While you drink your morning coffee and peruse the newspapers, you’re likely to find at least one news story on a company facing a crisis.  Some examples to refresh your memory: Toyota, BP, the recent egg recall, energy-efficient windows that melt vinyl siding and even a hospital employee who lost a laptop containing private patient information.  That can’t be good.    The increasing frequency of natural disasters, man-made disasters and business interruptions has made it absolutely critical that organizations quickly and accurately communicate with all stakeholders during an event.  No one wants to be the “last one to know” in these situations.

A crisis is any situation that is threatening or could threaten to harm people or property, seriously interrupt business or damage reputation.  In a recent survey conducted by BtoB magazine, about 53% of marketing executives said they have experienced a business crisis resulting in negative news coverage, declining sales or reduced profitability.  But just about the same number (57%) said their company does not have a crisis response plan currently in place.  Talk about rolling the dice.

Every organization is vulnerable to crises.  Therefore, every organization from Fortune 500 companies to mom-and-pop shops to nonprofits should have a crisis plan.  This is critical now more than ever thanks to the 24-hour news cycle with endless blogs, twitter feeds and video clips that help keep a crisis alive.

Crisis management is critical in protecting a brand’s positive perception as well as the business interest that may be damaged in the long term, short term or both.  Top-notch crisis communications strategies can greatly improve a company’s ability to plan for, respond to and recover from a wide variety of crises.  Are you prepared?

Domus is an innovative marketing communications firm that incorporates state-of-the-art technologies and classic marketing principles into effective marketing campaigns. For more information visit us at Domus, Inc. and Domus Digital.