Managing a Crisis Simulation
Public Relations is the proactive communication that an organization initiates and maintains with the media, its clients, and key internal and external publics. It provides organizations various tools that can be used to support brand building, research attitudes of consumers, and influence key publics. This simulation illustrated the use of Public Relations to develop a Public Relations plan and to use its various tools to manage a crisis. In the simulation I was acting as Public Relation Manager of Greenergy which was a green electricity division of California.
Proactive planning is having an efficient plan in place, actively anticipating issues, and being prepared to act quickly as necessary to control the issue. Measuring the effectiveness of messages as they are communicated is an opportunity for PR professionals to gain understanding as too how much information the targeted audience is understood, was influenced by, and reactions to the messages sent. It gives an organization time to formulate calculated responses to a variety of probably scenarios. An organization must have a proactive crisis management plan as soon as it has an initial business plan. It should be embedded in the first stage of business planning. During an event of a crisis, time is always of the essence and having a proactive plan means that a company does not need to waste valuable time preparing a plan. An organization’s strength in proactive crisis management will help to plan and outline the events and reactions which should occur during and immediately after a crisis. These proactive plans will contribute to the potential support from the public and healing of the organization’s tarnished reputation. For example, if your company is planning to start a new ...