The recent tragedy in Japan reminds us once again of the importance of planning for disruption. Traditionally, crisis and disruption management has been centered, rightfully, on business continuity procedures and, to a lesser extent, communications.
Less consideration is generally given to the vehicles that are best for communicating with key stakeholders – as well as their expected interaction to drive desired outcomes. The marketing mix and the message will vary depending on the depth of the business disruption.
In an extreme scenario, consider the responses of Japanese automakers following the devastating earthquake and tsunami. Nissan, which was very proactive using communication platforms such as Twitter to keep employees and customers informed about its operations, saw its stock rebound much more quickly than Honda or Toyota, for example.
While it is too soon to assess the longer-term outcome of these actions, it seems the organizations that leveraged a variety of communication vehicles in conjunction with frequent and targeted messaging recovered more quickly than those that did not seem to fully understand – or be prepared for – the impact of their communication on subsequent actions.
Whenever there is a shock to the business system – be it from a natural disaster, a new competitor, or a disruptive technology – the marketing and communications mix is affected. Our collective learnings from applied marketing science suggest that different vehicles combined with key messaging can support desired actions and consumer response.
Marketing leaders should challenge their organization’s thinking about how they prepare for disruptive events, both in terms of the types of scenarios and the messaging that must follow. Specifically, marketers should consistently evaluate at least two extreme scenarios in order to understand not just the impact on the business, but the changes in marketing investments – communications vehicles and messaging – that will be needed to support desired outcomes.
Second, it is important to understand that “owned” and “earned” are critical vehicles in times of crisis. Your response to employees and communities and their amplifier effects will have a direct impact on sentiment toward the brand – and, ultimately, brand equity.
Marketing leaders can’t ignore the prospects of the next significant disruption to their business. There’s enough uncertainty in most markets these days to make disruption planning a daunting but necessary task. Understanding and planning for the most extreme scenarios will help marketers safeguard their brand from the next shock to the system.