Whether it’s a customer complaint that goes viral, a marketing mishap that spirals out of control, or a data breach that’s mismanaged, brands are exposed to reputational risks every day. Now that every business needs to have an active online presence and a far-reaching marketing strategy, it can be all too easy to make a mistake and cause your business to suffer. A reputation crisis can happen at any time, but no matter the cause, there are steps that you need to take to minimize potential harm. When the worst does happen, here are some of the steps that you need to take if you want to save and repair your reputation and start moving forward.
“It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.” Warren Buffett
Evaluate and Assess
Your first step should be to evaluate how much damage has been caused by the mistake that has been made. You can achieve this by:
- Tracking the Press
It’s always smart to monitor what the local and mainstream media are saying about your company, but even more so when you have suffered harm from a blunder. Knowing what the press is saying about you is a good way to gauge the depth of the reputational harm, and can give you vital insights into how the general public now views your brand. Journalists love marketing blunders and corporate mistakes because the public enjoys reading them. The more negative your perception in the eyes of the media, the more work you will have to do to repair the damage. If news outlets are discussing your company in a negative light, then it won’t be long before those are the only results that consumers will see when they Google your company. It is more than possible to get rid of bad search results, but be aware that it can take time and a lot of hard work to achieve this.
- Know What Customers are Saying
Your next step is to evaluate what customers are saying about you. Whatever incident has occurred that is resulting in a backlash, you will be able to recover more easily if you know exactly what consumers are saying. This is as important as knowing what the media is saying about you. A reputation hit can cause even the most loyal customers to distance themselves from you and stop buying your products. Evaluating where you stand with your customers is critical if you want to gauge just how far-reaching the damage to your reputation is. You can do this by:
- Using your customer support records to assess the rate of complaints. If you suddenly receive a high number of common issues, then a quick response can limit the harm caused.
- Explore the comment sections of any news articles that relate to your brand. If a news article is seeing a lot of traffic and you’re mentioned in it, you need to know what’s being said.
- Check your social media pages, including your direct messages and your comments.
- Review sites are also useful to explore, as these are often the location of the most vitriolic complaints. Once posted, it can be very hard to get rid of those complaints, even if they are untrue or exaggerated.
The Art of the Apology
If you have made a mistake, it’s essential that you own up to it. Trying to justify a poor taste marketing campaign or a social media post that caused offense is only going to make matters worse. The right apology at the right time can be transformative and can go a long way to building bridges with angry customers. Your apology needs to be:
- Sincere and Genuine: Recognize your mistake, understand it, and understand why it happened. Avoid using jargon, and highlight what you are going to do to rectify the damage that has been caused.
- Public: You want your apology to be visible on your website and your social pages. You mustn’t try too hard to turn the apology into a sugar-coated excuse. A positive apology is possible, but you still need to take responsibility for the inciting incident.
“Never ruin an apology with an excuse.” Benjamin Franklin
Taking Control
After analysis and apology, you need to begin making greater use of your communication channels. These are the methods that you use to communicate directly with consumers, including your social media pages, emails, and your website. Use those channels to update your audience as situations change, and as you start to tackle your response to the incident, you can slowly start to highlight the positives that have come out of the event. It’s essential at this stage that you are as transparent as possible. If you leave your audience in the dark about what is happening, then they will be relying on the communications that you have no control over. Remember to continue avoiding corporate buzzwords and business jargon.
Pre-Empting Reputation Damage
A lot of business management is about having a plan already in place should a worst-case scenario happen. For example, having a data breach action plan in place is going to be highly beneficial should you get attacked by cybercriminals. Having a recovery roadmap for reputation control is a must-have, and it will need to be as well-designed as possible. It has to include all of the potential ways that you are exposed to risks. A roadmap to recovery also will ensure that all departments and employees are always on the same page and taking the same approach. If you wait until a disaster happens to start planning how to recover from it, then your response will be slower, and that means more time for negative impact and less control over the narrative.
“Planning is bringing the future into the present so that you can do something about it now.” Alan Lakein
Consumers want to buy from trustworthy brands. If you lose that trust, then you lose those customers. Make sure that you know exactly what needs to be done if a mistake leads to bad press or social media furor. The more that you understand the importance of reputation and how to recover when yours takes a hit, the more likely that you will be able to tackle it successfully and start moving forward. Not all hits to your reputation will be catastrophic, but you want to address every single reputational risk. Fail to do so, and your brand could be out of business before you even know what’s happening.
