If you’re running for office and it’s a high-profile campaign, and you’re running competitively, it’s safe to assume that you will be the target of attacks. In an election campaign, every day is a possible crisis.

I’ve personally worked for people who were accused of corruption, gambling addiction, drug abuse, womanizing, being too left, too right, too religious, too young, too old — you name it.

That’s why, in my book “Beat the Incumbent,” I devoted an entire chapter to crisis communication.

Once you get hit with an attack or an alleged scandal, you have five possible strategies on how to deal with it. You’ll have to decide, and you’ll have to decide fast.

Here they are:

1. Ignore it.
   I would only advise this if the election is near and you’re running far ahead in the surveys. With the current non-stop news cycle, it has become difficult to simply sit out a crisis.
2. Ridicule it.
   Volodymyr Zelensky did this very skillfully when he ran for president in Ukraine. I’ve also used this strategy for a client of mine that I write about in the book.
3. Own it.
   Depending on what it is you’re accused of, it might be the way to go. Voters are often willing to forgive if the apology comes from the heart and is honest.
4. Take legal action.
   In many countries, it’s promising to take legal action. But the problem with this strategy is the timing — it takes a long time. By the time you’re proven innocent legally, you are long dead in terms of public opinion.
5. Deny and hit back.
   This, of course, you should only do if the allegation is not true. Because worse than admitting something is to first deny it, only to later having to admit it. There are quite a number of cases where the initial denial and lying became more of a problem than the accusation itself.

Dealing with a crisis is like walking in a labyrinth. If you take a wrong turn at the very beginning, everything that follows will be wrong as well.

In order to continue the conversation, check out my channel on YouTube, where the latest video is on this topic.