In early 2023, when multiple high-profile regional banks suddenly collapsed, surviving institutions across the country were asked a series of questions by customers and the media.

Is our money safe? What measures are in place to prevent a similar crisis? Can you explain the sector’s financial health?

Many didn’t have the answers needed to soothe concerns, but they would have if they had a solid public relations (PR) strategy.

Does your bank have one? It should. According to reports, another banking crisis could be closer than you think.

Here are several effective ways to ensure you know how to handle worried customers and probing media the next time the banking sector faces a public relations crisis.

Keep Your Message Consistent

Make sure all communication, like social media, website updates, press releases, or emails to clients, has the same message. Mixed messages can create confusion and quickly erode hard-earned trust during a PR crisis situation. Having a centralized team or a point person to coordinate all communication channels helps maintain consistency.

Transparency is key. Avoid industry jargon and communicate in simple, plain language that your audience and the media understand. And make sure your messaging blends a tone of empathy and confidence to convey understanding and builds trust.

Leverage Digital Platforms

Your website and social media platforms are for more than posting recent hires and highlighting your latest services. They are powerful tools for providing consistent, real-time communication and the first places your customers and the media visit for up-to-date public information.

Use these channels to your advantage. Quickly engage with your audience and provide regular updates to address customer concerns and reduce misinformation.

Maintain Strong Media Relations

Building mutually beneficial relationships with media members is extremely important for effective crisis management, especially when dark headlines shine too brightly on your sector.

Providing accurate information, arranging interviews and being readily available for comment are must-dos for effective crisis communications. Each establishes greater trust and credibility with reporters and helps make them valuable allies in distributing accurate information.

Additional techniques include writing press releases and training your spokespeople to address challenging media inquiries. Keep messages clear and concise. Ensure your spokespeople can confidently share the bank’s messaging to control the story.

Leverage Your Crisis Management Team

It’s important to have a crisis team with clear roles to respond quickly and effectively to bad news.

Ensure that a select group of experienced public relations specialists guides your team. Prioritize their media relations expertise in strategic communications over financial or legal knowledge that other bank members might have.

Continuously Monitor and Respond

Quickly responding to social media is important. Even a small delay can harm your reputation management efforts. Banks should employ advanced digital tools that scan online platforms, including social media, news sites and forums. These tools track mentions and sentiment changes about your bank or the banking industry to find potential problems.

Make sure you cover a range of digital channels and establish critical metrics that signal the need for immediate attention.

Conduct a Post-Crisis Analysis

After a PR crisis has passed, it’s natural for your team to feel relieved. They should do something else: self-analyzing.

Review which PR crisis management strategies were effective, which were not and why. Be honest. A truthful evaluation helps and strengthen your long-term crisis management strategies—because this won’t be the last time your bank needs it.

Choose the Right PR Agency

In moments like these, the last thing you need is guesswork. You need seasoned experience, a been-there, done-that mentality, a team with a winning record.

You need a banking PR agency.

Look for an agency with a history of successfully managing public opinion in situations comparable to yours. A good agency won’t use a standard PR plan. Instead, they will create a crisis management plan tailored to your bank’s values and needs. This plan is designed to protect your bank’s online reputation.

Contact us to learn how our PR and media relations expertise for banks can benefit you. Explore case studies that detail our prior PR campaigns for banks—and the awards we won for doing them.