In today’s world, it’s easier than ever for your brand reputation to take a hit. With so many people communicating with brands and other consumers online, it seems like one little slip up can send a business spinning with bad press. It’s almost as if businesses need to have a plan for when, not if, this will happen to them.
So, to help you better navigate through this messy and frustrating time, here are three tips for help you repair your brand reputation when things go awry.
Create A Plan Of Action
Even before any type of bad press or reviews come your way, it’s wise to have a plan of action already in place for how you’ll deal with things. Depending on how bad the circumstances are and what type of press you’re getting, your plan of action will likely vary.
In the best of situations, Aneya Fernando, a contributor to AdWeek.com, shares that sometimes the best plan is to do nothing at all. Especially if the threat to your reputation is coming from a source that doesn’t have much authority, giving any kind of reaction will often just add fuel to the fire. So before you take any kind of action, make sure you weigh the possibilities against the potential fallout for following your plan.
Control The Narrative
When you’ve decided that you do need to react to the claims or make a statement about the situation, Kevin Harrington, a contributor to Forbes.com, shares that the best thing you can do, for the sake of the future reputation of your business, is to own up to your role in the problem and then try to control the narrative from there.
If you can get out in front of the story or the bad press, you’ll have the chance to change the dialogue and hopefully start making amends for whatever was done. While your reputation might take a hit at the beginning, seeing that you’re doing whatever you can to rectify the situation will go a long way toward people warming back up to you again.
Don’t Fight Via Social Media
Many of the attacks on your business and brand reputation will come via social media. And while it’s often easiest to respond to any negativity right there and then, Lida Citroen, a contributor to Entrepreneur.com, warns against getting into fights or arguments on social media.
What’s going to be best for your brand reputation is to take any conversations to a more private forum, be it an email, phone call, or other chat service. While there’s still the chance that this conversation could be posted online once all is said and done, at least everything won’t be playing out for the entire online audience to see.
If something happens to darken your brand’s reputation, consider using the tips mentioned above to help you manage this and get back into everyone’s good graces.