By Chris Beard
Whenever I speak with students or early-career PR professionals about crisis communication, I often hear the same question: “Isn’t crisis comms just putting a PR spin on bad situations to make clients look better?” My answer? That couldn’t be more wrong.
During a crisis, your messaging needs to:
- Be factual/ accurate – avoid speculation
- Be timely – control the narrative
- Be honest – share approved information and be upfront if further information is being collected
- Be transparent
- Be cooperative – share information with external partners as well as employees, trusted suppliers, and customers (as appropriate)
- Provide options/ actions for those impacted, if possible
- Show empathy – be sincere, human, and compassionate in your communication
It will take you time to develop your PR “gut instinct”, but these are good tips for your crisis messaging.
Chris is a seasoned crisis communications consultant with global experience across diverse industries, including CPG, healthcare, manufacturing, energy and utilities, finance, and professional services. He led Burson’s Chicago office crisis practice and has led crisis communications in-house for companies such as SC Johnson, TransUnion, and NiSource. Chris has extensive expertise in managing corporate communications and crisis situations in North America, Africa, Asia, and Europe. He specializes in helping organizations prepare for, navigate, and recover from reputational challenges. Chris’ newconsultancy is