Successful crisis management isn’t just how you respond—it’s how you prepare. Every passing moment following a public misstep is an opportunity for the issue to get out of your control. But with the right crisis and scenario planning, you can take immediate action toward protecting your company and your brand. Here are five steps you can take today to prepare for crisis tomorrow.

1. Conduct a crisis and contentious situation scenario workshop
   Plan an offsite workshop with key members of your team to identify current and emerging vulnerabilities and draft an updated crisis communications plan. Your plan should include instructions for immediate step-by-step action following a crisis, offline and online management scenarios and segmentation for both internal and external audiences.
2. Develop succinct supporting documents
   If a crisis occurs, you’ll need to quickly communicate to your team members how they should respond. Create and make readily available brief reference materials, including position papers, talking points and FAQs.
3. Conduct on-camera spokesperson media training
   Ask Marco Rubio and his famous bottle of water, it’s not always what you say but how you appear when you’re saying it. Conduct media training for all team members who may appear on camera, making sure that you go out of your comfort zone and ask the really tough questions you may get from an investigative reporter.
4. Perform an NGO analysis
   You can never have too many allies. Seek and establish potential relationships with non-governmental organizations to add credibility and even support during a crisis situation, and to continue building on the relationships you already have.
5. Monitor activity of potential detractors
   Always be aware of the people, places and organizations which are most likely to disparage your company or brand. Continuously monitoring what they do and say online and offline will help you see any potential crises coming, allowing you to either snuff it out before it becomes public or mitigate its impact.

Crisis and scenario planning is what we do every day for brands all across the food system.  We’d love to begin a conversation with you about your brand readiness. Contact Mark Gale at mgale@co-nxt.com or call 262.563.5129.