You receive a phone call in the middle of the night. Something bad has happened, and it involves your company. You check Twitter. Nothing… yet. But you know it could blow up all over social media soon or become the lead story on the morning news shows. What should you do?

You could panic and draft a hasty non-denial denial; many organizations would. You could simply say, “No comment,” when the inevitable questions come from the press, hoping everything will be soon forgotten.

Or, you could stick to your crisis communications plan and work quickly to get ahead of the story, managing the narrative to minimize damage to your company, possibly even increasing its favorability in the public mind along the way.

What If You Don’t Have a Plan?

The simple answer is, develop one. Now.

At Envoy, we’ve been helping our clients develop plans, including crisis communications plans, for more than 30 years. If you’d prefer to discuss your organization’s unique situation one on one with us, feel free to give us a call. We’d love to talk to you.

The bottom line is, whether you let us help you develop a crisis communications plan or you develop one on your own, you need a plan sooner rather than later. Bad things happen to even the best companies. And, depending on how you respond in the minutes, hours and days after the event, your company can either weather the storm or be swept away by it.