Crisis Management

While some tenets of sound crisis communication remain, coronavirus has changed many of the best practices and benchmarks, perhaps irrevocably. Moving forward, communicators will need to consider mental health issues and be better able to identify stressors in the social conversation.

We don’t emotionally trust facts; we trust people – or we don’t.  As we process facts emotionally, we trust leaders who move beyond facts to speak in a voice that echoes how we feel, right now. At a time when the public is worried, communicating with the heart can help. Facts alone will not drive people to action, writes Gil Bashe, managing partner, global health, Finn Partners.

As PR professionals face an increasing number of communications challenges amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, some communicators will encounter the daunting task of notifying customers, employees and others about the possibility that they have been exposed to the coronavirus. Here are tips to help craft that communication.

With an increasing number of institutions and storefronts now mandated to shut down operations, communicators have turned to live video as a workaround for serving existing clientele and reaching new ones. Some organizations have tied live streaming directly to their core missions. Here are some tips for making the most of live streaming during the COVID outbreak (without appearing opportunistic).

So far, no country is able to control coronavirus. Arguably, South Korea is managing it, despite taking a very heavy hit. A communicator representing the Embassy of South Korea argues the country’s daily and transparent government communications protocol is playing a large role in the nation’s successful coronavirus management.

For many communicators and nearly everyone else, the past few days have been a whirlwind. Today, communicators from large and small brands and organizations were racing to react to the coronavirus’s new normal. Here’s a roundup of how brands were handling events of the day.

Check back here for the latest updates on our coverage related to communications, public relations and the coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak.

Linking diversity and inclusion to crisis is not something communicators think of often. Yet, when an organization’s PR team does not reflect the ethnic makeup of its consumers, there is a tremendous opportunity for failed risk assessments. Simply put, less diversity can mean more bad judgement calls

In a PR crisis, consistent messaging is important. In communicating about a potential health crisis, consistent, factual messaging becomes paramount. The country’s coronavirus situation is rapidly rising beyond politics. It is imperative for all communicators, including the president, to speak from the same script.

The Houston Astros, as many know, are a baseball team. Without wanting to, the franchise and Major League Baseball have supplied a classic case study for PR education in the field of crisis communications. Most likely the outcome of the team’s disastrous crisis response will continue to be written during the coming baseball season and beyond.