When your organisation is facing a crisis, good communication is crucial.
When the worst happens, you must respond quickly.
The rising power of social media and the growth of citizen journalism means the timeframe for responding is constantly shrinking.
The latest thinking suggests the once make-or-break ‘golden hour’ is now closer to 15 minutes.
The longer you are silent, the bigger the crisis could grow.
But how can you respond so quickly when the clock appears to be ticking faster than ever?
During our crisis communication training, we stress that holding statements are essential for meeting this tight deadline.
An effective holding statement – prepared in advance and easily adapted to cover the specific incident you face - will buy your organisation crucial time until it gets a better understanding of what has happened and issues something more detailed.
Responding quickly will also enable your organisation to position itself as a trusted source of information and help control the narrative during the crisis rather than letting rumours, speculation and inaccurate information set the agenda.
But what should your holding statement include?
Empathy
There’s no better place to start.
Organisations must show concern and compassion for those impacted by a crisis incident, whether it is people who have been physically injured or customers unable to access their accounts because of a cyber incident.
Putting people at the start of your holding statement and showing you understand the severity of the incident shows you care.
Action
You must show you are taking steps to rectify the crisis and ensure something similar cannot happen again.
Even in the initial stages, it is crucial to outline what your organisation is doing to deal with the crisis.
It could be as simple as stating you have launched an investigation to determine what has happened, that you are reviewing procedures or that you are working with the relevant authorities and emergency services.
Reassurance
Try to put the incident into context and show it is isolated (if it is).
If the crisis has been triggered by an accident, highlight the safety protocols you have in place and your previously good record.
Reassurance is closely linked to action. Outlining the steps you are taking to improve the situation will offer reassurance.
Examples
Use examples to support the message you want to get across.
Look to include examples of the steps taken in response to the incident, evidence of your previously good safety record and details of how the company is taking good care of victims.
Details
Ideally, you would provide all the essential information a journalist needs.
What happened? Where did it happen? When did it happen? Who was involved? Why did it happen?
But you are unlikely to have much detail in the early stages of a crisis media management incident.
The good news is journalists will not expect you to have all the answers at the start of an incident.
While it will be beneficial to include as much information as you can, some effective holding statements just acknowledge something has gone wrong.
Don’t overcomplicate
Holding statements should be short and simple.
Keep them to a few paragraphs.
And avoid using industry language or vague terms to ensure they are easy to understand.
Be careful with your brand name
Many holding statements use the company throughout – “Media First can confirm that…”.
Not doing it won’t keep your company name out of the headlines.
But it will give you more control.
For example, if you include a quote containing your brand name, it is likely to be used in headlines and social media posts.
Any they can linger long after the crisis ends.
Instead of your name, use ‘we’. So, “Media First is investigating…” becomes “We are investigating”.
It has the same impact. But it doesn’t amplify the link between the problem and your brand name.
Update
Holding statements can only hold for so long.
If you fail to issue regular updates, you can expect to be inundated with calls, emails and social media posts from frustrated journalists.
Setting out in your holding statement when and where journalists can expect further information will reduce the number of incoming enquiries you will receive.
Shall we pull this together into an example holding statement?
We always try to be helpful, so let's focus on a type of crisis that is increasingly grabbing headlines and dominating social media - online service failures and cyber incidents:
“We are sorry - something has gone wrong, and our online services are not currently working.
“We know many of you depend on these services, and we understand the impact this is having.
“We became aware of the problem within the last 15 minutes, and our IT team is working to restore services as quickly as possible.
“We will also carry out a detailed investigation to understand what went wrong so we can prevent something similar happening in the future.
“In the meantime, we will keep our call centres open longer for anyone needing help or assistance.
“We expect to provide a further update on our social media channels within the next hour.”
An effective holding statement will help you manage the initial media interest and concern from worried customers.
Of course, a crisis can come in many forms, and you are unlikely to predict the exact scenario you will face.
But in our experience over the past four decades, bespoke crisis media management training, based on realistic incidents, can help an organisation identify its vulnerabilities and areas where it needs to develop holding statements.
Media First are media and communications training specialists with nearly 40 years of experience.
We have a team of trainers, each with decades of experience working as journalists, presenters, communications coaches and media trainers.
Click here to find out more about our crisis communication training courses.
