Repositioning Language to Calm and Reassure

As PR professionals, we’re often contacted when an award or recognition has been or will be received, occasions that our clients consider opportunities to celebrate. It’s not unusual to receive an email or a text saying “We need a news release” or “Let’s hold a news conference,” especially when the recognition helps differentiate the company from its competitors. 

In the health care world, one such opportunity arrives with accreditations, which are signs of quality and can be important considerations in patients’ decision-making. While earning or maintaining a particular accreditation can lead to a nice, feel-good story, it’s a completely different scenario when a health care provider loses an accreditation or other previously touted accolade.

Veteran communicators know that attempting to ignore an unpleasant situation is one of the worst things to do. When we don’t tell our own stories, someone else will tell them for us. Even when unexpected media coverage is positive or neutral in tone, it’s still a lost opportunity to have had the organization’s leaders and subject-matter experts reassure constituents that the organization is doing a good job. 

This scenario befell another health care provider in our state. It had lost an accreditation, but rather than try to mitigate the damage to its reputation, seemingly opted to accept fate and wait it out. We watched as the storm blew through, and TV-news outlets broadcast B-roll footage of locked doors with hastily handwritten signs indicating that some sort of problem had occurred. 

We later had a similar situation occur and while it was temporary in nature, we took a different approach and achieved a different outcome as a result. The steps below, which can be modified based on your organization and industry, are general enough to use as starting points when you face a reputational crisis.

Have an overall plan.

When a reputational crisis hits your organization, maintaining employee morale can be a challenge. Situations are oftentimes further complicated by restrictions from well-intentioned colleagues (think legal and compliance) on messaging for both internal and external stakeholders.

Managing the perceptions of multiple audiences during a crisis is easier said than done, but it can be accomplished through proactive outreach and open dialogue. Key to a successful outcome is the development of a comprehensive communications plan that contains a unified strategy and addresses diverse needs. 

Determine who you need to reach.

As a first step, we assessed all of our stakeholders to determine which ones might be affected by the closure. During this phase, we considered the needs of those we serve directly (our patients) but also remembered the other entities that had a vested interested in our organization and its success. 

Pro tip: Avoid the temptation to focus only on the “squeaky wheels.”

As we talked through explaining and defending the situation, we thought about who our biggest allies were — and which ones we could turn to as unofficial ambassadors to help us spread a positive message. 

Develop a crisis-specific strategy.

After collecting and processing all of the pertinent background information, the next step is to consider the situation’s nonnegotiable factors. 

We knew we would be required to write a letter to a regulatory agency about the temporary closure and to send it by certified mail. We also knew that our letter would have to minimize the negativity of the situation.

We opted to position the temporary closure as a necessary step and small component of a larger initiative, which was to upgrade and improve health care services across the entire region. At this point in the game, you need to find positive things your organization is doing that might counteract the negative.

Make a commitment.

In our time of distress, we moved forward and provided a series of updates on our progress. We shared those messages broadly with our audiences. We used our social channels, intranet and online newsroom for the media. 

One of the biggest reasons our efforts succeeded was that we had leveraged subject matter experts and provided them with scripts and talking points so they could offer genuine yet consistent messages on demand and across their networks. 

Pro tip: People in your organization generally want to help during a crisis. Give them a job to do. 

Part of our strategy was to identify and coach brand ambassadors who would help us spread our message. Brand ambassador programs can be effective in times of crisis and over long durations.

When we lost our accreditation and our facility was closed for seven months, we pushed out ongoing and positive messages. We thanked those we serve for understanding, and expressed our excitement about the upgrades that lay ahead. For patients who couldn’t wait for appointments, we employed a navigator who connected them to other local resources. 

When our facility reopened, we received excellent media coverage and social media amplification. In the long term, we not only retained our former patient volume, but actually increased it, with an average of 68 new patients coming in for services each month.  

Timing is everything in communication, and communicating early is always better. Words matter, of course, so choose yours carefully to balance a potentially negative situation with positive news or things to look forward to in the future.

Make sure to align all of your content. When in doubt, circle back to the original strategy you set and confirm that your deliverables support that overarching goal.  

Karen Brodbeck is vice president of brand management for OSF HealthCare in Peoria, Ill.

Diane Schuette is the company’s vice president of marketing strategy and operations.


photo credit: dina belenko