<p>In short, crisis management is how one organization responds to an emergency. It\u2019s about strategically identifying and responding to a threat that has the potential to harm your business, brand reputation, and people.<\/p>\n<p>A PR crisis occurs when a negative event, disruption, or review threatens to collapse your brand and business. We divide crises into three types: reputational (the case of the fashion brand Balenciaga or Adidas-Kanye West), financial (bankruptcy, large layoffs, or embezzlement like the FTX case), and public health and safety crises (like the recall of drugs or other products for which have been found to have harmful effects). This is the most general division and does not include all possible crisis cases, but it is helpful as a general overview.<\/p>\n<p>Every crisis is a unique assignment, and there is no universal formula for handling them. For this reason, PR experts with extensive experience in the sector handle the reaction to each crisis. There are, however, some standards of behavior that need to be publicized more. Starting with the most crucial, which is:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Every organization needs to be ready for the worst. How is crisis readiness accomplished? By having a crisis communication plan that has been designed and authorized and includes extensive models (cases) specific to your sector or branch. This plan should be \u201cpracticed\u201d with management, so please stop the practice that it is another strategy paper that someone wrote and forgot on the computer (a common problem in many organizations).<\/li>\n<li>How is the crisis practiced? Simple and very effective \u2013 at management training, you learn the rules of behavior in a crisis and go through specific cases (the so-called crisis simulation). On this occasion, the management learns about creating a crisis team, the reporting line, the legal department\u2019s role, informing the internal and external public, and through examples, they observe how it would look in practice.<\/li>\n<li>How has the crisis stopped? That is what we do as PR professionals with an extensive experience in this area. The methods vary and are tailored to the particular situation. If at all feasible, it is preferable to stop a situation before it becomes a crisis to avoid the outcomes.<\/li>\n<li>What do we do if a crisis happens suddenly and we are unable to prevent it? The first part of the reaction is mainly patterned. Assess the case, check how other organizations reacted in similar situations, and draw conclusions from other people\u2019s examples. Form a crisis team with a clear division of roles for each member, prepare a press release, and monitor media releases, especially social media. Now we come to the second part: the greatest talent in solving a PR crisis is good timing because by reacting in time, you control the narrative. The moment and method of response depends on the specific case and belongs to the skill of PR.<\/li>\n<li>Should we react to everything negative we hear about the organization? You are probably familiar with the saying that rumors grow in the absence of an official answer. Simply speaking, real crises demand a response. However, many overlook that only some things are a crisis, and professionals know how to assess it. Additionally, there are crises (such as court disputes) in which we must use the tactic of silence. But let\u2019s go back to criticism. So, determining if a critic is one of our devoted and rational customers or a so-called troll is crucial when discussing criticism, especially on social networks. Rational, well-founded criticism deserves a response, and in this way, trust in the brand and consumer loyalty is further strengthened. There is no one correct answer when it comes to trolling, but in practice, setting up a scenario in which we deliver our response indirectly, without direct addressing or name-calling, has shown to be the most elegant strategy. To be clear, we are responding rather than criticizing or assaulting the opposing side.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>What must we remember throughout the crisis? During this process, you must keep in mind that you should always tell the truth \u2013 tell your story very carefully and concisely. In a crisis, you are particularly exposed to public attention, and your every word is measured and has weight (hence the important role of legal in this process). For this reason, twisting or adapting the truth is not your ally; speak the truth and choose your words.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Katarina Arambasic-Pivic Photo: Pexels\/Jan Kopriva The Internet and social networks have significantly changed public relations, especially the way we communicate in a crisis. These days, it only takes one tweet or a bad review on social media for things to spiral out of control. We live in a time when every person is a\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4255,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[61,62,65,63,64,84,85],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/communiko.rs\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4397"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/communiko.rs\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/communiko.rs\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communiko.rs\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communiko.rs\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4397"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/communiko.rs\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4397\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4612,"href":"https:\/\/communiko.rs\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4397\/revisions\/4612"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communiko.rs\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/communiko.rs\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communiko.rs\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communiko.rs\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}