Crisis Management Key #4: Find Your Core Message and Stay On It... Relentlessly

A common, and needless, complication in crisis key occasions is variable messaging.

This can be a fatal malady... anyone from an opposing attorney to an enterprising journalist will be happy to point out inconsistency in messaging from a company besieged by a crisis.

Companies that do not have the discipline of a crisis communications plan are at risk for messaging that wanders reactively as a crisis progresses. This breeds mistrust on the part of the media and the public alike and should be avoided at all cost.

So, as soon as the fact-finding phase of crisis communications management is complete, the crisis team must work diligently to articulate the "one true thing" that it wants to communicate about the crisis.

Core messages should be brief, direct and simple. Some examples:

"XYZ Company has launched a full review of this incident and will report its findings at a later date"

"ABC Company regrets the tragic incident that occurred at our plant today and extends sincere condolences to the family of our employee"

"PQD Company denies the allegations raised in the lawsuit filed today and is confident that a fair-minded jury will find that no wrongdoing has occurred"

Short. Direct. Credible. That's what a good core messages be.

Once you have your core message established, the art of the game is to stay on it... relentlessly. Your core message should be the first thing in the last thing you utter any media encounter. I know, it sounds a bit robotic, but trust me it works.

Core messages are accompanied by secondary and steering messages. A secondary message is merely an amplification of detail and context as warranted by media coverage and is guided by legal counsel. It's about putting some flesh on the bone.

Steering messages are rhetorical strategies that allow a spokesperson to safely and surely return to the core message when an inquiring reporter raises the question that you cannot safely answer at that time. A simple example: "it would be premature to speculate on that question, but PQD Company denies the allegations raised in the lawsuit filed today and we are confident that a fair-minded jury will find no wrongdoing has occurred"

See? You haven't refused to answer the question, and you have reinforced your core message.

So I hope you get the point here. Find your core message early in a crisis and keep faith with it throughout the crisis. That strategy will never let you down.