When a disaster strikes, how do you know you are ready?

I was once asked how I felt confident that I could communicate with residents of the municipality that I work for if I had never experienced a major crisis. My answer was, “I am confident because I have put into place all the tools to successfully communicate in an emergency.” If you are a professional communicator who hasn’t faced an emergency in your current role, but, want to ensure you are prepared, here’s what I did and what you can do as well.

Established social media accounts, grew a following

Before we had a major emergency, recognizing the significant role that social media could play in an emergency, I established several social media accounts for our organization. As part of our overall efforts to communicate, over the years, we have grown a following on these accounts. Most recently, people have depended on these accounts for lifesaving information during and following Hurricane Harvey.

Developed an email distribution list

For a marketer, one of the most important things you can do is develop a strong email distribution list that is segmented based on preferences of the audience. Our email distribution list is critical to successfully communicating with the right people during an emergency. Our email distribution list allows us to geo-target messages ensuring that our core messages are getting to the individuals we are trying to reach.

Purchased lists to text in an emergency, grew that list

Nowadays, you can data mine for almost anything, it’s important in advance of an emergency that you use all available resources to ensure that you reach the largest possible audience.

Updated a 10-year-old website

Your first line of defense in an emergency is your website; it is the place you put emergency information, dispel rumors. We have all heard stories of websites crashing because of increased traffic following an emergency. So, putting place the proper precautions is integral and ensuring that your website is equipped to handle increased traffic demands and has special features that can be used in an emergency.

Planned for it

Most importantly, I planned for an emergency. In other words, I reviewed our emergency annexes and made the appropriate revisions. I drafted standard messages for use during an emergency and I talked to my staff about their role as professional communicators in an emergency.

In short, you don’t have to have experienced an emergency in your current role to be able to handle one, but, you have to take precautions to ensure you are ready.