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When a PR crisis occurs the situation can escalate quickly. Photograph: Jim Holden/Alamy
When a PR crisis occurs the situation can escalate quickly. Photograph: Jim Holden/Alamy

Saving your reputation when a PR scandal hits

This article is more than 8 years old

Keeping cool in a crisis isn’t easy, but swift action can save your brand from long-term damage

The emissions scandal has done so much damage to the Volkswagen brand that it could take the company years to recover.

Although small business owners are unlikely to find themselves facing a PR disaster on such a huge scale, they can end up in hot water. When they do, the way they handle the situation will determine the impact it has on their brand and reputation.

When a PR crisis unfolds there are pitfalls to avoid and steps that need to be taken, says Richard Merrin, managing director of PR consultancy Spreckley.

“It can be a time of confusion, anxiety and distraction, so focus on supporting the overall objectives behind the business; even when you’re facing a barrage of media and customer enquiries,” he says.

Poorly managed communications can damage a brand, and erode employee, stakeholder and customer engagement. But managing them well can lead to increased productivity and engagement.

The science, technical and medical (STM) publishing industry is big business, however the ease with which new publishers can enter the market has paved the way for a large number of rogue publishers eager to cash in on the “publish or perish” mantra.

Paul MacKenzie-Cummins, managing director at ClearlyPR, recalls one STM media client that had been branded as being a rogue publisher, a situation made worse after an interview between the company CEO and a leading figure within the STM media backfired.

He says: “The interview exposed a critical weakness in the client’s business model and raised questions about their credibility as an ethical publisher. This saw several other STM media outlets hold our client up as an example of all that is wrong within the open access publishing community.”

With a company’s bottom line inextricably linked to its reputation, it is essential to face any accusations head on – a mantra that ClearlyPR has dubbed “tell it first, tell it fast”.

MacKenzie-Cummins says: “We organised a series of media interviews for the CEO and secured a number of speaker slots at key industry events championing greater ethical standards in open access publishing.

“By being clear on the corporate position and key messaging the client was able to minimise the damage that had been caused, and ultimately re-position itself as a company that may have made errors in the past but was now leading the way in improving standards.”

The risk of reputational damage following a PR crisis is now that much greater thanks to social media and the speed at which negative comments can be shared.

When the Magical Journey, a Christmas-themed attraction designed by Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen, closed after just one day following hundreds of complaints [it re-opened several days later, only to close for good shortly before Christmas when a financial backer pulled out], some of its disgruntled customers turned to the company’s Facebook page to voice their anger.

Neil McLeod, crisis management expert at reputation management agency PHA Media, says: “A business can only launch once and needs to get it right. This one clearly got it badly wrong. Could it have rescued the situation? I think it could.”

“A business needs a social media strategy to deal with negativity. This took on a life of its own before the company had a chance to act,” says McLeod. “When the company did act, making light of the situation and making fun of their customers, it blew the whole thing apart. Those sort of flippant comments can haunt companies beyond the crisis.”

What the company should have done was monitor the sentiment on social media and act quickly and decisively to not only fix the problems, but to tell people that it was fixing the problems.

“Somebody senior needed to communicate this by various channels and if possible, the complaints should have been dealt with one-by-one off line,” adds McLeod.

While it is almost impossible to avoid negative coverage 24/7 on social media, it is possible to limit the damage, as Hannah Butcher, senior social media specialist at digital marketing agency White.net explains.

She says: “Whether something is reported on social media, on a blog, or in the press, it’s important that all key members of the team are aware of the issue and buy into any management strategy to stop things from getting any worse.”

A good strategy is to create an initial response to the crisis, as well as actively finding opportunities for more positive coverage.

“This should help to make the crisis old news as quickly as it has come about, and should be more fruitful for brand image in the coming days and months,” adds Butcher.

Sometimes companies can find themselves in difficulty simply by being associated with a wider issue. This was the case for a regional dairy, which came under pressure from farmers over milk prices.

Louis Hill, partner at The Source Partnership, which represented the dairy, says: “There’s a very active ‘Farmers for Action’ campaign targeting dairies and supermarkets with blockades, preventing milk from being delivered for processing which would compromise their business, and campaigning outside stores to raise awareness of the issue and potentially damage the reputation of those being targeted.

“Our client is not large enough to affect the wider UK milk price or pay more to farmers for the milk it buys, as essentially they’re trading in a commodity and need to remain competitive. What’s important is that they stay out of the media and avoid attracting the attention of campaign groups such as Farmers for Action.”

The key lesson that small firms must learn is that when a crisis occurs, it must be dealt with quickly and robustly to be contained.

“Damage happens when there is a delay in coming clean and stating the remedy,” says David Stoch, director of Meerkat PR. “Clean, swift and credible action can save brands from long-term PR damage. ‘Sorry’ means nothing, but timing and remedies do.”

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