Each of us have been inundated with emails from brands with their action plans to combat COVID-19. It’s great to communicate, but what happens when everyone is saying the same thing?

At a recent media training, we were diving into the true meaning of the term “thoughts and prayers.” Like a lot of kneejerk phrases, it’s lost its meaning.

A training participant raised her hand and offered, “I’d say the same is true for top priority.” The group groaned in resigned agreement.

I hadn’t thought of it before she raised the issue, but in a crisis, especially if you are caught unprepared, so often we resort to the first words that pop into our brain. We don’t have the time and space for creativity or second thoughts, so we stick with the first ones that come into our mind.

“Safety is our top priority…” or “The safety and security of our employees is our top priority…” pepper crisis statements and the dozens of emails we’ve received over the course of the past week of COVID-19 news.

Spoken Word is here to help. As soon as you finish reading this post, open your crisis plan documents and search for “top priority” or “highest priority.” Wherever you see this overused phrase, replace it with one the following phrases. Now, your audiences will know you took the time to truly make your communications a top priority.

• Our commitment to (priority) is unmatched.
• We focus every day on (priority).
• Our daily operations center around (priority).
• We do everything we can to (priority).
• (Priority) is at the top of our list.
• We are putting (priority) first.

In our age of transparency, we must be authentic in our communications in order to cut through the clutter.