Brands should continually examine their communications strategies and shift appropriately to manage national, geopolitical and socio-political issues. Cultural shifts are all but guaranteed in any year, but this will be especially true in 2025 as the new White House administration takes office. Communications strategies that work today may not work months from now because employee and society’s attitudes may change tomorrow.
A Constant Flux
We’re all being exposed to multiple crises at any given time – consider these key stats
- There are currently seven global conflicts with a significant impact on the U.S. and five with a critical impact (Center for Preventative Action). According to the Global Peace Index, we’re seeing the most countries engaged in conflict since World War II.
- There’s been a rise in $1B+ disasters. There have been 39 since 2023 alone, which is more than the 37 there were between 1980 and 1990 (USAFacts via NOAA).
Tensions are already high, and several of the Trump administration’s campaign promises, like DEI scrutiny, tough immigration and border policy, and rollbacks of employment protection rules introduced by the Biden administration could put additional emotional, physical or financial strain on your key stakeholders.
As these public policies and external forces take shape, you need to be prepared in advance to determine how – if at all – your company will respond or act.
Here are the steps we’ve developed to ensure we’ve got our clients covered.
1. Gather the Right Team, in Advance
A social issues response framework team should involve team members from the C-suite, communications, legal, HR, and more. This is not a one-person job. There’s a reason INK clients pull us in to help guide them through this process. It’s a tough one. We work with our clients to assemble the right people, to discuss all possible issues that could affect the brand and determine the best path forward in advance. The key phrase here is “in advance.” We do not have to wait for emerging situations to become issues before making a plan.
2. Identify Stakeholder Groups
Employees. Because employees are a company’s most significant and often most vocal stakeholders, it is crucial to prioritize employee communications when issues arise. You should also realize what your company says – or doesn’t say – can speak volumes. Employers that assume they have more leeway now than they did during 2020/2021’s Great Talent Migration-era should rethink their current dynamic. If inflation rates continue to decline and companies set their sights on affordable growth, companies will begin hiring again, and employees will have the power to pick their employer of choice again.
Customers. There’s a reason purpose-driven messaging resonates with customers, even in B2B markets. Customers work with vendors they can trust, and that align to their mission. When a national, geopolitical or societal issue occurs, you should consider impact to customers and whether or not you have a responsibility to them to address it.
Communities. In some cases, companies might have large tertiary communities, like online communities (technical users, readers, viewers, etc.). Other companies might have a significant presence in a physical community. These stakeholders’ opinions and experiences matter to your company. Even if they aren’t a revenue-based audience, they can have a significant impact on your brand reputation, which can affect your bottom line over time.
Partners. It’s critical to maintain good relationships with the companies that help expand your distribution and sales networks or technology and product capabilities. Partners have to consider all of the above stakeholders in their communications strategies, as well and if your brand reputation takes a hit, your partnerships are at stake.
3. Align on Issues
To determine how aligned a brand is to an issue, INK takes clients through a set of questions, tailored to the specific hypothetical (but realistic) issues. From there, we determine what type of actions our client should adopt in response to issues and build out engagement plans. Being prepared is key to responding quickly and protecting brand reputations.
Our questionnaire breaks down issues management into the following common exposure categories:
- Cultural movements
- Geopolitical crises and war
- Climate, extreme weather events: Hurricanes, floods, wildfires, etc.
- National and domestic violence
- Political, infrastructure issues
- Health and community crises
4. Plan for Action and Inaction
The issues brands face can be complex with significantly different communications strategies. There will be occasions where you should respond prominently and others where you should listen or encourage meaningful discussion from others. INK organizes client response types into three main categories.
- Leaders are companies that are significantly impacted in more than one way by an issue and could be one of the first to take action. These companies are likely to do a number of the following: issue public statements; write to customers and partners; issue internal comms; make policy or structural changes to their business; lobby or get involved at the federal or state level; enact community engagement, charity or public affairs programs; etc.
- Followers are companies that have been at least partially impacted by an issue and have decided to take action but will take a more cautious or slow approach. These companies will follow other major industry or community leaders in addressing the issue publicly; they’ll more than likely issue internal communications and select customer or partner communications; and they may participate in charitable giving or reinforce existing policies or programs in relation to the issue.
- Listeners are companies that have determined a response is not in alignment with their brand but realize employees may be impacted on a personal level. These brands don’t comment publicly but do take steps to ensure employees are heard and channels are open for feedback and support.
5. Map Out Impact Segments
When a brand decides to take any action, even if it’s just to make a statement of support, you must be prepared to answer the following questions:
- How are we making meaningful change in response to this issue?
- What is our call to action?
There are four key segments through which a brand can meaningfully impact issues that must be considered:
- employees
- professional and regional communities
- the environment
- legislation
To help clients see where they have coverage and gaps, INK works with multiple teams from our clients’ businesses to identify what programs and initiatives they have in place. Understanding where your company is well-positioned to impact an issue, and where there are gaps, can help you determine when to adopt a Listener role and where to focus efforts to close those gaps, ultimately positioning your company to take a stronger Leader role.
The When is Now
There’s no better time like the present to get started. It may take anywhere from weeks to months to get a social issues response framework plan fully in place, depending on their team’s size and resources. You’ll want to have a plan in place before we get too far into next year. Reach out now to see how INK can help.
