As a public relations consultant, I want to have answers. I should. After all, I’m selling my expertise to clients. But that expertise is now qualified. It is now “pre-pandemic” expertise.
Nobody, certainly no consultant, currently has the answers for what lies on the other side of COVID. But we can anticipate this – it won’t be business as usual.
I’m not certain that the tried-and-true strategies and tactics to communicate with the public will still be effective. There are too many unknown factors, too much has changed, and it may be a long time until the course ahead becomes clear. This is true for all companies, not just my nonprofit clients. We just don’t know yet.
How can communicators prepare for this impending uncertainty? Here is what I learned while developing strategies during the pandemic.
Keep on Moving
The Santa Barbara Maritime Museum was in the midst of a six-month-long strategic planning process, a step required for accreditation from the American Alliance of Museums (AAM), when pandemic restrictions forced them to close their doors. That temporary closure lasted for more than a year.
I handled PR for the Museum during the first four years it was open. Last January, more than twenty years later, they hired me to help develop a strategic communications plan for the future… in the midst of the lockdown.
They didn’t want to wait, and moving ahead is advised in times of uncertainty. Planning shouldn’t stop. The future will arrive sooner than we all think, and we might as well have a course charted, even a rough one, to be ready when it does.
Not Knowing Is OK
Though there are new challenges associated with reopening, issues relating to attracting new publics, buyers, and in the museum’s case, visitors, haven’t changed due to the extended shutdown. But the execution of how to deliver the value proposition, the answer to “what’s-in-it-for-me?”, is sure to change.
What will be the best delivery system for messages to our publics post-pandemic? I can’t see over that horizon right now, and I had to tell that to the client. It took humility and courage to admit it, but no one was surprised. It actually freed us to focus more on the “what” we want to communicate, with several contingencies for the “how.”
Stick to Storytelling
The value of solid storytelling to connect with publics will not change in the next year, and may never lose its impact.
The voices and stories from our seafaring past are as rich in variety as the waters of the Santa Barbara Channel are with aquatic life. Stories can be repurposed, adapted, and disseminated through many channels (pun intended).
Start here. What is the truth you want to convey, to share with the world about the work you do, the service you provide, or how you create value in peoples’ lives.
Stay Nimble
To identify compelling stories is one step, but will they be told in a blog, as video, or e-newsletter? Maybe all three.
As time goes by, we’ll be better able to see what tactics are effective in that unknown land over the horizon. They can be tested, measured, evaluated, and then abandoned if need be, as we nimbly pivot to Plan B, or Plan F, or even Plan M. Have these options ready.
Ponder the Possibilities
Uncertainty can lead to opportunity. It’s a time to ponder the possibilities, to dream big, to be bold.
Will people want to gather indoors (in a museum, store, or concert hall), even after immunizations are complete and infection rates are lowered? Given all the challenges of a post-COVID world, will publics still care about our organizations? How can we persuade them to dip their toes into our waters once again after a year of isolation and fear?
Now is the time for communicators to be daring and take risks as we sail into the future. Chart a course now, taking into account what you know and don’t know. Who knows what awaits ahead in that space beyond the map’s edge where it is labeled “Here Be Dragons”?
About the Author
Julia McHugh is a Santa Barbara-based public relations consultant, writer, and educator. She has been accredited (APR) by the Public Relations Society of America for 11 years and currently serves as the Accreditation Chair of the Gold Coast Chapter. The Santa Barbara Zoo’s public relations director for 17 years, she also served on the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ (AZA) PR Committee, and was a frequent presenter at AZA national conferences. She developed the Public Relations course at Santa Barbara City College, which she has taught for the past 12 years. Clients have included symphony orchestras, opera companies, performing arts presenters and venues, theatre companies, art museums, historic sites, public gardens, wildlife research and conservation organizations, among others.
