Easing the Sting of a PR Gaffe

Easing the Sting of a PR Gaffe

Your business’ reputation is one of its most valuable assets. Being known as honest, competent and willing to go the extra mile - these are the qualities that draw customers to your door. When your clients are singing your praises publicly, affirming your admirable qualities, you couldn’t ask for better publicity. Unfortunately, the immediacy of social media allows bad buzz to get around just as quickly and effectively. Since perfection is strictly aspirational, it’s inevitable that you’ll experience some bad press - the best you can do is mitigate the damage it does to your reputation when it happens.

Devise a public relations crisis response strategy

It’s prudent to have a PR crisis response strategy to ensure you’ll know how to act when that negative review, complaint or nasty comment begins to make the rounds. When you’re prepared ahead of time, you’ll be empowered to respond calmly, accurately and proportionally. Such a strategy should include these steps:

1. Immediate information-gathering so you’re reacting to the actual issues and not emotionally-charged hype to determine:
   • what exactly happened by checking out all sources, not just the ones complaining the loudest
   • the type of criticism or complaint, e.g. legitimate grievance, misunderstanding, or bad-faith criticism
   • who and how many people are affected
   • who else is involved
   • whether there’s a legal component that requires particular language in your response
2. Assessment to determine scope of damage and reaction. Is the issue one of these:
   • One dissatisfied customer airing their unhappiness publicly
   • A pattern that’s been publicly surfaced
   • A genuine mistake or misstep
   • A bad-faith attack or misinformation

   Your assessment will inform the rest of your response.

3. Acknowledgement - not response

   Take your time gathering and assessing before you announce a full response, but do acknowledge the issue publicly to avoid appearing oblivious, indifferent, or guilty. It’s fair to release a statement that says, "We’re aware of this and taking it seriously. We’ll let you know what we find out."

4. Once you’ve assessed the situation, take appropriate action based upon the facts.

When you’re found to be in the wrong - own it fully. Admit the error, naming it plainly and specifically. Follow that with a sincere apology that states the issue, expresses remorse, and explains what will change to prevent it from happening again. Even if what happened was unintentional, avoid being defensive or adding any qualifier words, like "but" to your apology.

When the criticism is unfair or inaccurate - find out what’s behind it. Could the criticism be based on incomplete information or a misunderstanding? A bad-faith actor? Your public move in a case like this is to calmly and unemotionally correct the record. Provide any documentation or context to further inform and clarify your position. Avoid escalating the situation by engaging with those who may seem determined to drag you through the mud.

5. Follow this up with a public statement summing up what happened and your resolution of it.

This provides your audience with closure on the issue and reassurance that you take your good reputation seriously. Your reputation may not recover overnight, but this is the first right step toward rebounding that might take place over the course of months.

While that action closes the case publicly, a specific individual grievance may remain that needs to be resolved. Do so in a private channel like email, phone or direct message to avoid turning the issue into a public spectacle.

Learn from your mistakes - and tell your audience

A potential crisis only plays out negatively if you don’t learn from it. There’s a lesson to be gleaned in every issue - find it, make a shift in the way you do things moving forward. This demonstrates that you hold yourself to a high standard and that you’re willing to change to improve. If it was a mistake, find the correct way and make sure it gets done properly from here on out. If it was a snag in the relay of information, be sure to open up the communication channel. If it was a misunderstanding, clarify your messaging. That’s a strong PR communication: you were made aware of a problem and you pivoted to take better action.

If you think of a PR crisis as an opportunity for improvement, it can be a chance to showcase the real character and backbone of your business.

Has your business ever weathered a moment of public criticism? What did you learn about handling it?