When the coronavirus lockdown happened, it created unprecedented times for businesses across the world. Alongside huge levels of uncertainty, the year has also caused concern for business across the board.
From thinking about everything from staff to sales, the crisis may have been unexpected and caused issues no one has ever seen before. However, a crisis can happen at any time, and for those who’ve never experienced one before, you know that you’ll need to be prepared for the future.
Below, we’ve compiled a list of important things to remember during a crisis, whether it’s personal to your business or one that affects the nation.
Tone of voice
Think about how you’re talking to your customers, potential customers, clients, and staff. The last thing you want to do is come across as though you’re not thinking about what’s happened or is happening. Think about going for a helpful approach while retaining the tone of your business to ensure you’re staying on-brand but being thoughtful.
Your messaging
Take the time to re-assess anything you’re putting out, and make sure you check over anything scheduled so the wording isn’t insensitive.
Are you open/changes to service?
While you may not have thought of this before, recent events have highlighted that some crises call for closure and service alterations. If you’re a business with clients, they’ll want to speak to you, and it’s important to let them know what’s happening by letting them know if you’re open, closed or working remotely. The same goes with selling products, however, if you know there’ll be changes to delivery or what products are being sold, make sure you make this clear throughout your messaging.
Payments
From how I can make a payment to when will I get paid, it’s something that’ll create a lot of worries in times of crisis. The best thing to do here is to look at your outgoings as a business. By doing this you’ll be able to see what subscriptions or services you use can be paused or cancelled. Meanwhile, talking to clients or suppliers will help you to work out what else can be done. By addressing this situation head-on, it should put you in a better headspace moving forward.
Scheduling media
Whether it’s print or digital, stop and ask yourself if you have any media scheduled in? If you have, take a look at the activity and see if it should be rescheduled.
Depending on what it is, it could come across as insensitive and even be damaging to your business. An example of this would be pausing social media following an act of terrorism as many brands did in the aftermath of the Manchester bombing in 2017.
Don’t panic
While this may sound obvious, and even unimaginable in a time of crisis, try not to worry too much and focus on what can be done.
Chances are, you’ll be able to work your way through, which has been demonstrated by many businesses who’ve seen huge success throughout lockdown and the overall pandemic.
By following the advice above, you’ll be able to take a step back and look at what needs to be done for the business, which should help you to create an ‘exit’ strategy.
If you’re looking for advice when it comes to crisis management, why not get in touch and see how Relative Marketing, along with our dedicated PR agency, can help you out if a crisis comes knocking on your door.
