Crisis: Respond in 45 Minutes or Less

This insights post is a summary of the original blog post published by Intrepid.  The full blog is available at: Crisis: Respond in 45 minutes or less, or reap the consequences.

Dealing with Unforeseen PR Crisis

What does a company or brand do when they’re faced with an unforeseen PR crisis? Worldcom Partner Intrepid had an experience that is valuable to share. They had a client who was in the middle of a crisis, inundated with calls, and trying to figure out the best way to respond.

During this process, the client went 90 minutes without responding to the initial PR strategy sent over by Intrepid. Ultimately, the client had decided to engage the services of an attorney with crisis communications experience to handle the issue. Three hours after news of the PR crisis broke the company issued a statement that was filled with legal jargon. After that, the company was under investigation and shut down operations later that day.

Fast and Efficient PR Response

One of the most valuable lessons to be learned from this example is to have a fast and efficient response for a PR crisis. In fact, a group of NYU professors determined that the longer a company takes to respond, the more damage a PR crisis will cause. It’s a large factor that helped these researchers develop the Golden Hour of Crisis Response. This rule states that companies need to respond in the first 45 minutes of a crisis breaking in the news.

The ability to respond quickly in a time of crisis is extremely valuable for any brand or business.

To learn more about the details on how journalists can better navigate social media platforms, be sure to read the full story: Crisis: Respond in 45 minutes or less, or reap the consequences.

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