Crisis Management

It’s a useful coincidence that the PRSA chief also is a veteran healthcare communicator. After our initial visit with T. Garland Stansell during the very early moments of the coronavirus outbreak, we thought it was time to ask him how he thinks communicators are doing now, two months into the pandemic. The actions taken and message sent will linger in the public’s mind long after the pandemic subsides, he says.

Our crisis communications columnist Katie Paine assesses the responses to the coronavirus-related media attention from elderly care facilities and the cruise line industry. She finds the messages of both groups missed the boat.

A bevy of questions asked during a recent PRNEWS webinar about media relations form the basis for this roundtable where PR pros discuss pitching and product launches during the pandemic. In short, you can pitch and launch products during the pandemic. It requires careful research and a sensitive approach, however.

A PR and marketing maxim holds that you can never know too much about members of your audience. With so much possibly changing during the pandemic, what PR pros and marketers know about their audiences… Continued

When PR pros use the words internal communications, usually they’re talking about messaging from corporate leaders to staff. Traditionally, internal communications is considered an afterthought, a low priority. At this uncertain moment, though, it’s taken… Continued

The travel industry undoubtedly took a huge hit with the onslaught of COVID-19, so communicators reassessed messaging to address customer concerns and provide assurance. While uncertainty looms around this new normal, brands look to guide customers with a steady hand for any future travel needs. 

Despite the PR blip, Mayo Clinic came out relatively unscathed in the media—a top medical facility whose hands were tied by the executive branch of government—while the vice president’s office still has much to answer for in the court of public opinion.

Working in a highly regulated industry with multiple stakeholders, Aflac’s communications team issued some 150 pieces of content during the pandemic’s first weeks. One tactic the team is using, writes CCO Catherine Hernandez-Blades, is to condition audiences to head to a single point for information and updates.

The PPP loan program was supposed to help small businesses that the coronavirus ravaged. How, then, did ‘small businesses’ like the Los Angeles Lakers, Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse and AutoNation apply for and receive money?

As a reporter in Washington, you learn that when the president speaks, it’s news. It doesn’t necessarily matter what the president says, it’s still news, according to this rule. A rule all PR pros know is that words have consequences, especially when you’re in a crisis.