Beyond Crisis: Effective Communication During Emergencies (Part 1 of 3)
With Hurricane Harvey, Hurricane Irma, Hurricane Maria, western wildfires, and other natural disasters fresh in our memory, we at Breck are thinking about those affected, and are inspired by the many organizations and volunteers who have stepped up to help. We are thinking about the roles that marketing and communications play in emergencies and for nonprofits and charities as they solicit donations and volunteers. In the 1st of our 3-Part series, we’ll examine effective emergency communications.
Crisis communications are top-of-mind with the recent disasters affecting the country. Breck has discussed poorly handled crisis communications, including a great example in our blog. But emergency communications to the public impact safety at a different level. When coping with emergencies and disasters (man-made or natural), how can communicators achieve the greatest impact when relaying vital information? What can be learned from the world of marketing and applied to these situations?
Consider the Audience
In marketing, audience segmentation is the key to effective campaigns. Demographics help target and refine messages tailored to audiences and stakeholders. Similarly, organizations charged with communicating with these groups must perform population assessments to understand the right way to frame communications, and barriers that might stand in the way of messages being understood and acted upon. Groups can be narrowed down by many factors, including
- Ethnicity and language
- Location
- Education level
- Age
- Family status (for example, married, single, with or without children)
These factors help marketers determine effective messages, images, and channels. This audience understanding is even more important when it comes to emergency communications. As in traditional marketing, special populations with unique needs must be identified. Understanding audiences means understanding any barriers and overcoming them:
- Speaking a different language.
Do messages need translation? - Messages with clear meanings.
Will messages or recommended actions be misunderstood or even taken as an affront by members of the group in question? - Physical or mental impairments.
Are communications optimized for those with visual or hearing impairments? - No access to social media or online communications.
By choice or not, many do not have access to online channels.
Meet Emotion with Empathy
Engaging with frightened or angry people during times of crisis takes special skills. It may be tempting to attempt to respond to unreasonable emotions with reason. However, not will only will that approach fail to calm legitimate fears, it will actually prevent your audience from listening. By acknowledging strong feelings, you defuse them. Many crisis communications experts, including the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), advise showing empathy—and showing it as early as possible. The Cincinnati Zoo demonstrated this after the tragic death of Harambe the gorilla, expressing genuine sorrow in the middle of social media anger. Audience understanding will guide you to empathy, and the language you should use to express it. Genuine empathy means that you hear and understand emotions, that you “get it.” Audiences want to know that you do. If you validate their emotions, this makes them receptive to your messages and instructions. If you don’t, it makes it difficult for them to focus on your message.
Be First with Accurate Information
At the same time, there’s no escaping the importance of factual, accurate information at a time of crisis. What happened? Is my family safe? What action should I take? It’s important to give the public and media as much accurate information as possible quickly. This cuts back on inaccurate analysis and information. Even background information about the nature of the current crisis can be helpful. If your organization is the expert on the subject, it’s your role to educate the media (and, in turn, the public).
At the same time, if you don’t know the answer, don’t be afraid to say you don’t know. In the case study “Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication: Lessons from the Elk River Spill,” confusion and bad feeling arose when government agencies and the involved company disseminated conflicting and delayed information about a chemical leak potentially affecting the water supply near Charleston, West Virginia, and how the public should react. Credibility was damaged, and the company involved filed for bankruptcy afterwards. The most trusted figure in the incident was the local health department, who expressed empathy while communicating clearly and honestly what the agency did and did not know.
Whether telling the public what to do during a natural disaster such as a hurricane, or a man-made disaster such as a chemical leak, audience understanding, empathy, and accuracy are vital. Credibility is another part of the puzzle, one that we will address in Part 2 of our 3-Part series.
Before crisis happens, organizations can be proactive about their strategies. Communications professionals can help you create a communications plan, analyze your audience and stakeholders, and refine your messaging. When emergencies strike, your preparation will be worth it.