{"id":141897,"date":"2024-04-19T16:44:40","date_gmt":"2024-04-19T14:44:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brand24.com\/blog\/?p=141897"},"modified":"2025-12-17T22:53:23","modified_gmt":"2025-12-17T21:53:23","slug":"pr-crisis-management","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brand24.com\/blog\/pr-crisis-management\/","title":{"rendered":"7 Steps for Effective PR Crisis Management in 2025 [Infographic]"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

PR crisis. We are all frightened of it. In an ideal world, a well-managed company wouldn\u2019t have to worry about such a thing. Unfortunately, we don\u2019t live in a perfect world. The question is not if a crisis will strike but when it will happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PR crisis management<\/strong> is critical for your brand\u2019s reputation during challenging times. It involves immediate and strategic responses to minimize negative perceptions. Effective crisis management includes continuously monitoring media channels to understand public sentiment and craft relevant messages. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Public Relations crisis management rules are general rules that help organizations manage their presence during such a pressure situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To make the complicated process a bit more digestible, we divided the communications and management rules into three steps:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  1. Pre-crisis management<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Crisis management<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Post-crisis management<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    That way, you will know how to act along every step of the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    What is Public Relations crisis management?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    It is the process of preparing an organization for a major event that threatens its business reputation<\/a>, stakeholders, or the general public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Public relations professionals play a vital part in crisis communication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    During a crisis, the main goal of a PR department would be to inform<\/strong> all interested parties about the current situation, potential risks, and planned actions. A well-prepared crisis plan should contain the first type of message that will be sent out to the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    This generic message should restore trust in your organization and give you some time to investigate the issue at hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The public relations and marketing team is the first line of defense for your company. Whether you leave the crisis unscathed depends mainly on how well you handle Public Relations crisis management.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"How\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/button><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    When should you react to PR crises?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    First of all, you need to know when and how to react.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    So, let\u2019s deal with \u201cwhen\u201d first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Not every negative comment constitutes a Public Relations crisis that could damage your brand reputation and requires your CEO\u2019s involvement. The real, big problem appears when a mishap spreads in business news<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    You can implement a triage technique to assess the severity of the potential PR disaster. Assessing the problem early will help you manage the situation and not waste any resources on unnecessary actions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    You have to give any situation you consider threatening the right color: green, orange, or red<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Green tag<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    Green is for situations that don\u2019t require any immediate actions from your organization. For example, when one of your competitors faces a crisis, that doesn\u2019t necessarily affect your business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    There is a chance, though, that it will impact your business in some way. Monitor the situation closely and send in your crisis response team when needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Take a closer look at Google search results. If you see your company trending in the media, the tag can change from green to orange.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Orange tag<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    The orange tag is for situations that could possibly harm your business and destroy your consumers\u2019 trust in your brand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Think about one negative review out of hundreds of positive comments. You should keep an eye on it, but don\u2019t summon your PR crisis team just yet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Red tag<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    Red is when you have to act quickly and decisively. Your business reputation and revenue are in imminent danger, and you have to call in your PR response team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Code red includes situations that could damage your brand reputation or disturb supply chains. These types of crises could potentially negatively affect the bottom line of your business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The harshest types of crises usually include an executive scandal or, unfortunately, some form of sexual harassment. You want to tackle this type of PR issue quickly. Preferably, before your audience and the press get a sniff of a scandal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Remember that situations can escalate quickly and go from code green to orange or even red in a couple of hours. That\u2019s why it\u2019s essential to monitor the situation constantly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    Prevent PR crisis!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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    Start trial!<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

    How to prepare for a PR crisis?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    There\u2019s bad news, and there\u2019s good news.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The bad news is, there is a high chance that a crisis will hit your organization someday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The good news is, you can prepare a crisis communications plan for your business and minimize the damage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    I am sure you already have a solid PR strategy<\/a>. But what about the approach that will help you control PR crises? <\/strong>Having a robust Public Relations crisis strategy in place will ensure your employees know what to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Here\u2019s what you have to take into account while preparing your crisis plan!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"Marcin\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/button><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    Discover our client\u2019s success story<\/strong> \u2014 read the case study.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Monitor news cycle around your brand<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    We live in a world that\u2019s always online. Social media allow everyone to publish opinions or reviews.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Probably, the crisis will begin online on communication channels that you do not own<\/strong>. That\u2019s a worst-case scenario because your audience will spot the crisis before your PR team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Unnoticed PR crises can easily escalate and affect the bottom line of your business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    To prevent an escalation of an online crisis, you have to be aware of what people say about your company or product.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The proliferation of online channels makes it impossible to track all online mentions regarding your brand online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    A simple solution is a media monitoring<\/a> and analysis tool. For example, Brand24 gathers publicly available online mentions<\/strong> containing your predefined keyword.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Brand24 offers much more than just a collection of online posts. The tool will also analyze the mentions. You can tag them according to your needs, so you get the most important information analyzed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    From a crisis stewardship perspective, which features of a media monitoring tool are the most relevant?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Let\u2019s go through the list one by one!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Sentiment analysis & the volume of mentions<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

    A social listening tool<\/a> will automatically assign a sentiment to the collected online mentions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    You will see whether the talk about your brand is positive, negative, or neutral.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    To get the most out of media monitoring and PR sentiment analysis<\/a>, combine the metric with the volume of mentions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The volume of mentions is the total number of mentions within a defined timeframe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    A spike in the number of mentions and prevailing negative sentiment indicates a PR crisis in the making. Monitor the metrics closely to react before the press spot your problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    On the other hand, a spike of positively marked mentions means you\u2019re doing a great job!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Filters<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

    If you\u2019re monitoring mentions around a large company or popular product, you\u2019ll receive a ton of mentions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    They all might be relevant to your project, but you might need to examine only some part of the online chatter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    To help you with that task, we develop a handful of filters you can use in your project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Here\u2019s the list of filters that you can find in the dashboard:<\/p>\n\n\n\n