Public perception and image are everything. Whether you’re a company, corporation, group or individual, if your public persona takes a hit, you’ll see its effects on your sales and reception with the consuming public. Any bad press about you as a person or company translates to less sales, less profitability, less acceptance and an increase in distrust.
If you have a public relationships disaster, don’t throw in the towel just yet. With the right spin doctors, you can turn your PR nightmare into positive publicity for you. Here’s how to handle a public relations disaster.
- Plan before the disaster. You and your company have to be prepared and set up some sort of contingency plan in case a situation develops. The way to handle a PR nightmare is to have some plan before it happens. For example, you must have an appointed point person to go to in order to get reliable facts. The public and media need to know which office or person to contact to verify information. You must have a PR and legal team on standby to deal with such an eventuality.
- Know the facts. Before you make a statement, you need to assess the situation and find out the real deal. Separate the fact from the fiction and talk to the real source of information. Before you make a denial or admit to anything, you better make sure that you have basis.
- Act quickly. Time is of the essence when you are dealing with a public relations disaster. If you wait too long, the public may perceive your guilt or it may appear as if you don’t care about the situation. Although some things die down over time, some things must be addressed swiftly. If you provide a service, you must be able to take immediate measures to mitigate the problem and to assure the public that the situation is being addressed. In some cases, a quick apology is required.
- Don’t lie. Don’t cover a disaster by pretending the issue doesn’t exist, or by lying straight out. The truth eventually comes out so you may as well work from a clean slate. It will be a bigger nightmare to deny something now only to have to admit it later on when the problem is much worse. Take for example high profile politicians who have affairs. John Edwards lost the presidential nomination after admitting to a one-time affair, but lost all credibility when it turned out the affair was much more serious than first reported.
- Remind people of your unblemished past. If you are a company with a long established history of delivering good quality products and services but are suddenly hit with mandatory recalls, you need to make a statement about the problem right away. End your press conference with a reminder of the company’s overall commitment to deliver excellent products and services. You need to help people remember the big picture instead of focusing on this one instance. Another way you can remind people is to show support of your charities or do community service. This will move the spotlight from your flaws to your good deeds. You need to show people that this is a one time instance, instead of the usual way you do business.
In the end, you need to meet the situation head on and show decisive
action. Make corrections to avoid further problems in the future. If the
public sees you are making efforts to correct this one time glitch,
they will be more forgiving. Having an experienced public relations
outlet handle your crisis for you will go a long way in reestablishing
your reputation and good name.
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