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Most PR firms have an issues and crisis management department. There are a couple of scenarios: “ongoing consultations” which tend to be bread and butter work, providing counsel, helping a client prepare for different issues scenarios by developing a communication strategy and responses ahead of time - OR you get hired by the client once the issue/crisis is about to happen, and in some cases, after it’s already happened. These scenarios can range from disasters (airplane crashes, active shooters on premises, environmental disasters etc) to product recalls, social issues like working conditions, Unions, etc. Depending on the industry and the nature of the event, it can be mass communication to all stakeholders including the general public, or targeted to customers of the client only. Either way, it’s some combination of mitigating risk in the first place, to being prepared for potential issues that may or not be on the horizon - all with the goal of protecting the clients reputation. It’s a very cool field: the downside can be that you can’t easily plan for the timing of when an issue or incident might hit so at 11pm on a Sunday - you’re “on call”. It’s like a doctor: you’re kind of always on call - clients are patients with access to the emergency phone numbers. That’s not a typical scenario but it happens obviously. And issues teams are brilliant at handling these situations to ensure it’s a shared responsibility. To make the move from advertising to crisis Comms, there would need to be some kind of training but it’s possible to do it. If you’re very early on in your career, it might mean taking a temporary step back to start more entry level. If you have a bunch of years already, you should find a course to study. You can even offer to do side projects where you are by approaching your Comms director and letting them know you’d like to get involved bc it’s an area of interest. I can’t tell you how many times that PR firms are called in as a direct result of an advance campaign that’s caused significant controversy and broken through to become headline news - so there’s a way for you now to be looking at work in your field through that lens.
THANK YOU so much for this thorough breakdown! i sincerely appreciate it. super helpful
Always on call, that’s the downside