Crisis PR

When to Hire a Crisis PR Firm

A crisis PR firm can help you prepare for a crisis before it happens. Whether you think your company is vulnerable to a crisis or not, you need a solid strategy for handling worst-case scenarios -- and a crisis PR firm can help you get it long before the reporters arrive at your door.

The best to time hire a crisis PR firm is right now, before your company finds itself in the middle of a full-blown PR nightmare.

If you don't start looking for a PR firm until a crisis hits, it's already too late. The damage will be done and you will have failed to protect your company's hard earned image in your community.

The best PR firms are experienced in helping small and medium-sized businesses plan for crises. They understand the special challenges you face and they are skilled at applying solid PR principles to nearly any PR challenge that comes down the line. By hiring a crisis PR firm now, you can secure some important benefits for your business should an actual crisis ever occur.

• A crisis plan. A carefully constructed crisis plan is the backbone of every successful crisis PR strategy. Your PR firm will help you create a plan that addresses essential issues like media policies, a crisis point person, crisis messaging, and relevant media contacts.
• Identification of scenarios & contingencies. A good PR firm works with you to identify multiple PR crisis scenarios and create appropriate response plans for each of them. The more time you have to discuss scenarios and responses with your PR firm, the more confident you will be when the news cameras are pointed in your direction.
• Shorter response times. Time is critical in a PR crisis. If you hired a PR firm before the crisis occurred, your response time will be radically shortened - and shorter response times protect your company because they reassure the public that your business is taking the crisis seriously.
• Short-term survival, long-term success. In a PR crisis, all you're thinking about is your company's short-term survival. Your PR firm is thinking about your short-term survival, too, but they will also lay the groundwork now for long-term success after the crisis has passed and the hard work of rebuilding your reputation begins.
• Cost-savings. PR advice costs money. But PR advice in the middle of a crisis costs big money. By frontloading PR services now, you can avoid paying the high fees associated with PR services during the crisis.

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