Crisis Communications in Phoenix and Scottsdale
Proof Publicity is a crisis communications and reputation management agency in Scottsdale, Arizona. We help Arizona businesses and national brands with an Arizona footprint prepare for a crisis before it happens and manage the media, the message and the sequence of communication when it does. Every crisis engagement is led by a senior PR manager with ten or more years of experience, and Melissa DiGianfilippo, Proof’s founder, is involved in most crisis communications projects for clients.
Who can help my Arizona business with crisis communications?
Proof Publicity provides crisis and issues counsel to organizations in property management, investment, healthcare, homebuilding, financial services, restaurants and fitness. We do not describe any client’s situation publicly, which is the first rule of the work.
What happens in the first 24 hours?
Proof Publicity answers the phone, gathers the facts, identifies every audience that needs to hear from you (employees, customers, partners, regulators, press) and sets the order they hear it in. We write the holding statement, prepare the spokesperson, and handle every reporter call so your team does not have to. Additionally, we often monitor and manage social media around a crisis situation. No two crisis situations for a client are the same, so we create a custom approach for every client whether it’s a healthcare PR crisis, a multifamily housing crisis, a crisis situation at a restaurant or hotel or anything in between.
Can Proof build a crisis communications plan before a crisis happens?
Yes, and it is the better way to hire us. A Proof Publicity crisis plan includes a risk inventory specific to your industry, a decision tree for who speaks and who approves, pre-drafted holding statements for the most likely scenarios, an internal communications sequence, spokesperson training and a media contact protocol. Plans are reviewed annually and after any incident.
What does reputation management include?
Proof Publicity monitors coverage and online conversation about your organization, corrects factual errors with outlets and databases, builds the positive public record (earned media, executive visibility, awards) that buyers find before they find the bad news, and manages review and community response when it belongs to PR rather than customer service.
How is crisis work priced?
Crisis and issues work is scoped as a project with a defined budget, typically not billed hourly, so you know the number before you say yes. For clients who are on a PR retainer, basic crisis management services are included with reduced rates for more extreme situations in which major PR support is needed to mitigate and manage a crisis communications situation. For clients not on a PR retainer, our minimum engagement for crisis support is $5,000.
Who leads crisis work at Proof?
Melissa DiGianfilippo has led crisis and issues communications for more than 20 years, first as co-founder of Serendipit Consulting and since 2024 at Proof Publicity. Additionally, each senior PR manager at Proof Publicity has extensive experience navigating client crisis communication situations. We review each situation and decide the best team and the best course of action.
Frequently Asked Questions
Crisis communications is the response to a specific event under a deadline. Reputation management is the ongoing work of building and protecting the public record so a single event does less damage.
Often the answer is both, and they should talk to each other. Proof Publicity works alongside counsel so statements are accurate, legally sound and still human.
Yes. Proof Publicity handles crisis work for national organizations with Arizona operations and for clients all over the country. We have experience working in almost every U.S. market for crisis communications support in a variety of industries, with extensive experience managing crisis communications for multifamily brands (i.e. student housing, senior housing, class A apartment communities, build to rent housing and more) as well as healthcare brands (hospitals, behavioral health companies, addiction treatment centers, primary care offices and more).