Get ready now: 3 crisis PR tips

Here are three ways to bring your crisis preparedness up to speed:

1. Name and train your crisis team now. “Don’t show up thinking you’re ready for a crisis,” says Michael Neuwirth, senior PR director at Dannon. “Just like running a marathon, you need to train yourself and your team.”

That begins with identifying the crisis team. Start by pulling together a contact list of the essential people who should be involved in any crisis response.

The most important will be your team leader.

“Too often, the role of the crisis manager is not properly defined,” Neuwirth says. “That’s one way things fall through the cracks in terms of documenting events and ensuring follow-up, involving the right people and following the protocol of the crisis management plan.”

He also advises reviewing the crisis management plan with company leaders at least once a year, as well as conducting a crisis simulation least once every two years or whenever a new member joins the management team.