How To Handle Bad Publicity
July 30, 2011 at 1:24 amCategory:General
There are always bad things that can happen in a business and handling it would be your biggest challenge. One of those challenges are bad press or negative feedback that can be easily done on the internet. The rapid spread because of the high speed technology can easily get you business into a slump especially if you worked so hard in gathering good PR for your firm or business. Doing damage control is not impossible and there are a lot ways to do it. Prevention can also be done.
First you have to know where potential bad publicity can start with your business and be able to make a solution before they become a problem. These would usually involve your product that you have to send back poor quality supplies from suppliers or just simply being able to handle unhappy staff.
Always remember that the speed of information spreading these days is quite fast, especially on social networking sites. Be updated always and be able to take quick counter actions on the bad news about your business. Don’t wait for it to spread. Also, don’t be afraid to counteract on those stories that are untrue. Make sure you see to it that you are able to place a comment or contact the publisher for misinformations and use your own website to clear it up and state your version of the story.
If you are in a pinch and there is really damage on it, apologize. It doesn’t mean that you are guilty. You are just showing the you take your responsibilities and that you will try to solve the problem before it gets out of hand. Don’t ever say no comment because that would mean you are hiding somthing from the public. Be able to also train your staff to handle media to make sure nothing goes wrong.
Always give answers based on facts and answer the media with everything that you know. Giving background briefings only necessary. If you can’t divuldge any information, especially confidential ones, tell the media why. If you can’t do interviews, you better use written statements. It’s better that way at times. Ask for journalists’ deadlines and offer a holding statement in case you’re not yet ready.
Remember that media needs a story. If you deflect, it will just create more bad publicity that the media could make up. Answer them and give facts to counteract the bad publicity.
Just make sure that you build back your reputation after. Generate good PR and be able to get back on your feet from this downfall. Do this an you will be able to handle any bad situation concerning your PR.