Most B2B Marketers Have No Crisis Plan in Place

More than half - 53 percent - of B2B marketing executives surveyed said their company has undergone a crisis that resulted in negative media coverage, or a decline in sales or profitability, but nearly 6 in 10 - 57 percent - said their company has no crisis-response plan prepared, reports BtoB magazine (via MarketingCharts).

Some 251 marketing executives were surveyed online by BtoB and Eric Mower and Associates about their companies’ preparedness to deal with corporate crises - which can range from product recalls to nasty word-of-mouth on the web.

Among the findings of the study:

• Just half of the 43 percent of companies that say they have a crisis plan reported having trained spokespersons, and 10 percent of them expressed concern over whether they would be able to implement the plan that’s in place.
• Some 23 percent of respondents said it took 3-12 months for their brand to recover from a crisis; 13 percent said it took up to two years; 18 percent said they haven’t recovered after two years.
• Among companies that have a crisis plan, 29 percent said the plan is sufficient to protect the brand, 26 percent said it protects the brand somewhat, 20 percent said it does not protect the brand.
• The following were cited among the causes of corporated crises:
  • Most B2B marketers - 56 percent - said layoffs, shutdowns or business foreclosures precipitated a crisis.
  • Some 45 percent cited operational or services failures.
  • 33 percent pointed to legal or ethical problems.
  • 32 pointed to an attack, such as negative word-of-mouth or messaging, by someone with an interest in damaging the business.

“If companies choose not to be prepared for a crisis, they and shareholders will pay the price, because crises have a way of twisting and turning till they do serious bottom-line damage,” Peter Kapcio, director of reputation management services at Eric Mower and Associates and head of its crisis communications practice, is quoted by BtoB as saying. “In most cases, it’s not the initial trigger of the crisis that causes the damage; it’s what follows a botched response.”