Stakeholder Communication During a Crisis

The Multi-Stakeholder Challenge

Crises don't affect stakeholders uniformly. Investors want to understand financial implications. Employees worry about job security. Customers need to know if services are affected. Regulators require specific information in prescribed formats. Managing these diverse needs simultaneously is among the most challenging aspects of crisis communications.

For listed companies, the stakeholder landscape is particularly complex. You're communicating with sophisticated institutional investors, retail shareholders, financial analysts, multiple regulatory bodies, employees across potentially many locations, customers, suppliers, and the public. Each group has different information needs, preferred channels, and response expectations.

Stakeholder Prioritisation

Not all stakeholders are equal in every crisis. Prioritisation depends on who is most affected, who can most influence outcomes, and who has the strongest claim on information.

Stakeholder GroupTypical Priority FactorsKey ConcernsInvestors/ShareholdersMaterial impact on valueFinancial implications, management responseRegulatorsCompliance obligationsDisclosure requirements, cooperationEmployeesDirectly affected by operationsJob security, safety, company futureCustomersService/product impactContinuity, safety, resolutionMediaPublic interest, narrative controlFacts, transparency, accessCommunitiesLocal impactSafety, environmental, economic effects

Prioritisation isn't about ignoring lower-priority groups. It's about sequencing and resource allocation when you can't do everything simultaneously. Even within priority tiers, timing often matters more than thoroughness.

Investor and Shareholder Communication

Investors in listed companies have legitimate expectations of timely, accurate information during crises. They're not just stakeholders. They're owners who need information to make decisions about their holdings.

Key principles for investor communication during crises include complying with disclosure rules so material information is announced through regulatory channels first, quantifying where possible since investors want to understand financial impact, explaining response actions and management timelines, maintaining regular updates rather than going silent between announcements, and making leadership visible as investors want to hear from executives directly.

Different investor types may need different approaches. Institutional investors often want detailed briefings. Retail investors may be reached more effectively through accessible content on social media and your website. At Corpcast, we help companies create investor-focused video content that communicates clearly to both audiences.

Regulatory Communication

Regulatory communication during crises is often mandatory rather than discretionary. Understanding your obligations and maintaining relationships with regulators is essential preparation.

For UK-listed companies, key regulatory considerations include MAR requirements for inside information disclosure, FCA notification requirements for specific events, exchange rules for listed securities, sector-specific regulators depending on your industry, and data protection authorities if personal data is involved.

Maintain open communication with regulators during crises. Proactive engagement typically produces better outcomes than minimum compliance. Regulators generally respond better to companies that contact them early with incomplete information than those that delay until they have complete answers.

Media Relations

Media coverage shapes public perception of your crisis response. Effective media relations doesn't mean controlling coverage. It means providing accurate information, appropriate access, and responsive engagement.

Media communication guidelines include designating official spokespeople and ensuring others defer to them, responding to enquiries promptly even if only to acknowledge receipt, providing factual information without speculation, making spokespeople available for interviews when appropriate, and correcting factual errors in coverage quickly and directly.

Financial media have particular requirements. They understand regulatory constraints and complex financial information. Building relationships with key financial journalists before crises occur makes communication easier when problems arise.

Employee Communication

Employees are stakeholders and potential communicators. How you communicate with them affects both their wellbeing and what they say to others about the company's response.

Employees should typically learn important news from the company before seeing it in media. This isn't always possible in fast-moving situations, but it should be the goal. Nothing undermines trust faster than employees discovering significant news from external sources.

Internal crisis communication should be timely and precede or run concurrent with external communications, acknowledge employee concerns directly, provide clear guidance on what employees should do, explain what employees can and cannot say externally, create channels for employee questions, and update regularly as the situation evolves.

Customer Communication

If crises affect products or services, customers need prompt, clear communication. The focus should be practical: what does this mean for them, and what should they do?

Customer communication priorities include service impact and duration, safety concerns requiring action, specific actions customers need to take, support channels for help or information, and resolution steps being taken to fix the problem.

For B2B companies, key account management becomes critical during crises. Important customers may need direct communication from senior relationships, not just general announcements.

Coordinating Multi-Stakeholder Communication

The greatest challenge is coordinating communications across all stakeholder groups simultaneously. Messages must be consistent while being tailored to different audiences. Timing must respect both regulatory requirements and stakeholder expectations.

Coordination mechanisms include central message development with audience adaptations, clear sequencing plans for who learns what and when, a single point of approval for all external communications, real-time tracking of what's been communicated to whom, and feedback loops to identify inconsistencies quickly.

Build these coordination mechanisms into your crisis plan before you need them. Trying to establish coordination processes during a crisis adds complexity when you can least afford it.

Post-Crisis Stakeholder Recovery

Stakeholder relationships often need active rebuilding after crises. The end of the immediate crisis isn't the end of stakeholder communication.

Recovery communication should acknowledge what happened, explain what's changed as a result, and demonstrate commitment to stakeholder relationships. Different stakeholder groups may need different recovery approaches based on how significantly they were affected.

Our team at Corpcast helps listed companies maintain effective stakeholder communications through crises and recovery. Contact hello@corpcast.co.uk to discuss how we can support your stakeholder communication strategy.