Should Pay Per Click advertising be part of your PR crisis planning?

PR in a crisis is a challenge for any communications team. Being well prepared and practised is the key to getting the right message across at the right time. For a digital PR agency, the focus is usually on communicating clear, simple and relevant messages to the appropriate audiences. However in a crisis, PR is starting to embrace all digital tools as part of a strategy, including Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising.

Behaviour in a crisis

With increased broadband access and the proliferation of personal computers, those affected by a crisis have instant access to online channels to spread their concerns, fears and anger when something goes wrong.

Communicating the right messages quickly and simply is vital in order to give information or reassure and demonstrate positive action to those affected.

It’s a two way conversation: be part of it

People search for news online. On hearing of a plane crash, a spreading virus or product recall they tend to go online in order to find immediate information. This is the stage at which a well thought through crisis plan will pay dividends. When search results are returned via Google or any other search engine, businesses need to make sure that the website they want people to go to is right at the top of the page.

For example: typing “swine flu” into Google search gives the following results:

In this example, the two top sponsored links are the Government and the NHS. Both websites give out practical, factual information on the virus, its spread, diagnosis and treatment. It is clear that the Government and NHS had planned for this crisis and were ready to roll out their campaign – providing clear information to the general public.

Paid search vs. natural search

We know that it takes time and dedicated digital PR to achieve good results in natural search (via Google or any other search engine) – typically three to six months. Once a crisis happens it is too late to improve natural search results. However, if there is advance knowledge of an issue over a number of weeks, a company can start building bespoke pages and optimise them for the relevant terms that people might search for.

Preparation is the key to dealing with a crisis online. Businesses need to be ready to deliver strategic messaging across all channels open to them: website, blogs, and other social media platforms. Use of Pay Per Click advertising can support existing communications and should be considered as part of an overall crisis strategy.