Crisis Communication Strategies: How to Prepare in Advance, Respond Effectively and Recover in Full

by Amanda Coleman

Crisis communication is high stakes work. For communications managers and PR professionals, it's likely to be the most stressful time of their working life.Crisis Communication Strategies is a must-have handbook which covers the whole span of the crisis from preparing and laying the groundwork before it occurs, during the incident, and the aftermath, including the move to recovery. It guides readers through each phase, providing details of what to consider, what should be done, and tips and checklists for improved responses.Crisis Communication Strategies equips readers to deal with any kind of crisis - whether caused by internal error, customer action, natural disasters, terrorism or political upheaval. Supported by case studies and examples from responses to events including the 2011 Norway terror attacks, the 2018 British Airways data breach, the 2017 Pepsi advert and the 2005 Hurricane Katrina New Orleans floods, the book explores the role of leadership in a crisis and developing a crisis communication response that has people at the heart of it. Crisis Communication Strategies is the essential guide for PR and communication professionals to protecting your company and building true, long-term resilience.

Unknown Binding

Published May 1, 2020

Reviews

[Nix · Rating 4 out of 5]

I requested this book (2nd edition) via Netgalley to widen my general knowledge of communication strategies in a crisis situation, and as expected this book delivers!

Coleman has included lots of examples and lists of things to do at the various stages of a crisis, but the strongest message throughout the book (at least to me) is TO PREPARE!!! Don't wait until a crisis has occurred to figure out what to do. Also, ensure that all key people and departments are involved in the preparation of the strategies. This increases awareness and creates buy-in.

The second key message that I picked up, is that to successfully manage a crisis the focus needs to be on PEOPLE! They know that something has happened, so don't try to deny the crisis. In today's social media intense reality, news of the crisis will travel fast!

Thirdly, share as much information as possible - start with the mindset that everything can and should be shared with those affected by the crisis (victims), employees, stakeholder and media.

All in all a very informative book with easy to understand examples.

Thank you!

[Neil Lakeland · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent book if you are looking for an overview of crisis management techniques, with plenty of case-study material to learn from and adapt.

Having recently been involved in the managing the communications for a crisis, I found it really useful to reflect on the actions I took when reading through Amanda's recommendations. What she highlights throughout is the importance of the early work in setting the foundations, the need for flexibility within plans and that people are key.

I would recommend this book to anyone involved in communications, or who wants to learn about successful crisis management.

[Cariadne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Particularly during CV-19, I thought this would be a good time to pick up new tips, but there wasn't anything here that I wasn't already in place at my former company.

If you are with a company looking to get its Crisis Team Strategy started, this may be a good text book to reference. It would've been useful for there to be a quick summary sheet included so folks can reference at-a-glance than have to go through the lengthy content to sift out those nuggets or look at the end of each chapter.

[Elizabeth Herr · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy.

This is a great book for students or entry-level professionals that are getting started with crisis communications/management. It's also a good refresher for those who may need it in light of the current pandemic. For me personally, it was not wildly helpful, but I absolutely can see where and how it would benefit others that fall into the above categories.

[Piepie | The Napping Bibliophile]

Kinda surreal reading this during COVID-19...

This book was on the short side (9 chapters) and it was more dry than quick. However, I appreciated all the tips, stories, case studies, and examples -- I am now armed with several takeaways that I'm eager to take back to the workplace. Thank you, Netgalley, for this arc.

[Alicia Robben · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was very excited about this book, especially since we are going through the covid-19 crisis. The book did not focus on tips as much as I had hoped for, but this book was very helpful to combat any crises in the future!

[Emanuele Gemelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very valid manual to support crisis management through preparation and effective execution. I have already taken some suggestions into our own Company's Emergency Management process: amongst the best recommended practice is to decouple the communication officer from the legal officer to avoid that the management of a crisis is really about the people and secondly an issue of any company's reputation.