When Dealing with a Dilemma

Karch Kiraly is considered to be one of the greatest volleyball players of all time; however, he did not earn that title overnight. According to britannica.com, Kiraly began playing volleyball at a very young age and played his first beach tournament alongside his father when he was 11 years old. From there he went on to become the first volleyball player to win three Olympic gold medals, surpass Sinjin Smith as the beach volleyball player with the most victories, and win over 144 events before his retirement in 2007. 

While Kiraly did not lose often, he did realize that there were many times he felt unprepared. In fact, he phrased it like this, "There's nothing worse than the feeling of wishing you had another chance at a play because you weren't ready. Every athlete has those feelings to mull over, and over and over ... Don't even expose yourself to the possibility to being caught off-guard." 

Athletes aren't the only people who wish they could have been more prepared for the next big play. I can personally think of several moments in my life where I have found myself wishing I could have a do-over and prepare just a little bit more. However, sometimes in life, we do not have the opportunity to prepare for all of the curve balls that will be thrown at us. 

Today we are going to be talking about how to prepare for a communications crisis. 

Many companies are very prepared when it comes to handling an internal crisis. There are plans and policies in effect to keep everyone safe and to make sure that their employees are taken care of; however, some of these same companies tend to overlook the preparation for handling external crisis situations. 

Think about it... When you walk into a store, as a new employee you will be trained on what to do if you are hurt on the job and how to report sexual assault if needed. However, how many of you have ever seen a policy and procedure booklet about what to do if an external voice harms your brand? 

For example, one of the most recent external communications crisis examples I have witnessed is the James Charles x Morphe split. 

James Charles is a 21-year-old YouTuber, beauty influencer, and internet personality who has taken over the beauty world by storm. His career began in 2015 when he started uploading makeup tutorials to his YouTube account. In 2016, he was chosen as the first male ambassador for the brand CoverGirl where his name became a topic in many households across America. In November of 2018, James announced that he teamed up with Morphe to release the "James Charles Palette". This palette was Morphe's best-sellign palette of the year and sold out a total of four times, resulting in many other collaborations between the brand and influencer throughout the past four years.

Fast forward to April 1, 2021, when Morphe found themselves in a communications crisis due to recent allegations that James Charles has been actively exchanging sexual messages with minors. While James began to receive hateful messages about these allegations... so did Morphe. James quickly took to YouTube releasing a video entitled "holding myself accountable" where he admitted to the allegations, yet Morphe still did not speak up about the issue. The company's response to this breaking news was silence, and long-time customers were not pleased. 

On April 16th, 2021, Morphe finally released a statement via Twitter regarding the issue:

Had Morphe prepared for a communications crisis such as this, the company would not have received as much backlash as they did because of their delay with addressing the issue. Clearly, you can tell how important it is for major brands and companies to prepare for a crisis.

Rarely will you hear of someone holding the title of "Crisis Communications Specialist" within a company. Most of the time if there is a need for a specialist, the company will bring them in from an external organization; however, I believe that all communicators must pray for the best and prepare for the worst. For example, if Morphe's communications team had a plan in place they could've been more proactive in their response to the allegations against James Charles.

According to Sweatha Amareasan at HubSpot, there are five crisis communication strategies that we as communicators can learn from:

1. Spokesperson Response

We are all human, and that means we all make mistakes. In my opinion, the best thing you can do when you mess up is ask for forgiveness. In order to do this, it is great to assign a spokesperson, or communications professional, to speak to the public on behalf of the company. Make sure to choose someone who will communicate the companies thoughts in a professional and approachable manner. The last thing you want to do is have someone release a statement that does not seem sincere.

2. Proactive Damage Control

Growing up, my mother always said "It's better to be safe than sorry." It is always better to pray for the best and prepare for the worst than it is to expect the best and ignore the worst. This proactive thinking will help you reduce or even prevent the effects of a communications crisis before it begins.

3. Case Escalation 

Not all situations are actual crisis; however, it is imperitive to descalate smaller cases before they do become worrysome. Responding to private messages can be much more beneficial than doing damage control because of a message someone leaves online. An escalation system will allow your customer service and communications representatives to know how to help a customer in order to diffuse a potential crisis before it gets out of hand.

4. Social Media Response

Social media is a wonderful resource for businesses to use as an expansive global marketing tool; however, it also has a very high risk factor. While companies have the ability to control what they post, they cannot always control the people associated with them and their posting. For example, Morphe does a great job at promoting their products and had zero control over the James Charles scandal, but they still received backlash from it. Having a social media engagement plan to help control the online narrative about your company is so important.

5. Customer Feedback Collection and Analysis

Sometimes a crisis is not the breaking news story; however, it's still affecting your customers. This can go on for a very long time if you don't recongize the crisis due to a lack of customer feedback. Gathering customer comments and feedback is an excellent way to prevent a crisis from occuring. When companies realize there is a problem, they cna begin taking active steps to correct it.

References

Amaresan, S. (2021, January 26). 6 Crisis Communication Plan Examples & How to Write Your Own
    [Template]. HubSpot Blog. https://blog.hubspot.com/service/crisis-communication-plan. 

Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. (2020, October 20). Karch Kiraly. Encyclopædia Britannica.
    https://www.britannica.com/biography/Karch-Kiraly. 

James Charles. History and Biography. (2019, December 3). https://history-biography.com/james-
    charles/. 

Vlamis, K. (2021, April 17). Makeup brand Morphe is parting ways with beauty YouTuber James Charles
    amid reports he sent sexual messages to minors. Insider. https://www.insider.com/morphe-parts-ways-
    with-james-charles-amid-sexual-misconduct-reports-2021-4.