8 THINGS TO DO IN A PR DISASTER.
Recently a client I was working with had a PR disaster.
Without wanting to give too much away about the specifics of the business they made a mistake that resulted in a group of activists attacking the business.
Being a small business owner the client went into panic about how to handle the situation and didn’t know what to do. Here is some advice that I would offer anyone that has something similar happen.
- Take responsibility for your mistake:
If you made a mistake – as our client did – don’t hide from it, own the mistake and use the opportunity to improve what you do in the future.
- Know your response:
When it comes to responding you want to be at cause over what happens. Work out what your response is and stick to it. If you don’t know what your response is then you’ll find that you are constantly defending yourself against whatever comes your way. If you are going to stop offering the product or service that caused the problem do so and say so, if you are not stick with your plan and state the reason why.
- Make your response simple:
Don’t give the people attacking you a basis from which to attack you. Keep your response simple and to the point.
- Don’t attack back:
No matter how it feels like the world is against you simply state your line and keep stating it. Remember the people who are attacking you are less important than the majority of your clients and customers who will be on your side if you simply stay calm and responsible in your responses.
- If someone attacks you on your communication lines delete the comments:
If someone attacks your business on Social Media particularly, don’t give them the opportunity for your clients to see their comments. Put simply if they can’t be civil you don’t need to advertise their attack so don’t. If you keep to this you will find the people who talk to you will be playing fair and you will end up with a civil and positive conversation.
- Answer all constructive communication:
Keep your communication open to all constructive communication whether you agree or not and answer it and keep your communication lines open.
- Keep going:
Sometimes the attack can get nasty and you will find that you can end up feeling like it has no end, but rest assured it will and if you maintain your integrity and keep communicating you will come out on top.
- Keep promoting:
It’s important to keep promoting the good things you do in your business and not get stuck into only handling attacks. If you only work to stop the attack you have stopped working on your business and the whole attention goes ion the wrong things not the right things.
So I hope this helps, and if you’ve got any more questions, I’d love to hear from you. Just shoot an email to info@digitaltiger.com.au and I look forward to helping you out.
Greg Paul
Managing Director
Digital Tiger
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