1. Crisis Communications Plans - An
Important Element of Public
Relations
By Patrick O'Reilly, Riverside

2. Introduction
• Since founding OPR Communications in Riverside, California,
in 2001, Patrick O’Reilly has guided the public relations firm
to national prominence. Drawing on more than two decades
of experience in the communications sector, he has helped
OPR Communications earn the PRWeek Public Relations
Firm of the Year, in addition to achieving the Public Affairs
Campaign of the Year. Under the leadership of Patrick
O’Reilly, the Riverside company serves clients across the
western United States in the areas of public affairs, media
relations, and crisis communications.
For business leaders, developing a plan to communicate with
the public following a crisis can be just as crucial as forming a
plan to resolve.

3. Crisis Communications Plans
• A crisis communications plan can protect a firm’s
reputation and brand equity, allowing it to quickly
respond to and mitigate the negative press that often
accompanies a corporate crisis. This is especially critical
given the ever-increasing prevalence of social media.
While it takes an average of 21 hours for a company to
draft and release effective external communications in
response to a crisis, social media facilitates the
worldwide circulation of up to 69 percent of crises within
24 hours. A crisis communication plan may include a
detailed social media strategy for crisis situations,
helping companies to better control their public image.

4. Conclusion
• Moreover, a dedicated crisis communications
plan allows companies to execute a premade
strategy should a crisis occur, rather than
requiring strategic planning in the midst of a
negative press event. With such a wide variety of
tasks involved in crisis management, including
potential product recalls, spokesperson training,
press conferences, and more, firms should
ensure that they do not end up trying to put a
plan in place after a crisis has already occurred.