In today’s world, it doesn’t take much to make grab a headline or two. One mild controversy can lead to multiple news stories or posts online. This is good news if a business or individual does something they are proud of, but it is bad news if it is due to controversy or scandal.

As we’ve seen now more than ever our Boardroom PR and Crisis communication strategies have become crucial to a business long term success and by us minimizing and in some cases erasing negative and false PR before it gets out of control has saved our clients hundreds of millions of dollars in intangible goodwill.

Managing negative press is huge for any business or individual trying to save face and still come out looking good. It can be tricky, but our corporate reputation management and boardroom public relations strategy is one of the leading ways to manage a crisis when it comes to successfully navigating through negative publicity. Here is a closer look at what we provide for all clients, as well as some general tips to keep in mind.

Preparing For The Worst

Perhaps the best tip for any business owner or individual is to have a plan in place if the worst happens. News travels extremely fast these days, so every single day that bad publicity is making noise, severe damage is being done to a reputation.

Many big companies have a response team in place in case a crisis does hit. Since these companies are always dealing with one thing or another, they might decide to have a team in-house to handle things. For small businesses or individuals, a company like Boardroom PR can certainly help quite a bit.

By having a response team ready to go, action can be taken right away. A lot of it comes down to controlling the narrative as much as possible, before things get out of hand.

Stick To The Strategy

Once the initial response to a crisis is crafted and a plan is put in place, it is important to stick to the plan. A business can start to lose its way if the plan is constantly changing. This means crafting the right message, putting everything together in the right way, and just being as straightforward as possible. It is important for the entire team to all be on the same page.

One such strategy in response to the crisis is to accept responsibility right away, apologize and promise to make changes to prevent something from happening in the future. Once that is said, the strategy should be stuck to in order to gain back trust.

Keep Tabs On How The Crisis Evolves

After the initial wave of issues with a crisis, it is important to work on controlling the narrative once again. An in-depth understanding of how to handle negative publicity and to remove, replace, and delete unwanted content from Google search results is not something any public relations firm in Chicago, Los Angeles, or New York can handle, and thus the reason they often outsource their work to us. Really any quality public relations firm will understand that the job is far from over just because there is no new news coming out once we’ve deleted all of the potential unwanted news pieces and tweets that could be potentially removed.

Once the wave of stories comes through, repair mode is the next step. This can mean pushing for positive news stories, making public appearances, and more. Above all else, it is extremely important to move forward, with an eye on how the past looks.

Be Strong, But Not Defensive

A common mistake that a lot of businesses or individuals make is to be defensive whenever negative news or information comes out. The fact is, any person who owns a business should expect some type of negativity to come their way at some point in time. It pretty much comes with the territory.

It is fine to be strong about the mission of a business, what the plan is going forward after a crisis and more, but it is important to stop short of being defensive. In almost every single case, that is just going to result in more backlash. Not only that, but it will make any apology or owning up to a mistake look insincere.

Handling Poor Reviews/Comments Online

Going through a crisis in the press is one thing, but online, there are many people ready to rip businesses apart by leaving reviews or comments. It can be very tempting to try to respond to these, but it should be done with extreme caution. This falls under the same category of staying away from being too defensive. Being a keyboard warrior online can make a business look worse, and only lead to a bigger crisis.

Instead of responding directly to those reviews and comments, it might be a smarter idea to stick to general statements. That is the best way to avoid getting into a back and forth that is virtually win less online.

How PR Firms Can Help With Crisis Management

While major companies go through one PR crisis after another, a smaller business or individual might just have to deal with one problem in a lifetime. However, that crisis can make or break a company, simply because so much is on the line.

Companies with a strong corporate base need what we call our Boardroom PR strategy in place and we’re here to work with them to help establish the proper protocols when an emergency happens. As CEO or head of communications, you need to have a solid understanding of strategy for the many cases and scenarios of what can happen and go wrong at any given time day or night. Whether it’s, locally or all over the world remember the internet is global and information travels fast especially when it’s something negative. The Reputation Management Company has a high probability and chances are, we have worked on a similar type of crisis in the past. Online Public relation companies can help online and offline for those businesses that really have no answers. Above all else, We can put together a plan and act fact, preventing the issue from bleeding too much and becoming an uncontrollable situation. It is always advised to at least schedule a consultation with an ORM and PR firm to see how they can help.