What is a PR Crisis?

"Is this actually a crisis?"

Effective crisis communications planning starts with this simple question.

And your organization's crisis might look very different from another's.

For some organizations, a crisis means imminent danger, or even a loss of life.

For others, it might mean a downturn in customers. A few days in the social media ringer. Internal employee backlash.

I've seen the paralysis and consequences of not understanding what constitutes a crisis for an organization.

A post starts spreading. Customers complain. Employees push back internally.

The communications team is ready to respond. Then the debate starts.

"This is not a real crisis."

"Let's wait and see."

"We do not want to overreact."

Build Your Crisis Communications Framework Before You Need It

Every organization needs to determine what constitutes a crisis and what triggers or signals they'll use to decide to respond — or stay the course.

It's important to have these conversations and put them into actionable plans well before something happens.

You don't want to spend the first hours or days of a crisis debating whether or not you're actually in one.

Your crisis framework should address:

• Threshold definitions: What categories of events constitute a crisis at your organization?

• Response triggers: What signals (social volume, customer complaint thresholds, media inquiries) initiate the crisis protocol?

• Decision authority: Who has the authority to declare a crisis and activate the response team?

• Communication protocols: Who speaks, through which channels, and on what timeline?

What Is a PR Crisis? It Depends on Your Organization.

There's no shame in having a lower threshold for a PR crisis.

Just because your situation might not include immediate danger, it doesn't mean it's not a crisis.

If you wait to define a crisis while you are in one, you will move too slowly. There is no penalty for acting early.

There is a cost to waiting.

If your team is debating whether something is a crisis, you are already behind.

Need help defining what a crisis looks like for your organization and building the communications plan to manage it? We work with executive teams across industries — from natural disaster response to reputational risk management.