May 14, 2025 When crises occur, many organizations turn to skilled crisis communicators for help in minimizing damage to their reputation, sharing information with stakeholders, and mitigating the impact as much as possible. These strategic communicators play a critical role in protecting brand image while helping operations continue or resume as normally as possible.
If you're interested in a fast-paced career in communication, then a BA in Communications with a focus on strategic communication could be right for you. Read on to learn more about what this type of work entails, the skills you need to be an effective crisis communicator, and the various career paths available in crisis communications.
What Is Crisis Communication, and Why Is It Important?
What is strategic communication and crisis communication, anyway? Strategic and crisis communication involves how an organization acts during and after a crisis. It's about managing the situation to regain control, resolve issues, and restore its reputation with stakeholders and the public, as noted in the .
Often, when organizations fall into periods of crisis, they have dedicated public relations teams or other strategic communications staff in place to address the situation. With a strong crisis communication plan in place, organizations may be able to maintain credibility and trust, prevent financial and reputational damage, and ensure public safety and effective emergency response following a crisis.
Crisis Communication in Action: Three Key Areas
Strategic communicators may need to respond to three primary types of crises. These common crisis communication examples include:
- Corporate Crises - Product recalls, financial fraud, or company scandals
- Public Safety & Government Crises - Natural disasters, public health emergencies, or security threats
- Digital & Social Media Crises - Viral brand missteps, misinformation, and online reputational risks
The Psychology Behind Crisis Communication
Strategic communicators handling crisis situations need to understand , particularly as it relates to audience reactions and emotions.
How Audiences React to Crisis Messaging
At its very core, effective crisis response relies on transparency, authority, and reliability more than anything else. During times of crisis, people tend to trustworthy and reliable sources of information to better understand the potential impact the situation will have on them directly. Having a strong crisis communication team in place can make all the difference in shaping audience response and perception.
Why Some Brands Recover and Others Fail
Poor crisis communication management (or a lack of strategic communication strategies overall) can ultimately turn an isolated crisis into a public relations nightmare. In some cases, an organization may not be able to recover and regain the public's trust following such an experience.
Consider, for example, the social media crisis that occurred when a Cracker Barrel restaurant regarding the termination of an employee. As the company continued to remain silent, further controversy grew on social media, ultimately harming the brand's reputation and allowing the narrative and speculation to grow out of control.
The Role of Emotion in Crisis Messaging
In crisis response, emotions also play an essential role in influencing public perception. When public relations teams and other strategic communicators can positively harness the power of emotion, they may be able to rebuild trust and create a sense of empathy among their audiences. On the other hand, when responses to crises are inauthentic or forced, audiences can typically pick up on this, which could lead to further backlash.
Key Crisis Communication Strategies
Professionals in strategic communication must learn to manage crises before, during, and after events occur. In doing so, they can draw on a to mitigate damage.
Pre-Crisis: Prevention and Planning
The most important crisis response strategy occurs before a major disaster or event. With the right preparation, teams can act swiftly and efficiently to mitigate the impact of a crisis event as much as possible.
Preparing for a crisis involves building a comprehensive communication plan and assembling a crisis response team with a dedicated spokesperson to represent the organization. Likewise, establishing a message crafting and approval process and stakeholder communication plans is a must during this phase.
During the Crisis: Controlling the Narrative
Organizations must also respond to crises swiftly in an effort to control the narrative and prevent speculation from running rampant. This can be done by crafting clear, consistent, and truthful statements for the public, responding quickly and avoiding information gaps in messaging, and using tools like social media and press releases to control messaging as much as possible.
Post-Crisis: Recovery and Reputation Rebuilding
Following a crisis situation, communication teams should take the time to regroup and discuss what went well versus what may have gone wrong during the response. From there, teams can brainstorm and implement changes, long-term trust restoration efforts, and additional steps to rebuild public trust.
Best Practices for Crisis Messaging
When it comes to crisis communication, teams should keep the so-called "3 C's" in mind. Specifically, the 3 C's of crisis communication refer to:
- Clarity - Messaging should be clear, with no potential for misinterpretation.
- Consistency - Messaging should remain consistent across all channels with no conflicting statements.
- Compassion - Messaging should demonstrate genuine empathy and understanding for those impacted by the crisis.
Finally, crises should be answered as quickly as possible. When delayed responses occur, speculation and rumors run rampant and can further tarnish an organization's reputation.
How a Strategic Communication Concentration Prepares You for Crisis Management Careers
If you're interested in a career in crisis communication, pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in Communications with a focus on strategic communication can be a great choice. These programs often offer career-focused curricula designed to prepare you for a rewarding professional journey in the field.
Core Courses That Develop Crisis Communication Skills
A comprehensive curriculum is essential for developing effective crisis communication skills. Specific in this program include:
- Public Relations/Communications - Focuses on managing public perception and crafting messages on behalf of organizations—central to any crisis communication effort.
- Strategic Communication - Emphasizes planning and delivering communication with intent and purpose—key for managing crises and reputational risk.
- Social Media Management - Teaches real-time digital communication, essential for addressing and managing crises in today’s social media-driven landscape.
- Advanced Public Relations Writing - Helps students write high-stakes communications like press releases, statements, and messaging for crisis scenarios.
- Organizational Communication - Focuses on internal communication and leadership messaging—critical during crises within institutions or companies.
Hands-On Learning Opportunities at SSU
In addition to these courses, SSU's BA in Communication program with a strategic communication concentration includes simulations where students can practice handling real-world crisis scenarios using what they've learned in the classroom. This, combined with the opportunity to intern at PR/crisis communication firms and other community-based projects, allows students to gain the hands-on experience they need to thrive in their future careers.
Faculty and Industry Connections
Students in this program will also have the opportunity to learn from experienced professionals who have actually worked in public relations and corporate communication roles. By networking with these professionals and other industry leaders (including classroom guest speakers and connections made through workshops and job fairs), students can build their own robust professional networks while in the program.
Careers in Crisis Communication & Strategic Communication
So, what can you do with a concentration in strategic communication? Let’s break down some career paths you may be interested in exploring.
Industries That Need Crisis Communication Experts
Communication professionals are in demand across a wide range of industries. Whether you're interested in working for a nonprofit, a government agency, or in the private sector, some industries worth exploring include:
- Corporate Communications & Public Relations Firms - PR firms often hire on strategic communicators to manage organizational reputations and respond to PR crises as they emerge.
- Healthcare & Public Health Organizations - Healthcare organizations turn to strategic communicators for damage control when crises like data breaches, drug recalls, and even medication errors occur and are publicized.
- Government & Emergency Management Agencies - Government agencies rely on strategic communicators for many purposes, but especially for handling emergency planning and crisis response.
- Nonprofit & Advocacy Groups - Because of their tax-exempt status and reputations, nonprofit organizations are often under heavy scrutiny. As a result, some will hire strategic communication experts to help them stay ahead of and respond to controversies surrounding mismanagement, funding, and the like.
- Technology & Cybersecurity Firms - In the tech industry, crises such as data privacy scandals and product recalls may require the skilled attention of strategic communication professionals.
Common Crisis Communication Jobs
Discover some common job titles for crisis communicators below, along with brief descriptions of their roles and responsibilities.
- Crisis Communication Manager - A specialized role that involves overseeing public relations and other communications teams to develop, implement, and maintain crisis communication plans within an organization.
- Public Relations Specialist - A communication expert responsible for managing and strengthening a brand's or other organization's public image through content creation, media relations, crisis communication, and similar roles.
- Social Media & Digital Crisis Specialist - A social media and communication expert specifically focused on maintaining a brand's image online. They handle all digital communication in the event of a crisis and monitor social media channels for potential crisis events.
- Corporate Communications Director - In this high-level role, professionals oversee and manage every aspect of an organization's communication strategy, ranging from brand management and messaging to crisis communication and beyond.
- Government & Nonprofit Crisis Consultant - These professionals specialize in helping government agencies and nonprofits prepare for and manage crisis situations, assisting in training, communication, planning, and post-crisis evaluation.
Benefits of Studying Strategic Communication at AIɫɫ
There are certainly many options for communication degrees with concentrations in strategic communication. However, AIɫɫ's program is set apart by a few things.
Career-Focused Curriculum
For starters, our strategic communication program offers a unique blend of both theoretical knowledge and practical skills, allowing graduates to enter the field with the comprehensive understanding and everyday competencies needed to effectively handle crisis situations with confidence.
Personalized Learning Experience
Meanwhile, AIɫɫ takes a great deal of pride in its smaller class sizes and direct mentorship from experienced faculty members. This allows students to receive the individualized attention and guidance that they need throughout their programs.
Networking and Career Support
Finally, our program offers access to robust alumni connections, industry partnerships, and career development services that can offer much-needed support for resume-building, job searching, and even interview preparation.
Learn More About Our Communication Program
Working in crisis communication, whether it be in the public or private sector, can be a challenging yet extremely rewarding career. Suppose you're interested in learning more about how to navigate and respond to crises on behalf of different organizations and industries. In that case, it may be time to explore AIɫɫ's Bachelor of Arts in Communication with a concentration in strategic communications.
This program offers the small class sizes and hands-on learning experiences aspiring crisis communicators need to respond to situations of various scopes and sizes — with in public relations, professional communication, and more. Get in touch to about this program today, or take the next step by completing your online application for admission.