It has been noticed that many professionals use crisis communication and crisis management as synonyms. This may happen because both terms are used during a crisis. They may use it in the same circumstances but both processes have their own set of rules and instructions. If the professionals are using both the terms altogether to explain the same thing, there may be some need to educate them. In this article, you will get the answer to very commonly asked questions i.e., “is there a difference between crisis communication and crisis management or both can be used as synonyms?”
Crisis Management (CM)
It is the combined coordination of an organization to deal with unexpected and unpredictable events that can damage the reputation and profitability of the organization, individual, or company. The organizations need to contact a leading PR firm for the PR activities that can help in minimizing the damage as soon as possible. It protects its stakeholders from unpredictable threats. There are three phases in crisis management:
- Pre-crisis: It is to educate and train the team members about all the possibilities of any kind of crisis.
- Crisis Response: The team must be trained enough to manage the response to the crisis within a couple of minutes.
- Post-crisis: Get the team prepared to handle the damage caused by the crisis and fulfill the commitments done during that situation.
Every PR agency must have a crisis management plan including these key points:
- A robust but easy-to-use risk valuation.
- For an effective responsive strategy, one must be aware of the important tools to be used.
- For credible and clear communication, a frame must be ready in advance.
Crisis Communication (CC)
It has a similar objective as CM but it mainly focuses on gathering, coordinating, and timely transferring the information related to crisis to the interested parties. It protects and defends the reputation of an organization in facing public challenges.
During any crisis, communication is very important. If an organization lacks internal and external communication during the different crisis scenarios, the business faces more damage due to this. If there is no proper communication then:
- Stakeholders will not be aware of the situation due to which they may react negatively.
- The reputation of the organization will be damaged and is considered incompetent.
- It will take much longer to control the damage.
- Financial and reputational bottom lines will get impacted severely.
Every organization must have a crisis communication plan with them that must include these key points:
- A list of potential crises along with some definitions which may help in identifying which situation is declared as a crisis and when that plan has to be executed.
- Contact details of the people of your management team.
- The details of the place of contact of the team and maybe some logistics.
- Sample communication for an actual or potential crisis.
If the difference between crisis communication and crisis management is not known, it can be dangerous for a company to estimate the risk.