Top 7 Strategies To Help You Deal With Negative Publicity

You must have heard this a million times ‘there’s no such thing as bad publicy’. Frankly speaking, this is not always the case and your business might not be that lucky to survive the situation. It is better to prevent bad publicity than having to deal with consequences.

There are various factors that could bring about negative publicity. A company might take a particular decision that could cause the public to react. It could be that the company gave an unpopular opinion in a trending topic on social media. The company might have done it with good intentions but the public might have deduced something else. Another way that negative publicity could be birthed is through a brand’s competitors. It is no news that competitors are always working against similar brands because they want the market all to themselves or at least be a leader in that niche. Therefore, they might take advantage of the customers’ complaints and other loop holes to design their next marketing campaign. And lastly, customers could be the source of a negative publicity for a business or company. It is not uncommon for unhappy customers to call out brands on social media these days.

It is worthy of note that the best brands in the world also have to deal with bad press, reviews, and statements. So what do you do when faced with such situation? The following will help you handle negative publicity:

Figure out the source and engage

You have to find the source of your bad publicity. Is it it the actions of your own company, your customers or your competitors working extra time? Figure out the root of the problem and challenge it.

Call on your brand believers and loyal customers to speak on your behalf

Your satisfied, and loyal customers are the biggest assets and cheerleaders. Approach them appropriately and explain the true state of things to them. They will see reasons to advocate for you and together they could birth a counter-trend to fight the bad publicity.

Keep a crisis management plan

Nothing beats proper preparation. As a business, you should have a crisis management plan stored somewhere; it should consist of how you would respond to bad publicity. You do not have to wait for crisis to draw up a standard procedure for handling negative publicity. Put together how you want each member of your team to respond, what should be posted on social media, your public statements, how to liaise with blogs and the media. This way you are prepared for the rainy day when your business finds itself needing to deal with bad publicity. It is advisable to draft this plan when you are calm, when you can think straight and not when everything is in chaos.

Respond with facts

If you’re getting unfair publicity, respond as soon as possible with the correction or your reasons for acting in a particular manner that caused the backlash. If a negative story based on erroneous facts about your business emerges, let the public know, firmly but politely, what was wrong and the evidence or facts you have to back it up.

Admit your mistake and proffer solution

If you’re getting bad publicity because your business did something wrong, admit it, apologize and offer to fix it. Denying or lying will only make matters worse, this won’t make the situation disappear so it’s better to face it and deal with it. Respond to the negative news honestly and decisively, and communicate with the media or public throughout the process. Staying silent or lying encourages the public to dig more. Apologize, fix the problem and explain how you’re going to do better in the future, and do a follow up of how you have rectified the issue.

Use the opportunity to collect valuable feedback

Don’t get lost in the madness. Use the golden opportunity to collect feedback and observations about your brand. Analyze the bad statements made against your company. Take them as your feedback which is needed in any organisation to grow. Subsequently, take it as an opportunity to build better relationships, customer experience, products and services. View this process as a way of solving problems associated with your brand. Whatever action you take should put you in a better position for recovery and success.

Seek legal counsel

If it’s serious or if you sense that you at the verge of being sued, you might need to work with a lawyer to professionally manage the chaos. But if, as a small business, you do not have the wherewithal to employ the services of an attorney, you might have to restrategise effectively with the aforementioned points.

Conclusion

If you properly handle a bad publicity about your company, you might end up acquiring new customers. You can switch things around to favour your brand. We can comfortably say there’s no such thing as bad publicity only when we implement good crisis management plan or strategies. So it’s all up to you and your business.