Written communication during Covid-19, or any pandemic really, requires careful consideration. How do we communicate about Covid-19 and the Corona crisis? Poorly written messages or a lack of written communication by companies during this time can have a negative effect with serious repercussions. Hence, a proper communications strategy during this crisis is crucial – especially if such a crisis affects your organisation.
Here are my 5 tips for written communication during Covid-19:
1. Have a Crisis Strategy for Written Communication
Organizations that merely respond to developments around the Corona crisis without a proper communications strategy are setting themselves up to fail. If there’s one thing that this crisis has taught organizations, it’s the power of timely communications that are properly thought out. This is not the time to allow your social media manager to come up with copy on his/her own. This is the time for teamwork, for collaborations, for strategizing. It’s time to rope in individuals from all levels of the organization to ensure fluid communications and a strong strategy.
Moreover, companies that have a crisis communications strategy in place prior to the crisis are one step ahead of the pack. And if you don’t, this is the best time to create a strategy and present it to your colleagues. When creating a crisis plan, ensure you also have a list of standard texts/responses for different crisis situations – you’ll be able to use these on social media or within press releases etc., when the time comes. Every person on the comms team should be aware of such a document and make use of it when the situation arises. Having standard responses as well as a step-by-step plan at hand is helpful, especially when stress levels in a team begin to mount during a crisis.
2. Keep it Short
All written communication, be it internal or external, should be kept short and sweet. To-the-point messages are far better than long-winded ones. Individuals across the company, stakeholders, as well as customers desire clear and brief communications on the topic of Corona, and they also deserve transparency and honesty, of course. If you are unsure of how Covid-19 will affect your company or how things will look in the future, you may need to mention that in a professional and humble manner. And when you are transparent, keep it short and clear. Avoid ambiguity which could further complicate the situation and which would be misconstrued.
3. Be Consistent
Written Communication during Covid-19 must be consistent (even if your company is uncertain of the future). This applies not only to the communication channel at hand but also across communication channels. It’s easy to publish the exact same text on various channels, but it’s not necessarily the right way. You may have to adapt your tone/style to the given channel as you would with any message/update. But be sure that the facts conveyed in the message remain the same across all channels so that you appear reliable and consistent.
4. Ensure Proper Translations
If you’re operating in an international market, ensure any translations you do make sense in the English language (or whichever languages you’re dealing with, that is). During the Corona crisis, many educational institutions in the Netherlands stated that they wanted to return to ‘Physical Education’ when writing in the English language. In British English, ‘Physical Education’ or PE refers to exercises/physical activities taught in schools as part of their curriculum. What these institutions mean is ‘in-person’ education or education, which requires one’s physical presence. Poor translations can result in misunderstanding, and when it comes to something serious like Covid-19, you really want to avoid that.
5. Edit and Analyze Your Written Communication During Covid-19
Ensure that your crisis comms team check any written messages before they are published, or call in a native English-speaking expert to double-check. Crisis communication team members do not necessarily know best (even if they have been working in crisis communications for years!). A second, third, or even fourth pair of eyes is important. Everyone sees something different in a message, so it’s necessary to ask around and find out if you can further reduce ambiguity.
It’s also important to analyze all written messages as you would normally do when you publish online. This will help you gain input on your written messages and see which updates have gained more visibility and which have not. Checking the analytics of your updates is a crucial step to improving your written communication in times of crisis.
Do you have any other tips for written communication during Covid-19? Let us know in the comments section below!