Sept. 22, 2025
Communicating in the Era of Everyday is a Crisis
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That Solo Life, Episode 314: Communicating in the Era of Everyday is a CrisisEpisode Summary
In today's highly charged environment, even the most innocent business decision can spark a public relations crisis. For solo PR practitioners, staying ahead of potential firestorms is more crucial than ever. In this episode, hosts Karen Swim and Michelle Kane discuss practical strategies for helping clients navigate the minefields of public perception. They explore why it's essential to be the "little black cloud" that keeps clients aware of current events and public sentiment, even when clients are siloed in their own industries. Learn how to proactively prepare for controversy, from price increases to rebranding efforts, by developing a playbook, using AI for efficient research, and maintaining open lines of communication with the C-suite. Discover how building a foundation of trust and community with your publics can be your greatest asset when a crisis inevitably hits.
Episode Highlights- [00:51] How to help clients navigate decisions, from the mundane to the major, in a world where public perception is highly sensitive.
- [02:05] Recognizing that all sides of a polarized public are part of your audience and the challenge this presents for communicators.
- [03:51] Using AI and other tools to efficiently monitor trends and public sentiment without getting overwhelmed.
- [04:37] A practical tip: creating a weekly "pulse check" newsletter for clients to gauge their perspectives on trending topics and build a bank of potential responses.
- [06:13] The importance of knowing what's happening on social media to anticipate potential reactions to your client's actions.
- [07:22] Why it's critical for PR pros to have a direct line to the C-suite to proactively prepare for potentially controversial business plans.
- [07:49] A real-world example: how to start preparing now for a future price increase to mitigate backlash.
- [11:02] The power of de-escalation and nurturing community relationships on a daily basis, not just during campaigns.
- [11:44] Drawing lessons from the classic Tylenol case study on how establishing trust can pay dividends for decades.
In this episode, Karen and Michelle discuss the importance of being prepared for any situation. While no specific resources were mentioned, staying informed is key. We recommend using tools like Google Alerts or other media monitoring services to keep a pulse on trends relevant to your clients.
Host & Show InfoThat Solo Life is a podcast created for public relations, communication, and marketing professionals who work as independent and small practitioners. Hosted by Karen Swim, APR, founder of Words For Hire and President of Solo PR, and Michelle Kane, Principal of Voice Matters, the show delivers expert insights, encouragement, and advice for solo PR pros navigating today’s dynamic professional landscape.
Did this episode resonate with you? Don't keep it to yourself! Share it with a fellow PR pro who needs to hear it. Head over to SoloPRPro.com to join the conversation, and be sure to subscribe and leave us a review on your favorite podcast platform. Your feedback helps us grow and support more solo practitioners just like you.
That Solo Life, Episode 314: Communicating in the Era of Everyday is a Crisis
Michelle Kane (00:18):
Thank you for joining us for this episode of That Solo Life, the podcast for PR pros and marketers who work for themselves, people like me, Michelle Kane, with Voice Matters, and my wonderful co-host, Karen Swim of Solo PR Pro. Here we are, Karen. I'm so excited. This is always a high point of my week.
Karen Swim, APR (00:35):
Oh, good morning, Michelle. Mine too. I am delighted to be here. Delighted to still be standing. Yay
Michelle Kane (00:42):
Furiously, right? I mean, that kind of brings us right to our topic. It's wild out there. I think a good thing for us as PR practitioners is to just, I mean, we know this, right? Always be ready, but especially in these heightened times, how can we help our clients navigate even what might seem like the most banal of decisions from the minutiae to the big stuff and how that might be perceived? I know sometimes I feel like we're dancing through the minefields of perception and everything, and how can we stand by our clients during these times and help them to realize, I know some, it's like what times you think, oh dear,
Karen Swim, APR (01:32):
Well, yes, you are absolutely right. We are living in very charged times, and we made it through a pandemic, and we all learned that having a toolkit and a playbook to deal with that. This feels a little bit different because we have so many divergent opinions and people tend to walk in offense. They are ready to jump on the attack and defend the opposite position of whatever you do. And as communicators, those people, all of those people on every side form for our publics. And so I think it's helpful that we start to proactively think about not just being ready for the typical crises, but really considering every day there could be a crisis from something, as you said, that's completely benign. Something that seems so innocent can turn into something else, and we have to really be ready for that.
Michelle Kane (02:36):
And it's a balance. You can't be so overly sensitive to everything that you just become paralyzed. But I think sometimes it's surprising when you might speak with either colleagues or clients, and they're just not aware of how charged it is out there. And I think it's on us, again, to be that black cloud of, we have to pay attention to what's going on in current events and really in public sentiment, so we can best advise. And that's not always the most mentally healthy way for us to live our lives, but here we are in this profession. But it's essential. I mean, like we were talking about off-air, look at the Cracker Barrel re rebrand, rather, who knew that would blow up the way it did? I'm like, okay.
Karen Swim, APR (03:32):
And it went from people have always been really passionate about what brands do. That's not new, but it went from brand passion to politics. And I don't know that anyone saw that coming. So we want to offer you some tools and some tips, our insights, and we'd love to hear if you have any. I think one thing, Michelle, you talked about taking a temperature check and really knowing what's going on. So you do not have to mire yourself in reading 10,000. Well, there's not even 10,000 newspapers, but you don't have to spend hours every day reading newspapers or industry newsletters. You can certainly scan them, but this is where AI can be truly effective for you by tracking a topic and a trend that is relevant to your clients. And so taking a pulse check every day, take that a step further and set up something with your clients where you take a pulse of their read on what's happening so you can share with them.
(04:39):
You can do a newsletter, and again, AI can do this for you. Pull the top trends, top three trends of the week, put it into a newsletter for your clients, and say, what's your feeling about this? We used to do this as part of our weekly report for a client where we would share trendy news topics relevant to them, and then we would have a question for the executives so that in their weekly meetings, they could discuss it and they could share their feedback with us. And then we could take that feedback and we could use it for pitching, use it to inform our media relations outreach. But even if you don't use it for outreach, this is a good way to have that bank of what your executives might say in a crisis related to current events, which is really important because you want to be prepared for anything that could harm the reputation of your client or that could be misconstrued. So this is being forearmed is being forewarned, or is it the other way? Forewarned is forearmed. Okay. Forewarned is forearmed. Yes, indeed. You got it. I got that quote. You got it. Yes,
(05:52):
You're forewarned. And then you can be forearmed. So you'll be prepared proactively.
Michelle Kane (05:57):
Yeah, yeah. And I would say even don't get mired in social media, but take a glance at trending topics on the various channels. Find out what people are all fired up about this week or this hour or this moment. Because there's going to be something. And if it touches on your client's world, you need to know so you don't take the wrong step. And again, I'm not saying to say we act out of fear, but just know what might happen if you make a certain move, and just to be ready for it, you can either stand in your truth and say, Nope, this is what we're doing and this is why. And you'll either come around or you won't or you'll zag. And I think that's so important because let's face it as well, sometimes our clients are so, for lack of a better word, siloed. They're so encompassed in their industry and their world that they don't have the bandwidth to do that temperature read or really, and it probably wouldn't make sense to them anyway. Why are people thinking that? And most times, they're absolutely correct. Sometimes these, most times these firestorms are not logical or sensible or even truly fact-based oftentimes. So it's just important to be that resource.
Karen Swim, APR (07:22):
I agree. And as strategic counselors, I think more than ever, it's so important to ensure that you have a direct communication line to the C-suite, and that as they're planning, you want to make sure that you see their plans too, that they share the organizational plans with you so that you can proactively prepare them for anything that could be controversial. For example, everybody is raising prices, services, products. Everyone is, if your client is planning to raise prices because of economic factors influencing them, and this is going to happen in January, 2026, now is the time to start preparing your Publix and thinking about the messaging and having statements ready, having proof points ready, and making sure that you are digging deeper into audience engagement and loyalty and branding to prepare for any backlash that might occur. Because some people will not be happy no matter how satisfied they are with your brand.
(08:28):
So you want to start thinking about things far in advance because that is going to help you to help your clients to navigate through that. So planning is at the top of the list, having a playbook ready to go, making sure that you're vetting those things with clients in advance, making sure that you're having these open discussions, that you're keeping them aware of issues. All of these things are so important, does not mean that the crisis will not hit, but I think in these times, we all know that what we're really trying to do is just keep the boat from sinking. So you're riding the waves, you're going to be challenged no matter what you say. God bless Tabitha Brown. She advised people that if they're struggling in their business, there's no shame in getting a job, and suddenly there was an onslaught of hate that was leveled at her.
(09:22):
So even if you are saying something that is positive or innocent or sharing a piece of data like vetted scientific data, someone will be angry. But as communicators, again, we have a responsibility to our clients, but we also have a responsibility to our publics. So in order to communicate through this, because you're not going to win everyone. Preparation is your friend and documenting things, having systems, using AI to do research for you and keep you informed so that you're efficient with your time, but you're staying on top of it. Because none of us can know everything.
Michelle Kane (10:04):
No, we can't. And to your point, no one is going to be happy with everything. You're not going to please everybody ever. So you're always going to get pushback. Most times it will probably be in pushback, incorrectly based pushback,
(10:23):
And you just have to make sure your clients are okay with that. I mean, I recently reached out to a couple of people who made their very strong opinions known on my client's social media that they did not like an event. That was not our event. We were part of it. So I put on my sunshine and gave 'em a call and invited them to our thing, but it just cracked me up to the lengths they went to. One left a very deeply placed voicemail, and I thought, wow, that really took energy. Lemme give them a call.
Karen Swim, APR (10:59):
Unfortunately, people are angry, so we have to understand that and we can lower the temperature totally. We can deescalate things again by being prepared and by making sure that you're caretaking for your audiences on a daily basis. I mean, I think that this is really important. I think that we have to nurture those relationships with our publics. That's not something that you can leave to the side for campaigns. It's something that should be ongoing. What ways can you foster community? What ways can you continue to demonstrate who you are as a company and that you truly do care for the people that choose to utilize your services or by your goods? That's key.
Michelle Kane (11:43):
Yeah, I mean that establishment of trust, as innocuous as it may seem at the time, kind of boring, who cares? Well ask Tylenol right now. Tylenol is kind of under attack, and I don't know about everyone out there, but if you recall when they had the tampering crisis, was that the seventies, eighties, and suddenly they went to great lengths to protect their product and now we all have to fight to get into pill bottles. But that established trust, I think, still speaks for them today with these allegations of wait, that company that actually spent more money to make their product safe on the shelves.
Karen Swim, APR (12:25):
That was a huge crisis and a huge moment. And it's a classic case study when you're studying for your a PR. It's because sometimes the most horrific things happen. And we know that personally, and we know that professionally. But planning and being able to navigate through that can also be one of the most satisfying moments in your career. When you deal with those rough situations and you get to the other side, it is very rewarding to know that you had a hand in strategically navigating it.
Michelle Kane (12:59):
So true, so true. Well, we hope you've gotten something out of this today. I know we always do when we do these podcasts. Amazingly podcast. And please let us know at solopro.com. Please share this around, give us some reviews. We would love that. Hit us with your feedback. We can take it. And until next time, thanks for listening to That Solo Life.
Transcribing live conversations can be tricky, so please be forgiving of any typos or errors that you find. Love something here and want to share? Great, please read on.
You are more than welcome to share the transcript (up to 500 words) in media articles (e.g., PR News, O’Dwyers), on your personal website, in a non-commercial article or blog post (e.g., Substack), and/or on a personal social media account for non-commercial purposes, provided that you include attribution to “That Solo Life” and link back to the soloprpro/podcast URL. For the sake of clarity, media outlets with advertising models are permitted to use excerpts from the transcript per the above.
But please note that no one is authorized to copy any portion of the podcast content or use That Solo Life’s name, image or likeness for any commercial purpose or use, including without limitation inclusion in any books, e-books, book summaries or synopses, or on a commercial website or social media site (e.g., Facebook, X, Instagram, etc.) that offers or promotes your or another’s products or services. Got questions? Email us at info@soloprpro.com.
Michelle Kane (00:18):
Thank you for joining us for this episode of That Solo Life, the podcast for PR pros and marketers who work for themselves, people like me, Michelle Kane, with Voice Matters, and my wonderful co-host, Karen Swim of Solo PR Pro. Here we are, Karen. I'm so excited. This is always a high point of my week.
Karen Swim, APR (00:35):
Oh, good morning, Michelle. Mine too. I am delighted to be here. Delighted to still be standing. Yay
Michelle Kane (00:42):
Furiously, right? I mean, that kind of brings us right to our topic. It's wild out there. I think a good thing for us as PR practitioners is to just, I mean, we know this, right? Always be ready, but especially in these heightened times, how can we help our clients navigate even what might seem like the most banal of decisions from the minutiae to the big stuff and how that might be perceived? I know sometimes I feel like we're dancing through the minefields of perception and everything, and how can we stand by our clients during these times and help them to realize, I know some, it's like what times you think, oh dear,
Karen Swim, APR (01:32):
Well, yes, you are absolutely right. We are living in very charged times, and we made it through a pandemic, and we all learned that having a toolkit and a playbook to deal with that. This feels a little bit different because we have so many divergent opinions and people tend to walk in offense. They are ready to jump on the attack and defend the opposite position of whatever you do. And as communicators, those people, all of those people on every side form for our publics. And so I think it's helpful that we start to proactively think about not just being ready for the typical crises, but really considering every day there could be a crisis from something, as you said, that's completely benign. Something that seems so innocent can turn into something else, and we have to really be ready for that.
Michelle Kane (02:36):
And it's a balance. You can't be so overly sensitive to everything that you just become paralyzed. But I think sometimes it's surprising when you might speak with either colleagues or clients, and they're just not aware of how charged it is out there. And I think it's on us, again, to be that black cloud of, we have to pay attention to what's going on in current events and really in public sentiment, so we can best advise. And that's not always the most mentally healthy way for us to live our lives, but here we are in this profession. But it's essential. I mean, like we were talking about off-air, look at the Cracker Barrel re rebrand, rather, who knew that would blow up the way it did? I'm like, okay.
Karen Swim, APR (03:32):
And it went from people have always been really passionate about what brands do. That's not new, but it went from brand passion to politics. And I don't know that anyone saw that coming. So we want to offer you some tools and some tips, our insights, and we'd love to hear if you have any. I think one thing, Michelle, you talked about taking a temperature check and really knowing what's going on. So you do not have to mire yourself in reading 10,000. Well, there's not even 10,000 newspapers, but you don't have to spend hours every day reading newspapers or industry newsletters. You can certainly scan them, but this is where AI can be truly effective for you by tracking a topic and a trend that is relevant to your clients. And so taking a pulse check every day, take that a step further and set up something with your clients where you take a pulse of their read on what's happening so you can share with them.
(04:39):
You can do a newsletter, and again, AI can do this for you. Pull the top trends, top three trends of the week, put it into a newsletter for your clients, and say, what's your feeling about this? We used to do this as part of our weekly report for a client where we would share trendy news topics relevant to them, and then we would have a question for the executives so that in their weekly meetings, they could discuss it and they could share their feedback with us. And then we could take that feedback and we could use it for pitching, use it to inform our media relations outreach. But even if you don't use it for outreach, this is a good way to have that bank of what your executives might say in a crisis related to current events, which is really important because you want to be prepared for anything that could harm the reputation of your client or that could be misconstrued. So this is being forearmed is being forewarned, or is it the other way? Forewarned is forearmed. Okay. Forewarned is forearmed. Yes, indeed. You got it. I got that quote. You got it. Yes,
(05:52):
You're forewarned. And then you can be forearmed. So you'll be prepared proactively.
Michelle Kane (05:57):
Yeah, yeah. And I would say even don't get mired in social media, but take a glance at trending topics on the various channels. Find out what people are all fired up about this week or this hour or this moment. Because there's going to be something. And if it touches on your client's world, you need to know so you don't take the wrong step. And again, I'm not saying to say we act out of fear, but just know what might happen if you make a certain move, and just to be ready for it, you can either stand in your truth and say, Nope, this is what we're doing and this is why. And you'll either come around or you won't or you'll zag. And I think that's so important because let's face it as well, sometimes our clients are so, for lack of a better word, siloed. They're so encompassed in their industry and their world that they don't have the bandwidth to do that temperature read or really, and it probably wouldn't make sense to them anyway. Why are people thinking that? And most times, they're absolutely correct. Sometimes these, most times these firestorms are not logical or sensible or even truly fact-based oftentimes. So it's just important to be that resource.
Karen Swim, APR (07:22):
I agree. And as strategic counselors, I think more than ever, it's so important to ensure that you have a direct communication line to the C-suite, and that as they're planning, you want to make sure that you see their plans too, that they share the organizational plans with you so that you can proactively prepare them for anything that could be controversial. For example, everybody is raising prices, services, products. Everyone is, if your client is planning to raise prices because of economic factors influencing them, and this is going to happen in January, 2026, now is the time to start preparing your Publix and thinking about the messaging and having statements ready, having proof points ready, and making sure that you are digging deeper into audience engagement and loyalty and branding to prepare for any backlash that might occur. Because some people will not be happy no matter how satisfied they are with your brand.
(08:28):
So you want to start thinking about things far in advance because that is going to help you to help your clients to navigate through that. So planning is at the top of the list, having a playbook ready to go, making sure that you're vetting those things with clients in advance, making sure that you're having these open discussions, that you're keeping them aware of issues. All of these things are so important, does not mean that the crisis will not hit, but I think in these times, we all know that what we're really trying to do is just keep the boat from sinking. So you're riding the waves, you're going to be challenged no matter what you say. God bless Tabitha Brown. She advised people that if they're struggling in their business, there's no shame in getting a job, and suddenly there was an onslaught of hate that was leveled at her.
(09:22):
So even if you are saying something that is positive or innocent or sharing a piece of data like vetted scientific data, someone will be angry. But as communicators, again, we have a responsibility to our clients, but we also have a responsibility to our publics. So in order to communicate through this, because you're not going to win everyone. Preparation is your friend and documenting things, having systems, using AI to do research for you and keep you informed so that you're efficient with your time, but you're staying on top of it. Because none of us can know everything.
Michelle Kane (10:04):
No, we can't. And to your point, no one is going to be happy with everything. You're not going to please everybody ever. So you're always going to get pushback. Most times it will probably be in pushback, incorrectly based pushback,
(10:23):
And you just have to make sure your clients are okay with that. I mean, I recently reached out to a couple of people who made their very strong opinions known on my client's social media that they did not like an event. That was not our event. We were part of it. So I put on my sunshine and gave 'em a call and invited them to our thing, but it just cracked me up to the lengths they went to. One left a very deeply placed voicemail, and I thought, wow, that really took energy. Lemme give them a call.
Karen Swim, APR (10:59):
Unfortunately, people are angry, so we have to understand that and we can lower the temperature totally. We can deescalate things again by being prepared and by making sure that you're caretaking for your audiences on a daily basis. I mean, I think that this is really important. I think that we have to nurture those relationships with our publics. That's not something that you can leave to the side for campaigns. It's something that should be ongoing. What ways can you foster community? What ways can you continue to demonstrate who you are as a company and that you truly do care for the people that choose to utilize your services or by your goods? That's key.
Michelle Kane (11:43):
Yeah, I mean that establishment of trust, as innocuous as it may seem at the time, kind of boring, who cares? Well ask Tylenol right now. Tylenol is kind of under attack, and I don't know about everyone out there, but if you recall when they had the tampering crisis, was that the seventies, eighties, and suddenly they went to great lengths to protect their product and now we all have to fight to get into pill bottles. But that established trust, I think, still speaks for them today with these allegations of wait, that company that actually spent more money to make their product safe on the shelves.
Karen Swim, APR (12:25):
That was a huge crisis and a huge moment. And it's a classic case study when you're studying for your a PR. It's because sometimes the most horrific things happen. And we know that personally, and we know that professionally. But planning and being able to navigate through that can also be one of the most satisfying moments in your career. When you deal with those rough situations and you get to the other side, it is very rewarding to know that you had a hand in strategically navigating it.
Michelle Kane (12:59):
So true, so true. Well, we hope you've gotten something out of this today. I know we always do when we do these podcasts. Amazingly podcast. And please let us know at solopro.com. Please share this around, give us some reviews. We would love that. Hit us with your feedback. We can take it. And until next time, thanks for listening to That Solo Life.
Transcribing live conversations can be tricky, so please be forgiving of any typos or errors that you find. Love something here and want to share? Great, please read on.
You are more than welcome to share the transcript (up to 500 words) in media articles (e.g., PR News, O’Dwyers), on your personal website, in a non-commercial article or blog post (e.g., Substack), and/or on a personal social media account for non-commercial purposes, provided that you include attribution to “That Solo Life” and link back to the soloprpro/podcast URL. For the sake of clarity, media outlets with advertising models are permitted to use excerpts from the transcript per the above.
But please note that no one is authorized to copy any portion of the podcast content or use That Solo Life’s name, image or likeness for any commercial purpose or use, including without limitation inclusion in any books, e-books, book summaries or synopses, or on a commercial website or social media site (e.g., Facebook, X, Instagram, etc.) that offers or promotes your or another’s products or services. Got questions? Email us at info@soloprpro.com.