For week three of Cision’s webinar series, Best Practices for Brand Communications in Times of Uncertainty, the company’s expert Insights Team share its learnings on COVID-19 media trends. Learnings included coverage on the most frequently discussed markets, topics, industries and companies, as well as exploring predictions for when PR and comms pros can start preparing for a re-entry into “normal” product and brand communications activities.
Clarifying the focus of the webinar, Cision chief insights officer Mark Weiner said,
“We’re tracking media trends; we’re not commenting [on] or predicting anything about the rate of infection.”
Weiner adds that these reports and their findings are directional, not statistically significant.
Some key takeaways from the webinar include:
- Plan for a pivot point: There will be a local “Goldilocks window” for brands when the time is right to re-enter the market; it may be coming sooner than you think. To find it, monitor both cases and media coverage relative to your industry.
- While waiting for these windows, continue with a COVID-19 related strategy emphasizing community and workforce enablement. The tech industry, for example, has been the second-largest in terms of media coverage because of the contributions of tech companies in this unprecedented time.
- Look to China, which is several weeks ahead of the U.S. in its pandemic response, to see how brands crafted communications as restrictions eased.
- Prepare content now for later phases of the pandemic; hold off sharing any product news.
Attending the #Cision – 'Best Practice for Brand Communications in Times of Uncertainty' webinar.
The model below shows new phases of communication enforced by the COVID-19 crisis. pic.twitter.com/aghKqi3pI8
— MikkiMoscara (@moscara_mikki) April 2, 2020
Attending the #Cision – 'Best Practice for Brand Communications in Times of Uncertainty' webinar.
The image below demonstrates phase III of Cisions post crisis communications model. Insights suggest an expedited rise in "contactless" products and services. pic.twitter.com/liPrb7bHBB
— MikkiMoscara (@moscara_mikki) April 2, 2020
We apologize again for the technical difficulties our webinar platform experienced during the live broadcast that made it impossible for many who registered to join. They were out of our control and we are working with our partner to ensure it does not happen again. Thank you for your patience, and you can now find the recording here, as well as on our COVID-19 resource page.
As always, we hope you are staying healthy and safe and please let us know if there is anything we can do to help you during this time.
