Risk Management for Your Brand
As a recognized leader in crisis communications, we’ve managed a wide variety of high-profile crisis management issues including natural disasters, mass shootings, bank robberies, picketing, riots, white-collar fraud, employment and consumer lawsuits, data breaches and everything in between.
THO has proven competencies with:
- Evaluating potential crises
- Building crisis management response policies and procedures
- Enacting communications response and recovery plans
- Mitigating negative social media posts
- Managing media response during a crisis
- Media training and community communication events
Our Approach
Safeguarding Your Brand
At THO, we understand that your company’s reputation is the single most important ingredient to your success. Our programs are designed to mitigate damage to your reputation and safeguard your brand.
Our work begins with an evaluation of the situation. It’s important to understand the different audiences likely to be impacted, any legal implications and whether specific actions need be taken in addition to communications responses.
Our initial evaluation allows us to enlist the key players needed to enact a crisis management strategy. Crisis management is not just a communications effort. It may require buy-in and participation from your leadership team, your legal team and other relevant departments and functions. These different team members must not only participate, they must agree on the response and action plan.
Specific response plans may include:
- Developing a firm-wide crisis communications plan
- Identifying/anticipating areas of issues management
- Identifying & training the crisis communications team
- Developing media training program
- Confirming the best notification & monitoring tree
- Identifying company audiences
- Designating Spokespersons
- Creating specific processes to prepare, respond and recover from a crisis.
With our public and media relations expertise, we are able to design and execute a response plan that minimizes and stops negative repercussions, reinforces support for your leadership and restores your reputation.
Be Prepared
Building Crisis Management Response Policies and Procedures
A crisis doesn’t have to catch you and your company completely off-guard. THO has helped many companies to prepare for a potential crisis by proactively designing policies and procedures in case a problem arises.
Preparing your business for a potential crisis should be an integral part of your risk management program. It allows you to respond more quickly and more effectively during what is often a chaotic situation. At times, it can also eliminate a threat completely by allowing a company to change the policy or procedure that poses a risk.
THO will:
- Conduct a vulnerability audit to identify potential threats
- Identify the operational and communications components to include in your plan
- Work with you to identify and train crisis management spokespersons
- Evaluate past experiences and provide recommendations
- Assist you in creating policies and procedures that reduce confusion in the event of a crisis
Following the Crowd
Mitigating Social Media Posts
In today’s world, the court of public opinion is in session every hour of every day. We’re speaking, of course, about social media. Social media is an invaluable tool not only for crisis response programs but also to gather intelligence that may identify potential risks before a crisis occurs.
By tracking your brand digitally, THO is able to identify potential risks before they arise and create content to minimize those risks.
Once a company becomes a target of a negative social media campaign, THO works to diffuse and mitigate negative posts. This effort may take a number of approaches, from creating content to addressing the posts directly.
Headlines Matter
Managing the Media
When a crisis grabs headlines, be it print, broadcast, digital or all of the above, you want a response strategy that ensures fair and balanced media coverage.
THO offers decades of experience cultivating relationships with reporters, opinion-makers and influencers. We understand the ways in which editorial decisions are made at these different outlets; we know whom to contact and how to shape your response for optimum impact.
A crisis requires a team effort, and when an effective response falls to the company’s leadership, it’s also critical to choose the team members best suited to the task. At THO, we work with company management to select spokespersons, and then we provide one-on-one and workshop training and coaching so that they can anticipate questions and prepare for interviews and public events.
What to Expect
Prudent Guidance and Effective Action
THO’s practice of forging relationships with clients is especially critical when a crisis strikes. Because we have spent time understanding your organization, we are able to mobilize your resources and quickly put an action plan into place.
Speed is of the essence in a crisis. At these times, you don’t want to be figuring out who the opinion makers are. With decades of media expertise, THO is able to quickly access the reporters, influencers and thought leaders that can diffuse negativity while sending out content to shape the story through a variety of channels.
We also understand the importance of internal communications during a crisis and we will work with management to help restore confidence throughout your organization.
Let us be your guide during the most critical times.