11 Ethical ways to Neutralize Negative Publicity
In this competitive business environment, a single negative post can damage a brand’s reputation in minutes. Managing negative publicity is crucial for maintaining customer trust and business success. This blog will guide you through 11 ethical ways to neutralize and prevent negative press.
Highlight:
- What is negative publicity
- 11 ways of neutralizing negative publicity
- Can outsourcing a PR agency help in managing negative publicity?
What is Negative Publicity?
Negative publicity is any content shared and distributed across various communication channels that has the potential to harm a brand or company’s reputation. This content can take the form of written articles, videos, images or audio recordings. Negative news can sometimes be generated with an agenda to create a crisis or damage a brand, while other times it may be based on accurate information.
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With the rise of digital communication channels, bad news can spread rapidly and easily. Lastly, negative news can be manipulated or amplified by third parties, leading to greater damage than initially anticipated. Often, negative publicity arises as a result of poor customer service, corporate misconduct, social media outrage, internal culture issues that may be leaked, negative response to crisis and risk management control failures.
Negative publicity can be made less by what consumers or audience know about the brand or company facing the negativity. However, companies have different option to choose how they will respond to the matter at hand. They can either, deny, refuse to take responsibility, take some of the responsibility, take full responsibility and show full remorse.
It is important to note that how a business responds to negative press tells all stakeholder groups (potential clients, investors, the public and employees) a lot about a company, resulting in changed perceptions. Robert W. Weinhold Jr says, “If you don’t tell your story, someone else will, and it certainly won’t be the story you want told. Not handling a crisis costs organizations time, money, customers, and ultimately careers if not planned for”.
Now that there is understanding of what negative publicity is, let us guide you along ways you can use to neutralize and potentially avoid it.
11 ways of neutralizing negative publicity
1. Proactive reputation management
Proactive reputation management involves consistently monitoring and enhancing your company’s reputation to prevent potential negative publicity. This strategy includes several key elements such as maintaining ethical business practices, closely monitoring your brand image on social media and using tools to detect early mentions of negative comments.
Ethical business practices are important in building long-term customer trust and loyalty. Companies like Volkswagen have faced notable fallout due to unethical actions, which solidifies the importance of integrity in business operations. Customers often raise concerns and complaints online, quickly addressing these issues can prevent negative comments that will follow from making a mountain out of a molehill. Therefore, being vigilant and active on all social media platforms is needed.
The use of social media listening tools can help in detecting these types of issues arising from social media platforms, they are able to scan the internet for any mention that is linked to your brand. This approach not only helps in managing immediate fallout but also in building long-term customer trust and loyalty.
2. Gather facts and understand the situation
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To handle negative publicity effectively, start by gathering all the relevant facts and understanding the situation. Use tools like Hootsuite or Mention to monitor what people are saying about your brand on social media. Setting up Google Alerts for your brand name and related terms will notify you whenever there’s new online content about you. This keeps you informed about any negative comments or articles as soon as they appear.
Next, determine where the negative publicity is coming from. Is it a dissatisfied customer, a news story, a competitor or an influencer trying to tarnish your name? Knowing the source helps you decide how to respond appropriately. Also, consider how wide the negative publicity has spread and how much impact it is having. When you understand these details, you can develop a better plan to address the issues and reduce any damage to your brand.
3. Immediate acknowledgment and response
As soon as negative publicity arises, even if it’s one comment. Make sure you respond positively and immediately. Some brands or companies wait a few hours to see how others will take the negativity before they respond or investigate where the source of these news come from. You want to avoid ignoring and denying the issue at hand because that’s what leads to crisis.
Next you need to pay close attention to how your stakeholders or the public is taking this matter (may be frustration, rage or concern) and then reduce yourself below their level of emotion or put yourself in their shoes to come up with the best possible response.
Let known to your employees or team to not let their emotion cloud their judgement and decision-making because the last thing you want to do is build more negativity on top of what you have. Instead, take them to media training where they will be taught effective ways of responding to backlash, endless journalist calls and press conferences.
4. Crisis communication plan
Having a solid crisis communication plan is important for managing negative publicity effectively. This plan should include strategies for smooth yet transparent communication with stakeholders that enables addressing issues as soon as possible to prevent them from escalating.
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A communication plan means a company is able to initiate hard conversations with stakeholders before the matter gets out of hand. This builds a foundation of trust and credibility that shows a company’s willingness to be accountable, share transparent messages and respond to any questions honestly.
5. Craft a clear and honest message
It is of most importance to share information for people to understand in all situations. During a negative press coverage, your stakeholders have probably read one side of the story that is against you. Although it may contain accurate information, it is possible that some of it is modified to escalate the issue.
You creating and sharing open and honest messages will not only tell your side of the story which is the truth, but it may give people hope that you had no negative agenda that resulted in this current issue. While crafting your messages, use transparency as your core guide because in that, you are able to provide proof should the need arise. Another thing, being open and honest works in your company or brand favor as it shows how accountable and mature you are in everything you face. This solidifies how you value integrity.
6. Engage with the audience
The same communication channels you use to disseminate information about your business is the same one you must use to engage with your audience. The most important of them are social media platforms, which are places your stakeholders spend most of their time on. These platforms allow a real-time conversation that leads to finding out how people feel or think about your brand after finding out this negative news against it. Instead of just engaging for the mere fact of doing so, use the comments they leave to find ways of making the situation better. Negative publicity can provide valuable insights into customer perceptions and areas for improvement.
For example, you may find comments stating concerns about they grey areas your team has been missing in the market that might have hindered your success, find new ways of doing things better in terms of product production and delivery and many more.
You may also use this opportunity to ask for ways they think is better to resolve the issue or crisis at hand. This will give them the feeling of being one with your brand as they have a say in how you handle life-threatening matters which further strengthens the relationships you have already built.
7. Use positive relationships with media
Throughout the brand visibility process, your business would have built relationships with journalists and certain media outlets. In times of trouble, you will discover who your allies are and who are not. It is advisable to contact a few of those media contacts to seek positive media coverage that will save your brand. Reach out to media contacts who have provided favorable media coverage and engagement in the past, they may be happy to present your side of the story positively and convince the public about your commitment to quality and customer satisfaction, which can help mitigate the damage.
For public support, you can encourage journalists and influencers to share your official statements and supportive messages. You must never forget to thank the journalists who helped in disseminating accurate information during your drowning moments because it strengthens your relationship for future interactions.
8. Monitor public sentiment and feedback
After you disseminate your responses, monitor how people are taking it. Regularly reviewing and analyzing this feedback helps in assessing the effectiveness of your response strategy. If the feedback indicates that the public perception is still negative, it may be necessary to adjust your approach.
Consider issuing follow-up statements, providing additional information or taking further actions to demonstrate your commitment to resolving the issue. By continuously monitoring public sentiment, you can stay informed about the evolving narrative and ensure that your brand’s reputation is being managed effectively. This strategy approach not only helps in mitigating the impact of negative publicity but also builds trust with your audience by showing that you value their opinions and are dedicated to improvement.
9. Empower and train employees
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Empowering and training employees during negative publicity and crisis means giving them the tools and confidence to handle tough situations well. This involves teaching them how to communicate effectively during a crisis, interact with the media and provide good customer service. By creating a supportive environment and ensuring they are well-prepared, employees can respond to customer questions and media inquiries with clear and accurate information.
Training should include practice scenarios to build their confidence. It’s also important to have clear communication channels and protocols so that employees know who to contact and what to do during a crisis. This helps ensure a unified and consistent response. Also, they are more likely to remain calm and composed, reducing the risk of spreading incorrect information or causing panic.
10. Long-term follow-up
After dealing with negative publicity, brands often think the issue is over once the immediate backlash dies down. However, people remember how a brand handled the situation and look for real changes. Staying engaged after the initial response shows the brand’s commitment to fixing the problem and avoiding future issues. This means providing regular updates on actions taken, sharing progress and communicating any new developments related to the incident.
11. Learn and adapt
The commonly quoted phrase “There’s no such thing as bad publicity” by an American showman and circus owner P.T. Barnum is both true and false.
In as much as you get bad publicity, your brand gets discovered by new and curious people who want to find the tea on your brand. This may be good for start-up brands who needs any type of exposure and might increase their sales. For a big and well-known brand on the other hand, bad publicity means disaster because it losses trust, sales and confidence.
However, when it is all said and done, each and every brand learns a lot from negative publicity. It is up to the team to learn to do things better or be scattered and eaten away by the harsh business environment. Issues and crisis help businesses know the importance of proactive responsive measures, patience, timely responses and prioritizing honesty.
Can outsourcing a PR agency help in managing negative publicity?
Outsourcing a PR agency can be highly effective in managing negative publicity. These agencies bring a wealth of experience and specialized knowledge to handle various crisis situations. By so saying, they know how to write the right messages, respond positively to negative comments and control the narrative in a way that protects and even improves a brand’s reputation.
With their expertise, PR agencies can quickly identify the root cause of negative publicity and implement strategies to eliminate its impact. Their established media connections also ensure that your side of the story is heard, giving you a better chance to manage public perception effectively. These PR agency teams provide an objective perspective, which can be very helpful during a crisis.
Internal teams might be too close to the issue which often leads to emotional responses or biased decisions. An external agency can assess the situation more, offering strategic advice based on what’s best for the brand’s long-term reputation. Additionally, they appropriate resources to monitor media channels continuously which allows them to respond to new developments in real time
Are you reading this blog trying to find ways to protect your brand from negative publicity or just need a backup PR agency in times of trouble? Contact us today for a free consultation. Email us at info@twelvemarketinginc.co.za to get a quote and stay on the safer side.
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