Your brand’s reputation is among the most valuable assets your company has so how are you protecting your brand? It defines your company and helps it stand out from competitors.
As Warren Buffet said, “It takes 20 years to build a reputation, and five minutes to ruin it.”
This is especially true today with social media – what used to be a 24-hour media cycle is now a 24-second social media cycle.
Unfortunately, even with diligent, proactive risk management, a crisis can happen at any time. No company is immune to misconduct by employees, the sudden resignation or illness of a key leader, product recalls, accidental injuries/fatalities, natural disasters, etc. So, you need to prepare, anticipate and plan ahead – because it’s not a matter of if a crisis will occur, it’s a matter of when. The cost of a crisis to a company can be huge, and most crises require attention within the first 24 hours.
What can you do to prepare?
Create a crisis management plan to ensure a rapid and adequate response, maintain clear lines of reporting and communication and set rules for crisis termination. You must protect your brand.
Crisis management is NOT THE SAME as risk management. Risk management serves to minimalize and hopefully avoid crisis. Crisis management is actually dealing with a crisis.
To create a crisis management plan:
- Research your company’s record
- Identify all potential crises
- Create and prepare your crisis team
- Schedule media training sessions
- Stage regular crisis readiness simulations
- Assess and update crisis plans
Want to learn more?
Come hear Front Porch Marketing present on “Protecting Your Brand” at Danger Zone 2: Active Shooter Seminar presented by FBI Dallas Citizens Academy Alumni Association this Thursday, September 3, at the Charles W. Eisemann Center in Richardson, TX. The seminar is designed for individuals, business leaders, school teachers and administrators, church leaders and anyone seeking to gain knowledge should you ever encounter an active shooter in the workplace.
As a country, we are averaging one active shooter every three weeks. No location is immune from these events happening. Danger Zone is a great program with a proven track record of success that will greatly increase your chance to survive the ordeal. For more information and tickets, click here.
A special shout out to our friend and advocate Rod Fullenwider at D&L Entertainment for including us in this event. We appreciate your continued support Rod!