Every comms person has been caught off guard by a crisis that seemed to erupt out of nowhere. One moment you’re checking off your to-do list, and the next, your inbox is flooded with urgent messages, ominous calls from journalists, and emergency meetings.
But here’s the good news: crises are not inevitable. In fact, they’re often the result of a badly managed or poorly communicated issue. To navigate these successfully, you need three key ingredients:
Knowledge: You must know the who, what, when, why, and how of what’s happening. The answers may not come all at once, but with time, you’ll have a clear picture.
Speed is your secret weapon. Having well-defined processes in place is critical. You need to pinpoint where the crisis is unfolding, who’s talking about it, and who has the authority to change the narrative. When it’s time to respond, you have to be bold and hit that “send” button.
Control the story: Don’t let others tell your story for you. Take charge of it. With the right knowledge and the ability to act with speed, you can stop or shift a narrative to your advantage.
But what if there was a way to be even more proactive? Imagine a world where the communications team receives a curated list of potentially tricky narratives from the whole body of news and views on the internet and recommendations on how to respond. Picture the speed at which you could adjust your strategy as the story evolves, either advancing it or nipping it in the bud.
Enter AI, the game-changer. It’s not just about identifying negative references beyond your usual media and social media monitoring—it’s about real-time tracking and adaptive responses. AI doesn’t bring problems; it offers solutions.
AI can and will change the way communicators tackle business challenges and crisis commuinications…if we are prepared to embrace it.