12 Mar CORONAVIRUS – ‘DON’T STOP YOUR PR AND COMMUNICATIONS’

THE CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) HAS BROUGHT ABOUT UNPRECEDENTED CHALLENGES AND HUGE UNCERTAINTY FOR BUSINESSES ON A GLOBAL LEVEL.

It means it’s time to really focus on reputation management and, more importantly, for businesses to be confident in their processes – releasing clear and impactful communications which reassure and educate customers, clients and staff.

Keeping your stakeholders informed
As a PR company we have been helping our clients prepare their coronavirus communications and refine their tone of the voice – these include holding statements which might be needed for the website and media if there was a case confirmed in the workplace, internal communications aimed at educating staff, planning telephone cascades etc.

Keeping stakeholders informed can help businesses stand out from their competitors, and most of our clients have recognised that. We have however had one client reduce their hours because they fear loss of earnings during this period.

It’s about crisis communications
Our advice to our clients and others is not to take their foot off the pedal in terms of PR activity during this period – stay on top of the changes and be prepared to react.

It is often the view that PR services are an added bonus to promote positive stories and business success – but it is actually during times of crisis like this, that well thought through communications becomes absolutely essential.

Some of the key messages organisations should be planning and issuing include how they are managing their services and contingencies, any measures they have in place to ensure a business-as-usual approach, how they are implementing ‘work-from-home’ processes – there are many, many more.

Planning for worst case scenarios and, at the very least, directing customers and staff to unbiased official guidance (for example Public Health England, NHS and the World Health Organization – WHO) are some of the other approaches we have been advising.

No one is entirely sure where this is heading but, with drastic and ‘unthinkable’ measures being implemented worldwide, it is certainly not a time for businesses to pull back on their communications.

Do get in touch if you’d like to chat about your messages during this crisis – email to arrange an initial free call: kim@pilkington-comms.co.uk.