How to communicate in a crisis situation?

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This is why the government is implementing various actions, including confinement, to limit contamination as much as possible and overcome this unprecedented health crisis. All of this leads to exceptional situations for companies: teleworking, partial unemployment, temporary closure, etc. After digesting the news and going through a phase of acceptance, it is now time to think about the weeks to come and how to best manage this time of crisis. It is possible to maintain a link with customers, partners, service providers, prospects, etc. To do this, it is essential to set up effective and well-thought-out crisis communication.


What is a crisis?
A crisis is an internal or external event that can make your company vulnerable, which is the case today with Covid-19. It is essential to adapt to this emergency situation and establish a communication plan that will meet france phone number list current challenges. Poor crisis management can have consequences on several levels:

Putting your business at risk.

Risk of harming your brand image and online reputation.

Loss of loyalty or trust from your customers and/or partners.

Decrease in the motivation of your employees following an unstable situation.

It is necessary to reassure your contacts as much as possible and therefore use all the communication channels at your disposal. This communication will be implemented on several scales: internally (with your employees) and externally (with customers, partners, suppliers, etc.).
You have several solutions to communicate your message: press relations, internal press releases, website, social networks, online tools.


How to succeed
in crisis communication?
In the case of an uncontrollable event such as Covid-19, it is necessary to deal with the various upheavals by speaking out at the right time, that is to say in two stages:

During the crisis: in order to inform about what is happening and to reassure the opinion of the actors around you.
After the crisis: to move on once and for all and take stock of the consequences, but above all the benefits and lessons learned from this ordeal.
Whatever happens and during all stages of this communication, the key word is: transparency . During a crisis there is no room for assumptions, it is necessary to speak only about the facts and what is to your knowledge.

It will also be important to use the right words and to ensure that you remain positive in all circumstances, especially during the current Covid-19 crisis, which is a general and unprecedented crisis where everyone needs to be reassured more than ever. To do this, banish terms with negative connotations from your vocabulary, such as “serious, terrible, crisis, virus, epidemic…” and replace them with positive terms such as “hope, solidarity, mutual aid, confidence…”

Finally, with regard to Covid-19 at the moment, keep an eye on the recommendations and measures taken by the government in order to be informed and therefore be able to inform in turn in real time.

Managing your
external communication
Communication with stakeholders outside the company is necessary, since it will allow the company to continue despite the crisis, in particular by reassuring customers. Here are our recommendations:



Communicate on the company's activity status via all communication channels (website, social networks, mailings, etc.)
Speak out, at the right time, in an official press release or on social networks in order to transparently present the facts related to the development of the crisis.
Stay reachable throughout the crisis and let people know (telephone, email, social networks, contact forms, etc.) by specifying the new means of communication if these have changed.
How can digital technology play a role in crisis communication?
Thanks to digitalization, crisis communication has evolved significantly in recent years and the term digital PR is increasingly used (digital public relations). It allows you to quickly reach a very wide audience.
Whether it is towards your customers and partners, or even your employees, there are tools that will allow you to adapt and control your communication according to the target.

Your website and social networks are now extremely appropriate for communicating about an ongoing crisis. In the current case of Covid 19, your Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Linkedin accounts, etc. will be important levers for maintaining the link with the outside world and communicating certain information on the progress of things.

It is often advisable to anticipate crisis situations as much as possible in order to respond to them effectively. Impossible to anticipate, the coronavirus requires you to communicate quickly in order to maintain a relationship of trust with the people around you, but also to reassure them. Do not hesitate to use the various digital channels at your disposal to manage the crisis and not suffer it.