Meet The Strategist: Nathan Wilson Brings Newsroom Instincts to Crisis Communications
Meet The Strategist: Nathan Wilson Brings Newsroom Instincts to Crisis Communications
A crisis rarely announces itself politely. It shows up as a ringing phone, a reporter’s email, or a story that’s already spreading faster than anyone can control. Nathan Wilson has built his career around handling those moments for clients.
Nathan provides strategic communications, messaging, media relations, media training and crisis communications support to S360 clients from non-profits to municipalities to corporations. .
New clients often come to Nathan at a time of great stress, in the middle of a crisis that’s already unfolding or one they can see coming. What they need is someone who can jump in immediately and give them peace of mind that their reputation will be protected.
Starting with triage
When a client comes to Nathan with a crisis, the first step is triage:
- Has it already happened, or is it something they expect?
- How could it affect the organization’s reputation?
- Is it one event, or will new layers keep surfacing?
- What channels are available to respond, and who are the third-party validators who can lend support?
From there, Nathan works quickly to align on messaging, build talking points, and map out communication internally and externally, including whether engaging the media will help or hurt.
Adapting strategy to a shrinking media landscape
Nathan sees the effects every day of shrinking newsrooms. Local outlets increasingly lean on national stories, with fewer reporters to cover a community directly. That means pitches have to work harder, with a real hook, compelling visuals, and a clear sense of why the story matters locally. He increasingly recommends a two-path approach: traditional coverage alongside owned media, like blogs and opinion pieces, so clients can tell their story on their own terms.
A newsroom background, put to work
Nathan’s background is in broadcast journalism, managing large staff in major news markets, while also leading investigative and political coverage. That job meant absorbing information quickly, turning it into content on tight deadlines, and constantly learning new subject matter. These skills let him move easily across many different client industries. He might be running strategy sessions with multiple clients one day, then the next day heads-down building messaging for a client’s new initiative, or running back-to-back trainings: a crisis scenario for one client and media training for another.
Nathan says the most rewarding projects are the ones where a client comes out the other side with their reputation still strong, the crisis hasn’t defined the organization, and the client felt like they had a reliable partner throughout.
Off the clock
Socializing with friends after a long day is probably Nathan’s favorite way to unwind. He’s also active with non-profit arts organizations in his community, an outlet he finds especially rewarding.