Crisis Management Strategies

Crisis Management Strategies in 2019

All businesses will experience a brand crisis sooner or later. The question is, do you have crisis management strategies in place for when this happens. Maintaining your brand during a crisis is essential to all businesses regardless of what industry you are in.

For instance, there’s a distinction between suffering due to a rumor and suffering due to your entire industry experiencing negativity among consumers.

Timely responses and addressing the issue as quickly as possible may help to deescalate the crisis from worsening. 

So how can your brand management strategies help your business when it comes under attack? Let us walk you through some viable options you can start to implement immediately.

Please fill out the form below and we will reach out as soon as possible!

The Waiting Game

Sometimes the waiting game can work and corporations have stonewalled a story in the past. By not addressing the issue immediately, especially if this is a minor crisis can make the situation seem “not as bad” as if a company releases a press release immediately. 

Sometimes consumers take a quick response as an admission of guilt when that was not the intentions of the company.

The issue is that this can indeed backfire and the situation may worsen tremendously, as this additional damages your brand. We wouldn’t recommend simply waiting out a story and pretending it never happened. Unless the allegations are completely outlandish as you believe others will think the side. (i.e. rude reviews, false reviews, etc.)

Quick Response Timing Is Crucial 

The second you see a slanderous or unfavorable publication online you need to address it. 

For example, if a story is slanderous or fraudulent you ought to voice your side of the story and take on the adversary. So this could mean selecting studies or simply communicating authentic facts to the media.

Adversely, if you’ve done something incorrectly or did provide inadequate service(s) you want to consider what you’re going to do to make everything normal again. 

Don’t stay silent if the situation is serious and hope the customer goes away because they won’t. Not addressing the issue could influence your profits. Implement reverse SEO tactics if necessary. This is how you can hide or suppress information online.

Make a Public Response to the Problem

If you are experiencing bad press due to something you did, it is essential that you address the customer immediately in a public environment. This could be as simple as commenting on the review, emailing them, calling them or if you see them return to your store, in person.

There is a rationale as to why companies contact consumers directly through social media or another public forum. This guarantees that other potential customers will see that the company is attempting to amend the situation to satisfy the needs of their disgruntled client.

Apologize for what you did and attempt to give them a gift to try to gain them back. This could be a return for a faulty product, a full payment refund, or another type of special offer.

It’s not important that you persuade the customer back. What is important is that you worked and others saw that you tried. Maintaining your brand should be your top priority. 

It can take 25 years to build a brand and five seconds to lose it.

Suppress the Negative Content

The one thing that stops a bad story from spreading is a separate story (positive news) that’s much more appealing.

This is why moderately tiny problems grow into major national concerns when the news is slow. Think about whether you can deliver a significant message to the public in order to make the story lessen the brand crisis as a whole.

Crises Happen, Remove Personal Information Will Fix It.

Here at RPI, we have been combatting negative press online for almost a decade. With a knowledgable team of aggressive specialists coupled with our inhouse legal team. We have all the ammunition you need in order to remove negative information online.

If you are striving to oppose this negativity yourself you need to respond promptly to stop a small problem from escalating into a bigger problem.

Every company will have to deal with a brand crisis sooner or later. Implementing a brand crisis management plan is integral to every business’ survival.

Please fill out the form below to learn more about how RPI can assist you in creating a crisis management plan for yourself or your business. We look forward to hearing from you soon.

Please fill out the form below and we will reach out as soon as possible!