By: Natalie DeSouza

This past afternoon the national chapter of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) hosted the webinar: “Communicating in a Time of COVID-19.” While at home, I decided to join the call and it was extremely informational and geared towards PR professionals. The webinar discussed how they can change their communications tactics for their company to best communicate with their publics.

The webinar was taught by Helio Fred Garcia who is President of the crisis management firm, Logos Consulting Group. He is based in New York and has worked with clients in dozens of countries on six continents.

One of the biggest themes in the webinar was that communications teams have to show care for their publics. One of the biggest predictors of loss of trust is the perception that a company does not care.

To help make sure that your publics notice you care it is important for brands to begin with a timely demonstration that they care. There is a six-hour window where a company can respond and be able to recover trust from people. However, past that window, it will be difficult to regain trust from many.

 

Garcia posed these four questions as a guide to know when your company should respond to a crisis:

 

• Will those who matter to us expect us to do something now or say something now? 
• Will silence be seen as not caring or affirmation of some sign of guilt?
• Are what others are speaking shaping the perception of us among those who matter to us? 
• If we wait, do we lose the ability to determine the outcome? 

 

If any of these questions are answered yes, then it is important for your company to respond effectively now.

More important of answering first, a company has to show they care persistently with consistent demonstration of caring.

In a time of COVID-19, it is important to remember people are scared and uncertain and silence is NOT golden. Your company should be the first one to define your crisis, your motives, and your actions.

To end the webinar, Garcia posed these points as the best communications practices for PR professionals during a time of COVID-19:

 

• Begin with a statement of values, purpose, priorities, or intent 
• Show you care: Calibrate communication with empathy 
• Be direct: no euphemism 
• Tell the truth: no misleading half-truths 
• Convey a positive attitude balancing urgency and prevention of panic 
• Address all relevant elements of the problem: Public Health, Business, Economics, Information, and Social 
• Expectations are dynamic and changing- calibrate to actual current expectations 
• Communicate at multiple levels 
• Align statement of values, purpose, motive, and intent, even as you adjust content across levels 
• Remember people are feeling very vulnerable 

 

I think the most important thing I took from this webinar is that COVID-19 is not just a health crisis or economic crisis but it is overall a social crisis as well. Ultimately, it is important not to stereotype and always show kindness in your communications messages.