PR experts’ musings on COVID-19 experience
We started thinking about the implications of the coronavirus pandemic on our families, businesses, clients and country when Asia’s cases began to multiply at an incredible speed.
Trade and commerce had already been affected in Ghana, families were desperate to have their loved ones back home, entrepreneurs had been held back in Asia because of government directives affecting flights; the world had started slowing down.
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When Europe and the US became hard-hit, it was obvious that this virus could cripple the world. Now Africa is facing the brunt and the world is watching and waiting.
In the midst of the epidemic, we have seen an incredible surge in medical and clinical support in almost every country across the globe.
Medical facilities are being stretched over and above their capacities and medical staff are overworked. This has left the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the world’s superpowers in limbo.
We congratulate our researchers, doctors, nurses, virologists, pharmacists, radiologists, paramedics and all medical personnel who are working to save lives and find a cure for COVID-19. The world is indeed indebted to you!
Communicators alert!
Thinking about this pandemic and all the anxiety surrounding it, fuelled by fake news and the sheer fear-mongering going around, we wish to celebrate public relations (PR) and communication professionals as well.
As PR consultants, we see the time-consuming efforts that are going into the communication of this global crisis.
This is because PR professionals are the official custodians of effective communication; the management of information between organisations and their stakeholders, as well as facilitators of the mutual relationship that exist between them.
The truth is, ignorance kills and a sure way to fight this pandemic is to arm everyone with information. Many of us are, therefore, playing the frontier roles in ensuring that the public has access to timely, reliable and transparent information about COVID -19.
Peak
Since the outbreak of COVID-19, PR professionals in government and other institutions have been working tirelessly around the clock, liaising with medical professionals and decision-makers, utilising every communication technique and channel to package information about it.
We are churning out, on the hour, press releases, posters, flyers, notices, announcements, granting interviews, producing media briefs, organising press conferences, responding to media enquiries, producing podcasts, videos, audios, social media content and one-on-one engagement materials.
Consulting for consultant!
A crisis situation is a PR professional’s worst nightmare. When you work in a PR agency like we do, handling a crisis situation for all your clients at the same time is crazy!
We are confronted with our own individual crisis and those of our clients. The good thing is, we had a COVID-19 policy just before the first case was announced in Ghana. Within 24 hours, we had equipped our offices with all the personal hygiene products needed to prevent the virus from spreading.
Four days after, we equipped our staff to enable us to work remotely.
Working from home may be a little expensive, but necessary. Everyone has access to data and we deploy audio and video conferencing tools to have meetings and brainstorming sessions.
So far, we have had to provide communication support for clients who have cancelled big events and projects, had COVID-19 cases in their organisations and developed communication strategies for public education, internal and external communication, social media content, among others.
Decisions: in & post
In the midst of this human crisis, organisations must still keep an eye on their bottom line for the collective interests and financial security of governments, shareholders, investors, employees, vendors and society as a whole.
In this regard, organisations are having to take extremely tough decisions to keep businesses afloat when the world bids COVID-19 farewell, by cutting down or stopping production lines altogether, compelling employees to take unpaid leaves or in some cases, laying off staff.
Kudos communicators!
So while we grapple with communicating the endless information about COVID-19, we, along with other PR professionals elsewhere, are having to, simultaneously, counsel, advise and support our clients to communicate these unpleasant decisions in a manner that safeguards their cherished relationships with their stakeholders and protects their reputation and bottom line, but importantly, secures the future for all, post-COVID-19.
The battle is far from over for PR professionals. When this crisis blows over, we will be burning the midnight oil, strategising how to help individuals, families, organisations, institutions and nations to navigate the phenomenal changes to come post-COVID-19.
In the meantime, we doff our hats to all PR and communications colleagues the world over and the many other unseen and unsung heroes of these challenging times!
The writers are Founding Partners, Mahogany Consult
