Many organizations try to avoid negative PR but sometimes it may happen and could result in sharing of bad stories about a brand. When things go wrong in your company, you need to come up with ways and means of handling them.
Bad PR can be difficult to deal with, especially if it has gone beyond the borders and you are solely responsible for it. How your brand responds to a PR crisis could influence your company image and overall performance.
Find help from a PR professional
Negative PR can trigger your feelings and emotions and worsen the crisis- it may affect your productivity. Take time to reflect and advise your staff not to take any actions immediately. This may allow you to think about the best PR professionals who may offer valuable advice on what to do. Depending on the extent of the damage, a professional could advise you on the best ways of improving marketing metrics to restore your brand.
Take time to reflect and advise your staff not to take any actions immediately.
The professional will give your brand credibility because they will give you authentic information about brand restoration. They will acknowledge that the negative publicity is temporary as they help to restore the brand image.
Be open
Taking responsibility for PR gone sour is a simple way to restore the situation and gain public acceptance. It could help to restore confidence and public opinion about your brand. Be sure to include a workable response to the situation and be as sincere as possible. Being open and honest is an appropriate strategy, especially if you are to blame for the fault. Taking responsibility for negative PR may help to prevent PR mistakes from occurring in the future. It may also help to avoid worsening the situation and losing employees, clients, and potential customers.
Being open and honest is an appropriate strategy, especially if you are to blame for the fault.
For instance, if an accident occurs at the workplace, you may consider a public apology instead of denying the incident or covering it underneath. To restore the brand image, you may send the apology via an official statement, video, or social media. In addition to an apology, reviewing your company policies and compensation could be necessary.
Admit that there is a problem
When you encounter a bad PR, pretending that nothing is wrong is not good for your brand. Own the problem, and confront it as fast as possible while remaining careful about the public reaction. Involve a team based on the circumstances surrounding the publicity - the team may need to discuss the response. Use the right approach to send a message to avoid further damage. Failure to acknowledge the problem or to take responsibility can worsen the situation and create more dilemmas.
Failure to acknowledge the problem or to take responsibility can worsen the situation and create more dilemmas.
Failing to acknowledge your mistake or counterattacking social media could be detrimental to your brand as it may lead to unending wars. Lack of professionalism, especially in dealing with social media audiences, could put your business in an awkward situation.
Choose an ideal response
How you respond to a negative PR is important in countering it- respond as quickly as possible to prevent the situation from getting worse. Bad PR about your business can spread fast, as more journalists could be interested in covering the story. Acting fast by distributing a statement or a press release could control the development of the story. Have a PR crisis plan in place to deal with the PR crisis and help your business get back to its feet.
Bad PR about your business can spread fast, as more journalists could be interested in covering the story.
Prepare yourself with the right response and try to be calm instead of overreacting. Being unprepared and acting emotionally may cause you to say something that could give the press mileage to keep talking about your business.
Be positive
Creating a positive message about your brand in the middle of a PR crisis is an effective way of dealing with the crisis. The aim of doing so is to direct the audiences’ focus from the crisis to what you are good at. This could be a great opportunity to start a blog for your organization to share relevant and positive information. Through the blog, you may be able to educate your audience or talk about new aspects of your brand.
This could be a great opportunity to start a blog for your organization to share relevant and positive information.
The purpose of this is to inform your audience that what is circulating through the media does not reflect your company values. You may also consider audio, video, social media content, or positive campaigns. Learning how to deal with negatives and positives is not only good for your brand but also for your customers and employees.
Conclusion
Dealing with bad PR requires a lot of honesty and openness regardless of the extent of the damage. Acknowledge the crisis, send a good response, be positive and find professional help where necessary. No matter how well you serve your customers and treat employees, a PR crisis may occur. Being smart in dealing with it is a good way to restore your brand image and get back on track.
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Author Bio:
His name is Samuel Matthews, he is 33 years old and is from Manchester. He worked as a journalist after his college and currently works for a dissertation help site. He loves writing detective stories and is always keen to meet new people and create a wide professional network. His hobbies are traveling, playing various sports and drumming.
