I’m starting to see signs that at least we’ve hit an apex, generally for the country, if not for individual states, which begs the question as to when are things going to open again, how quickly and to what degree are things going to return to normal?
I don’t know that as much as anybody else, but here’s what I do know. It’s probably not going to be pretty, it’s not going to be clean and it’s not going to be without pain moving forward. This pandemic still has several different iterations before we can be collectively whole again.
What does that mean for businesses? Your crisis PR plan will continue for the foreseeable future. You’re not even halfway through the communications that you will need for customers, employees, partners, investors, and the general public in order to get back to what was normal operations before this. Don’t start thinking that this is coming to an end anytime soon. In baseball terms, we’re in the third inning of what is going to be six more, at least if not extra innings.
Start thinking about regular communications throughout the coming weeks and months as you start to return to normal. You’re going to have issues with cash flow, you’re going to have issues with investments, you’re going to have issues with employees, you’re going to have issues with customers not being able to meet their demands in a timely fashion, you may also not have customers that are able to come back to you because of their economic fortunes.
Think about how you’re going to continue communicating, keeping empathy and action as your core fundamental edicts in all of your messaging.
We’re all going to get through this. It’s just going to take longer than you think and it’s going to require regular communications. So keep it up.
