Following COVID-19 and the resulting economic recession, it’s clear that knowing how to manage a crisis is vital. Speaking of which, do you know how to write a press release for a crisis? Well, you should, because this is an important part of crisis management. Oftentimes, businesses will lose clients when they experience a crisis. There are very few exceptions to this rule. However, knowing how to manage the crisis appropriately and communicate effectively can help reduce the economic impact of a crisis on your business.
What’s the best response to a crisis?
During a crisis, instead of reacting to the situation, you should be proactive. As the business owner/ manager, you should know that the future of your venture depends on how you handle whatever crisis comes your way.
From a professional perspective, persistence is important during uncertain times. For this reason, you should continue building visibility and attracting new clients in the middle of a crisis. It’s also important to communicate with any parties who are affected by a crisis that hits you. You need to go beyond apologizing to empathize with them and explain what you’re doing to resolve this crisis. You can do this effectively with a skilled communications or public relations team.
By reacting appropriately in the face of a crisis, you can ensure your business maintains the top rank on Google and push on with your press campaigns.
What to do before the crisis ends
You should adapt your marketing campaigns and use that chance to build more visibility. Remember, you can influence the future of your business through how you handle the present crisis. It’s true that not knowing when a crisis will end can be discouraging. However, proper management of the crisis can ensure that things get back to as close to normal as is possible. Until then, you still need your business to remain competitive in the market. Maintaining your brand image in the midst of a publicity crisis will help you bounce back faster when the crisis ends.
1) Be persistent about maintaining an online presence
When a crisis hits, can be tempting to hide and hope that it blows over. However, you should never lose sight of how important your media presence is during trying times. Your silence won’t make people suddenly forget about you. If anything, it will make it seem like you do not care about the crisis at hand or the people who have been affected. To avoid giving people the impression that you don’t care, you need to maintain communication with prospects and with the media. Of course, prospects may not respond promptly as they would in normal times, but reaching out counts, and they will remember that you made the effort.
When the crisis finally ends and things go back to normal, you’ll experience the benefits of your PR campaign. With an effective PR campaign, you can restore your brand image, regain public trust and boost your sales. Once people realize that they can trust you, they will come back to request products and services that they couldn’t access during the crisis.
2) Engage with the public consistently
Whether you’re dealing with an external crisis like the recession we’re facing or an internal scandal involving one of your executives, you need to stay in touch with your clients. The best way to do this is by using the crisis as an opportunity to spark conversation. You need to know what your clients are thinking and how you can best address their concerns. This information will help you uphold the positive brand identity that you’ve worked so hard to build. It’s impossible to do this without first talking to your clients and seeking their feedback on the situation.
Most importantly, you’ve got to find out ways to help your clients to continue accessing your products or services during the crisis. If you can give them hope and convince them that you will get through the crisis, then this will put you in their good books.
How to communicate with clients empathetically
For starters, you can acknowledge how your clients have been affected before starting to talk about how your business has been affected. You should also create a crisis press release to update your clients on the current state of your business. Consider creating one for your staff as well so that they’re not left in the dark. They deserve to know the new changes you are about to roll out in your business. Making sure they’re informed will also prepare them to respond effectively to inquiries from the public. In your press release, you should outline the actions that you’re taking to protect both your clients and employees respectively.
The way you craft this press release announcement will determine the type of response you will get. Remember, you need to start by expressing compassion for the situation both your clients and employees are in. While a disengaged press release can easily make your readers angry, one that empathizes with their position will help them calm down. Opening your press release on a compassionate note will also help your readers be more open to what you’re going to say next. After starting with a compassionate statement addressing their concerns, you can delve into what you’re doing to resolve the crisis. At this point, people will be more accepting of your news.
3) Build relationships
A crisis provides you with an opportunity to build new relationships. However, your level of success with this depends on how you handle the chaos. For starters, you need to provide certainty, and compassion, and demonstrate good leadership. When you’re drafting your crisis management press release, you should try to grow your network by reaching out to new journalists in your niche. You should build relationships that go beyond business.
With the help of a crisis press release, you can also attract more clients to your brand. After all, all brands face a crisis at one point or another and we would all rather support a brand that reacts compassionately in the face of a crisis. While it might seem like you’re in the hot seat, a crisis is also a chance to engage, connect with, and enlighten new members of your target audience on your values. The way you craft your press release statement can do one of two things. It can send your current clients fleeing to your competition or it can cement loyalty among your current clients while winning new clients over to your brand.
When you’re writing your press release, you need to evoke a feeling of confidence and certainty in your readers. Let them know that things will get better sooner or later. Remember, clients respect brands that remain honest even in the middle of a crisis.
4) Tell your readers what you can do for them and how they can support you
When your clients stick by you during hard times, then the least you can do is make sure they have an easy time accessing your products or services. By offering the help they need urgently, you can be the hero even in the middle of a crisis. Does your business have a website? Does it have a blog? Is it active on social media networks? In order to widen your reach, you need to make sure you have established an active presence on all these platforms. In fact, a multichannel approach can help you maximize the effects of a good crisis press release
Remember, if this crisis has affected your clients, they will be busy trying to survive. This means that they may miss some of your messages. However, a multichannel crisis management strategy increases the chances that they will see at least some of your messages. You can keep using this multichannel approach to seek client feedback and remind them of new services and products that you’ve launched to take care of them.
Conclusion
The way you draft your crisis press release will determine the kind of response you will get from clients. If you handle it well with the help of the above tips, then you will evoke the right response. However, if you handle it poorly, then you can only expect the situation to worsen. If you want to be absolutely sure that you’re getting this right, then you need to hire professionals.
With years of experience helping various businesses handle chaos, the team at Pressfarm has what it takes to help you navigate safely through the crisis you’re facing. The first thing they will do is help you develop a crisis press release to restore trust in your brand. They will make sure that this press release addresses the concerns that your clients and other stakeholders might be having at the moment. Once this press release is ready, they will then distribute it widely, ensuring that it’s published on reputable media outlets. In this way, they can boost your credibility and make sure your target audience sees the press release.
The expert writers at Pressfarm can follow your press release up with some engaging guest posts to remind your clients about your brand values. By designing a branded media kit for your brand, the certified designers at Pressfarm can help remind your clients about the essence of your brand.
With a PR package from Pressfarm, you can restore your brand image and reignite public trust in the middle of a crisis.