Rob Phillips, a friend and client, is director of communications for LifeWay Christian Resources. In the summer 2009 issue of Facts & Trends magazine, he has an article about why churches need a crisis communications plan. His observations and advice are helpful for ad agencies and other organizations as well.

Rob cites a statistic from the Institute for Crisis Management that should make every leader sit up and take notice: 77 percent of crises are of the “smoldering” type, meaning that a potentially damaging condition is known to one or more people. Only 23 percent are events that occur suddenly with little warning, such as natural disasters and accidents.

If something is smoldering at your agency or with one of your clients, deal with it now because chances are it won’t go away and may even get much worse if neglected.

Don Beehler provides public relations consulting services to small- and medium-sized advertising agencies and businesses.