First of all, a crisis is something that will not stay forever. It goes away sometime soon, but the effects are what stay. It’s up to you to fix your reputation once a crisis arises.
Once a crisis situation hits, you will need to act fast. It will be bad for you to remain quiet about the situation, especially if it is mainly based on a lie. There’s a saying what if you allow a lie to get a head start for 24 hours, then it will be hard for the truth to catch up.
There are many companies who would get hit with a crisis scenario and then immediate address them. For instance, a student from a prestigious school died from initiation rites in a fraternity. Instead of letting the issue fester, the school immediately issued a statement to the press that the school management did not allow fraternities in their campus and that the issue will immediately be investigated.
Through this example, you can see that the prestigious school in question will no longer be grilled by the people. Of course, with the help of the media in spreading this type of news, it will soon downplay the involvement of the school in the death of the student.
This is a good example of crisis management. If the school had remained silent on this issue, then many would think that they are guilty of something. This is not what the company would like to be remembered for in the long run.
The secret to a good reputation management of a crisis is to have a ready plan at all times. In order to have this plan you can hire an expert at crisis management. This person will know all the shots that need to be called when something happens. Perhaps you will also need a lawyer and someone who knows how the media works.
Of course, it also helps to have a standard operating procedure about the responses that need to be made when a crisis comes up. This can be discussed with the crisis management expert. You will need someone who is direct to the point and someone who means business. This way, you and those who are involved with reputation management will quickly act and then ease the tension off from the issue at hand.
It helps when there is an expert whom you trust in the team. This way, you know that you are being given sound advice.
In a crisis, time is of the essence. Don’t let a lot of time pass before acting on anything. Get the help of experts because this is something that would be difficult to overcome alone, and especially with the lack of experience.