When a company or brand mishandles a crisis, the public holds a long memory of the event. As stories live on in the media, internet videos, and popular culture, the subsequent fallout — namely reputational and monetary damage — can follow the business for decades.
Consider, for example, the extremely poor management of the disastrous 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill that dumped nearly five million barrels into the sea. As if a monstrous oil spill wasn't enough to deal with, British Petroleum's then-CEO Tony Hayward commented that he wanted his life back during the spill's aftermath. He then attempted to mitigate the blowback with a weak apology that will forever be satirized and criticized in episode 206 of South Park, "Hindsight."
More recent and notable examples that demonstrate the importance of crisis communication include the abrupt 2023 ousting of Sam Altman from OpenAI and the reputation-damaging drama that ensued, plus Boeing's door plug emergency that involved viral video footage, multiple incidents, and a sluggish, inadequate, and opaque public-facing response. This incident destroyed Boeing's consumer trust, damaged the company's reputation, and caused an almost immediate 10% plunge in the value of the company's stock.
Now, imagine how different these stories could have been if any of these businesses' leaders had truly understood the role of communication in crisis management. Having had strategic communication experts advising them with strong crisis communication policies, they could have responded appropriately and more effectively controlled the narrative and safeguarded their public images and brands.
What Is Crisis Communication?
A multidisciplinary area of study, crisis communication is the practice of devising communication strategies to manage unexpected events that could threaten the reputation, financial stability, or operations of a business, organization, brand, public figure, or other type of entity. Communication strategists must anticipate potential risks and develop crisis communication strategies that can be implemented as soon as a crisis materializes in order to minimize damage, guide the response, and maintain or build public trust.
Crisis communication strategies focus on managing the communication between a company's representatives and the public, in addition to the internal communication among employees and stakeholders. Communication strategies should focus on proper messaging while also considering compliance and legalities.
Crisis communication is a central component of business contingency planning, which business leaders use to anticipate and prepare for potential incidents that range in magnitude from events like natural disasters or attacks to incidents such as data breaches, corporate fraud, or unfortunate typos in marketing campaigns.
Why Crisis Communication Matters
Gossip, rumors, and bad news spread more quickly than ever before through online news outlets and social media platforms. With people communicating and spreading news at light speed, poor crisis management can lead to financial losses, false narratives, lawsuits, and long-term reputational damage in a heartbeat.
Proper contingency planning enables businesses to respond to problems with existing strategies rather than reacting with last-minute, ill-advised plans. As a part of contingency planning, crisis communication allows business leaders or public figures to get ahead of an incident and control the narrative.
Crisis communication management is essential to protecting the entity's reputation and safeguarding hard-earned public trust while also sheltering the entity from any potential legal repercussions related to uncontrolled, inaccurate, and unmanaged messaging.
Key Responsibilities in Crisis Communication
To understand how strategic communication helps prevent crisis-related damage, it’s essential to understand what people with jobs in crisis communication (crisis communicators) do when they're working behind the scenes and on the front lines to protect their clients and employers.
Crisis Prevention and Risk Assessment
The first step in risk mitigation is risk assessment. To assess risk, crisis communicators consider case studies, the activities of a business or individual, and the current cultural or economic climate to identify as many potential risks and crises as possible.
They can separate these possible situations and events into categories (such as reputational or operational) and degrees of risk. Looking at each category and degree, the crisis communicator then works to establish and document a variety of proactive crisis response plans before any of these problems arise.
Aside from identifying and planning for crises, crisis communicators should also develop early warning systems that are built into the policies and procedures they create. This includes procedures and systems for identifying and communicating potential crises to business leaders, plus guidelines for initial messaging when leadership still might not know all the facts and details of the situation.
Creating a Crisis Communication Plan
A crisis communication plan provides internal guidelines that employees and executives can follow when encountering or handling a crisis. These plans include instructions, information, and resources. The crisis communication plan should:
- Identify a key point person to relay information and field questions. The crisis communication plan should answer the question, "Who will speak publicly on behalf of the business?"
- Identify potential audiences, such as employees and stakeholders, customers, vendors and suppliers, government officials and regulators, the immediate community, and the general public.
- Provide instructions for how messages should be delivered to the intended audiences by identifying which communication channels the business will use (such as social media, email, text, or public media).
- Establish pre-approved messaging and examples of legally protective phrasing.
- Offer templates, tools, and resources that can be used in different crisis scenarios.
While each plan should be specific enough to be helpful, it should also be somewhat malleable so that it can be easily adapted to the nuances and subtleties of differing contexts and situations.
Crafting and Delivering Crisis Messaging
Crisis messaging relies on different types of media and communication forms, including press releases, social media statements, and executive speeches. When crafting messages for crisis communication, remember the “C’s” of crisis communication to guide and improve your content:
- Clarity - Messaging should be clear, easily understandable, and concise.
- Comprehension - Messaging should emphasize the importance of completely understanding the situation at hand and demonstrate this by carefully gathering and analyzing all relevant information regarding what happened and the full impact of the event.
- Confidence - Even in the face of uncertainty, the representative should deliver messages calmly and competently. This will help reassure the audience of your abilities to rebuild their trust in your ability to respond to the situation.
- Credibility - Only share reliable and trustworthy information with honesty, openness, and transparency. Doing otherwise could risk losing any remaining trust and confidence.
- Concern - Handle the situation with care and demonstrate genuine empathy for anyone or anything impacted by the situation. For your audience to take your messaging seriously, they must be able to relate to you, which they cannot do if they don't believe you are truly concerned.
- Commitment - Show that you understand the seriousness of the matter and emphasize your commitment to supporting anyone who was affected and resolving the problems at hand.
- Consistency - Regular, ongoing communication is integral to building trust and creating a sense of safety. Create a schedule for your messaging. Also, be mindful of what you say and the facts you share so that you can maintain and strengthen a consistent narrative.
While considering these qualities of good crisis communication, also keep your intended audience in mind. Your messaging and included information will differ significantly between messaging intended for the media, employees, investors, customers, and the public.
Media and Public Relations (PR) Management
Having a crisis communication plan is vital because distributing your message as early as possible — even before the traditional and digital media — will give you the best chance of controlling the story, maintaining a reputable public image, and minimizing damages.
When it comes time for the media to be involved (and this time will arrive quickly), the crisis communicator will be responsible for building relationships with journalists, social media influencers, and key media outlets throughout the process. They will manage the organization of press conferences and the creation of public statements. Additionally, the crisis communicator will either act as the company's spokesperson or prepare the business's representatives for interviews.
Internal Communication During a Crisis
Handling crisis communication internally is key to maintaining morale and supporting a positive workplace culture. Good communication is always vital to business performance and success, but it becomes increasingly delicate during a crisis.
Employees should be well-informed; they should understand what happened, what's currently happening, and what you expect will happen in the future. They are also ideally aligned with messaging and provided with instructions regarding social media management and dealing with any potential media contact. Be sure to communicate the importance of preventing internal leaks and the spread of misinformation.
Post-Crisis Evaluation and Reputation Repair
After the main media storm of a crisis has passed, the crisis communicator should begin implementing strategies for long-term public relations and reputation management. The goal of these strategies should be to rebuild public trust through corporate social responsibility efforts.
The crisis communicator is also responsible for conducting a post-crisis audit. They can gather information by interviewing the company's executives, employees, and stakeholders in addition to studying the media coverage and social media response. This audit should review and evaluate the process to determine what worked and what didn't. Crisis communicators can then revise their crisis communication strategies for improved future responses.
Crisis Communication Team Roles and Responsibilities
Most crisis communicators do not work alone. Instead, they work within a crisis communication team composed of key individuals who are responsible for handling different aspects of crisis management, ranging from media relations to internal communication. Team members commonly include:
- Manager or team leader
- Media relations specialist
- Spokesperson
- Internal communications manager
- Social media manager
- Legal advisor
- Executive leadership
Non-Traditional Crisis Communication Jobs
A strategic communications degree can open up a wide variety of career opportunities within crisis communication. Aside from the obvious PR firm and corporate positions, some unique opportunities can be found in the following jobs:
- Cyber Crisis Communications Specialist - This role combines crisis communication with cybersecurity expertise to address data breaches, ransomware attacks, and IT security failures.
- Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Data Analytics Crisis Forecaster - This job focuses on contingency planning by using predictive analytics and AI-driven insights to anticipate crises before they happen.
- Employee Advocacy and Internal Crisis Manager - This position combines human resources knowledge with crisis communication to focus on internal impacts such as employee morale, trust, and retention.
- Ethical AI and Tech Crisis Communicator - The swift integration of AI into countless industries has created a need for crisis communicators to help assuage public fears around technology while navigating related ethical dilemmas.
- Activist and Nonprofit Crisis Strategist - In the nonprofit sector of humanitarian organizations and advocacy groups, crises can include scandals, global humanitarian issues, and political backlash, potentially impacting beneficiaries and causes.
- Humanitarian and Disaster Relief Communications Coordinator - This role specifically focuses on crisis communication for natural disasters, war zones, and humanitarian crises.
- Sports and Entertainment Crisis Consultant - These roles focus on handling high-profile crises such as athlete or celebrity PR disasters, scandals, and agency or league-wide crises.
- Supply Chain and Logistics Crisis Communicator - These individuals manage communication for crises that result in supply chain disruptions, product shortages, and trade disputes.
How a Master's in Strategic Communication Prepares You for a Career in Crisis Communication
Crisis communication requires a highly strategic approach to devising and implementing communication policies, procedures, and plans. As a result, the coursework, process, and experiences involved in earning a master’s in strategic communication from the University of Minnesota (UMN) can prepare you for a career in crisis communications.
While working toward a strategic communications master's degree, students cultivate advanced skills in public relations, media strategy, and message development. They also gain hands-on experience from participating in crisis simulations and learning from case studies. Students broaden their understanding of legal and ethical considerations in ethics, which empowers them to lead the development of compliant, prudently designed and executed strategies in sensitive situations.
Specialized Coursework in Crisis Communication
Students complete targeted courses, such as JOUR 8290: Crisis Communication, delving into strategies for managing organizational crises, developing effective response plans, and maintaining stakeholder trust during turbulent times.
Emphasis on Research and Evaluation
Courses like JOUR 8200: Strategic Communication Research and Evaluation train students in data-driven decision-making, an essential analytical approach for assessing public sentiment and measuring the effectiveness of crisis response strategies.
Development of Leadership and Management Skills
JOUR 8212: Strategic Communication Leadership focuses on developing leadership skills that are crucial to guiding teams and making swift decisions during crises. Students learn to interact effectively with executives and gain skills for leading communications teams in various organizational contexts.
Practical Experience Through Capstone Projects
The program culminates with a capstone project (JOUR 8296) where students have the opportunity to apply their education to real-world scenarios, including crises. Hands-on experiences like these are invaluable for understanding the complexities of crisis communication that can't be picked up by simply reading about it.
Networking With Industry Professionals
The graduate program uses a cohort model where students have a small, class-like group with whom they study and progress through courses. This fosters deep engagement and networking to provide opportunities for connecting with industry professionals so that students can learn from others' experiences in crisis management.
Build a Career in Crisis Communication with UMN’s Strategic Communications Master’s
If the idea of being the “calm within the storm” that helps see everyone through appeals to you, then a career in crisis communication might be a perfect fit. To discover how you can prepare to take your career to the next level, we invite you to learn more about the UMN Hubbard School's graduate degree programs. Earning a Master of Arts in Strategic Communication can equip you with the knowledge, experience, and network to position yourself as a top crisis communicator. Request more information or apply today.
