5 Tips for Company PR Programs During the COVID-19 Crisis

By Fred Feiner, President of Yankee Public Relations On Apr 21, 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic does not appear to be going away anytime soon. The current environment requires businesses of all shapes and sizes to evaluate their business plans, including where to go with their PR programs. By now, most businesses have dusted off their crisis communications plans, established internal and external communications processes, and implemented work-from-home plans. The lockdown has been devastating for many business owners who are struggling to survive with at least 25% of the U.S. economy offline. How do business owners and marketing directors move forward with PR programs and weather this storm? Here are few suggestions:

Stop the Presses

Avoid press releases and product pitches to the media that are not absolutely essential at this time. Much of the world, if not all, is in panic mode right now and any communications initiatives at the moment that do not mention COVID-19, run the risk of coming across as terribly insensitive to those who are coping with the crisis. One recent product pitch at the start of the crisis went off the rails in a big way, resulting in an article in The New York Times, but not exactly achieving what the publicist had in mind. A tone-deaf media pitch or press release can be incredibly damaging to a company’s reputation. I recommend putting off that product launch for a bit, if you can, and do not try to tag company news onto a coronavirus related press release.

Be a Community Leader

If your company or organization is not already invested in your local community, now might be a good time to think about making the leap. If you are already a solid corporate citizen, you are to be congratulated, but now your community needs you more than ever. It is time to double down on those efforts by finding community organizations that could use your help during the crisis. By all means promote your good deeds in the press and on social media, but ask the organization benefitting from your generosity to take the lead on that promotion. Building positive relationships with the local community and your industry through financial support, volunteer work, and thought leadership initiatives should be part of your PR strategy in good times and bad.

Speaking of Social Media

Take advantage of the time not spent writing press releases and product pitches to invest in your online initiatives. Develop educational content for your website that you can promote on social media. Change up your profile descriptions on LinkedIn, Twitter, etc. to increase visibility and get more active on social media. With so many people working at home, many are spending a lot more time on social media these days.

As we work from home, it is important to continue to be active with your network and not just with online items that obviously promote your business. Share and comment on content that is relevant to your community and industry – at the same time you will be building up a following that may be of benefit to your business in the future. Also, consider promoting your online content with social media advertising.

Focus on Your Customers

Staying relevant to your audience should be an obvious goal at all times, but it is more important than ever that you think about what your customers are going through. Put yourself in their shoes and be hyper-focused on their needs. Develop educational online content that speaks directly to their concerns.

Be a Thought Leader

Many companies pursue thought leadership in a variety of ways from the occasional blog to formal programs where employees throughout the company participate. The commitment level can vary considerably, but if you would like to be recognized as an expert in your industry, the current crisis lends itself to taking that first step. A good beginning is selecting a topic you would like to write or speak about and pitching it to the press.

The topic needs to be educational and relevant to the media you are pitching; do not let it come across as an advertisement. Try to identify a topic that addresses a challenge, issue or pain point that is important to your customers. Then develop an outline for the article that you can pitch to media along with a short bio (two or three sentences) for your expert who will be writing the article. The current crisis is an opportunity to pursue this type of thought leadership initiative because, although quite impactful, the effort can be time consuming from start to finish.

To access more business news, visit NJB News Now.

Related Articles: