Public relations is not always about organising fun events and writing press releases. It involves proactive thinking, anticipating issues and solving problems before they arise. This refers to issue and crisis management. Joreke Kleynhans from media update explains how the two differ.
The biggest difference between issue management and crisis management lies in the difference between a crisis and an issue.
A PR crisis is an extreme situation and, for many, a reason to panic. An issue, on the other hand, is a pain point for a brand that, if left untreated, could result in a full-blown crisis at any point.
Issue Management
Issue management is when a PR team works proactively to eliminate weaknesses in a brand. This is a preventative measure and should be happening consistently behind the scenes.
It includes identifying and analysing potential problems before taking action to neutralise the issue.
Issue management is crucial for a brand's continuous improvement, maintaining audience trust and building a solid brand identity.
Examples of common issues faced by brands include:
- supply chain issues
- economic and political effects on a brand, and
- inconsistencies in brand messaging.
Crisis Management
Crisis management is usually a reactive PR practice. It happens when a brand is facing a serious threat to its success, which requires immediate attention and all hands on deck. Crisis management happens more publicly than issues management and involves active brand-audience engagement.
Some brands view crisis management as ignoring the hate until it disappears. However, facing a crisis head-on should be any brand's top priority if it wants to restore its reputation and audience trust.
Crisis management includes identifying the crisis, responding actively and implementing measures to prevent the same type of crisis from happening again.
A brand crisis could be anything that is serious enough to damage the brand's reputation and hinder future growth, including, among other things:
- data leaks or cyber attacks
- natural disasters
- employee or customer endangerment, or
- misrepresenting audience values.
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