A few tips about crisis comms based on the dozens of emails that have landed in my inbox during the pandemic. It's also based on my experience of seeing this happen first-hand while weeping into a handkerchief.
Don’t abandon your tone of voice
This almost always happens during a crisis.
It’s usually because somebody very senior decides to lead the response.
That very senior person usually isn’t a marketer.
Somebody writes something, or is asked to write something, who isn’t a copywriter or even in marketing.
The marketing team either don’t have a say, or see it too late to influence it.
The consequence is almost always this:
The response doesn’t sound like it was written by your brand. It’s jarring and strange. A bit like when you get a scam email allegedly from a company you use - it looks familiar but it’s not right. Consistency in your tone and personality helps to build trust, and inconsistency breaks it down.
It's ridiculously long. Again, this is usually because someone with little marketing experience has written it. Attention is precious and nobody wants to read your shit at the best of times, let alone when you quadruple your word count unnecessarily.
The important information you want people to know is buried in dense text that no-one notices.
The subject line is something like “This is a message for you in the form of an email from our CEO, Clarence Ashworthy-Smythe."
Fix it by doing this:
Put important information first.
Make sure your tone of voice guidelines set out how to deal with a crisis. It’s always possible to be serious while maintaining a tone that’s familiar and appropriate. You probably need help from a wonderfully handsome copywriter for that.
Don’t skip the usual process that produces effective communication.
Write a subject line that gives a reason to open your email.
Keep emails short. Use sub-headings and bullet points to make the important information stand out.
As a marketing team or in-house copywriter, get ahead of the problem and react before anyone else does.
A crisis isn't a great time for a job swap
If you’re that senior person with little to no marketing experience, leave it to the pros because I have no doubt there are lots of things you’re better at than them.
In a crisis, there’s an overwhelming urge to sound “professional” and “serious” but these are just by-words for long, boring and robotic.
LOOK AT THIS EMAIL I GOT FROM ARGOS IT'S SO LONG
Please don't actually read it. I've not even got through the whole thing and I've just spent 5 minutes photoshopping 3 screengrabs together. KEEP SCROLLING IT'S SO LONG.
Sorry, Argos, I don't mean to single you out but this example proves all my points in one go.
The tone just isn't Argos. That chatty, down-to-earth voice they've had in recent years has just moved into a flatshare with Victor Meldrew and Mr Heckles. It doesn't look or sound like them.
It makes the usual mistakes when trying to sound professional and serious:
"I wanted to write to you to let you know..." (clearly someone who's used to writing letters. Just skip to the info you're sharing).
"In order to" instead of just "to" - and lots of similar inefficiencies.
Switching between talking to the reader as "you" and as "customer."
It's INSANELY LONG.
There's lots of important information about:
How to order.
Safety when getting deliveries.
How returns are working.
Which stores are open and closed.
It's all buried in dense text - some simple headings and bullet points would make this crucial info stand out.
All that said, the pandemic has obviously been a big stressful mess, and I appreciate that things aren't going to be perfect. But - I've seen these same mistakes repeatedly, from minor PR crises to actual full-blown bloody mega crises like when I forgot to build a time machine and skip 2020 entirely.