If any sector has experience in dealing with bad PR, it’s energy and resources.
It’s not surprising. Soaring energy prices impact the cost of living for everyone. Fossil fuel use is the largest contributor to climate change and habitat loss. Meanwhile, oil companies share record profits year on year. And if those factors weren’t already quite a lot to defend, the sector also has a reputation for poor customer service.
Now conflict in the Middle East has caused oil prices to climb again and volatility is expected to persist for some time. Suppliers will no doubt need to share bad news in the coming months.
Showing a calm, confident approach can be difficult in the face of successive challenges. And that’s why it’s best to plan for crisis communications before one occurs.
Why energy sector businesses need to plan crisis comms now
Stakeholders judge organisations on how well they communicate during difficult times, even long after disruption has subsided. For example, a company closing a major site will lose trust if employees and investors hear the news from the media before they hear it from leadership. Taking a proactive approach to challenging news is key to controlling the message and potential damage.
During a crisis, stakeholders want reassurance that the business understands the situation, has a plan and is responding responsibly. Communicating clearly and regularly can help make sure difficult decisions are understood and accepted, even if they are frustrating.
What do you need in a crisis communications toolkit?
Here are five steps to putting your toolkit together.
Set the messaging and style in advance
Clear brand messaging and tone of voice guidelines help you keep all communications aligned and prevent you from releasing anything that sounds disingenuous. These documents are essentials, whether or not you’re in crisis mode. If you already have them, revisit them to add a crisis comms element, showing how messages could be reframed in different potential scenarios. Having this guidance in place will stop you from straying too far from your company’s purpose, mission and values when you need to send an update.
Form a crisis comms team
We don’t mean that you need to go and hire the experts (though, you might want to), but you should bring together key people from your marketing and communications teams to handle a crisis. This will prevent broader team disruption and ensure the right people are in the room to form a unified approach. Having a brand champion and a few people with a clear understanding of the different audience groups means you can keep messages aligned while addressing different priorities. You can also run regular, focused training specifically for this team so they feel prepared and can work well together under pressure.
Get your governance in place
Multiple proofs, sense checks and sign offs can all delay comms, even to the point that communications are out of date before they’re published. Be ready to turn around communication in a matter of hours with your list of approvers already lined up and briefed on their areas of responsibility. Keep the list short and focused on addressing specific aspects of the content to prevent blockages.
Plan each piece
During a crisis, there will inevitably be a sense of urgency, but poorly planned pieces rarely land well. Take the time to think about your audience, what they might be worried about and how you want them to interpret the information. Keeping all this in mind will prevent you from writing something that feels out of touch. To shortcut this thinking, create a cheat sheet well in advance of a crisis. Jot down the kinds of questions your crisis comms team will need to ask, so they can whizz through them quickly when they need to.
Create a crisis communications checklist
You don’t want silly errors delaying sign off. Or worse, making it into the published version for everyone to spot. Having a checklist to run through will help you tighten the details and prevent mistakes when adrenaline and nerves are running high. As well as typical proofing blunders, it should cover elements like:
- Have the facts been checked and verified?
- Is the human impact acknowledged?
- Is it clear what will happen next?
- Are there inconsistencies with other comms? Could it make us sound hypocritical?
- Are there instances of misleading language?
There is competitive advantage to be gained from communicating with confidence and consistency during a crisis. If you can reassure people, you can earn and maintain their trust.
For our help in creating a comms toolkit that suits your team and helps you resonate with your stakeholders, get in touch. Our content strategists work with many clients in the energy sector and understand the complexities and sensitivities that will govern how you respond in a crisis.
