Back to business as quickly as possible.
In any crisis, Sabo PR has a single goal: Help your organization get back to business as usual as quickly as possible – with as little damage to your bottom line and reputation as possible.
Central to effective crisis communications is the ability to identify and prioritize key stakeholders and to craft messages that address their concerns. In any crisis, an organization should communicate with a single voice – and it should communicate openly, honestly and regularly with its most important audiences.
A Tried & Tested Approach
In crisis situations, Sabo PR works closely with senior management, legal counsel, forensic accountants and insurance carriers to ensure our communication advice aligns with your best interests. Our training and background in strategic communications allows us to quickly identify key issues and translate them appropriately for each set of stakeholders, from board members and employees to donors and community neighbors. We are fast and clean writers accustomed to producing spot-on content under tight deadlines.
We’ll work swiftly to identify stakeholders, determine appropriate communication vehicles, establish timelines and responsibilities to ensure no step falls through the cracks. We cover all the bases, from talking points for frontline team members answering questions and letters to employees to social media posts and press releases – and everything in between.
We then monitor traditional and social media and provide real-time updates. When needed, we adjust or amplify messaging to respond to new information and changing scenarios. We encourage a post-incident debrief so we can review and discuss what went well – and what needs room for improvement.
Exceptional Results
- Swift return to business as usual
- Message management
- Employee, customer, donor retention
- Preservation of brand, reputation
- Reduced media exposure
- Minimized impact
Our Crisis Experience
Our founder, Mary Ann Sabo, started her professional career as the youngest News Bureau Director for a University of Tennessee campus – and nearly immediately was faced with the murder of a student. The institution’s poor response forged her decision to become better prepared to deal with the unexpected.
This was strengthened by her tenure as an award-winning business reporter for a major daily newspaper in Michigan – and honed by work on the other side of the desk, leading clients through heart-stopping, show-stopping and reputation-bending crisis situations for the past 25 years.
The team at Sabo PR has a combined 65 years of experience in crisis management and issues management, providing effective communications counsel to organizations working in – and beyond – Grand Rapids and West Michigan.
Crises Managed
- Global pandemic
- Mass shooting
- Employee injuries, suicides and deaths
- Sexual assault, harassment and misconduct
- Data breaches and ransomware attacks
- Workplace violence, including kidnappings
- Mergers, acquisitions and sales
- Layoffs and facility closures
- Executive departures
- Natural disasters
- High-profile litigation
- Utility interruptions and failures
- Child pornography
- Environmental contamination
- Embezzlement and financial misdeeds
- Misappropriation of public funds
- Social media attacks
- Online trolls and in-person community activists
- Cyberbullying
- Proxy fights
- Clergy sex abuse
- Community protests
- Union drives
- Employee whistleblowers
- Product recalls
- Threats of violence
- Zoning issues
Industries Served
- Accounting
- Arts
- Banks and credit unions
- Colleges and universities
- Construction
- Faith-based organizations
- Food processors
- Health care
- Insurance
- K-12 schools
- Law
- Manufacturers, including auto suppliers
- Municipalities
- Nonprofits
- Real estate
- Retail
- Senior living
- Trade associations
"You’re in the sidecar with us. You’re the best part of my day sometimes. You’re the reassuring voice on the other end of the phone."
"I want to sincerely thank you for your guidance, expertise and calming effect during what has been a very difficult week. Knowing you all have experience in dealing with these situations has been very comforting and helpful."
"If I have an issue, you’re the first person I call."
"I wanted to express my gratitude to you in offering advice, guidance and friendship during this difficult year. You will never know how much I appreciated being able to count on you when I was needing a calm voice in the midst of the storm."
"My finger knows your phone number by heart."