How Does Your Business Fight Negative Publicity?

Whether your company is large or small, it's increasingly difficult to do business these days without eventually finding yourself on the receiving end of negative publicity.

All too often, such bad publicity has little or no basis in fact, but in a world that's increasingly wired, even unfounded criticism can spread like wildfire and do considerable damage.

From Tweet to Lawsuit

The origin of the negative PR can be as innocuous as a critical tweet from a disgruntled customer or a former employee bearing a grudge.

On the other end of the spectrum, it can be headline-grabbing news in the form of a product liability suit or an employment discrimination investigation.

Whether the bad publicity is true or not, it's important that your business acknowledge it in a timely fashion. If it's clearly untrue, your news release should so state and back it up by supplying any proof that you have to the contrary.

Admit Responsibility

If you're getting bad press for good reason, you should be forthcoming about that as well. At the very least, indicate that you are undertaking an internal investigation to determine the truth of the negative report.

If your business is clearly at fault, make amends to the injured parties and promise to do everything possible to undo whatever damage has been caused and to ensure that it won't happen again.

Keep Your Cool

Above all, whether the negative publicity is accurate or not, maintain your cool. Don't write a press release or hold a press conference until you've managed to clear your head of the initial burst of anger the bad news may trigger.

Even in the case of an unfounded report, which is almost certain to unleash a storm of righteous indignation, it will not serve your company's public image to let that show.

Better to cool off, and then present a reasoned defense of your business, incorporating a point-by-point explanation of what happened in fact and how that might have been misinterpreted.

Keep Public Informed

In the event that your business is at fault, let the public know that you're aware of the problem and actively seeking a remedy so that it will not happen again. Spell out in detail what is being done to compensate customers and/or employees who have been negatively affected.

Depending on the magnitude of the bad publicity, you may want to consider following up your initial response with a few updates to inform the public of what you are doing to address the problem.

Sit Down with Media

If the source of the bad publicity is a single newspaper, radio station or other media outlet, consider setting up a private meeting to discuss the matter.

If your business was not contacted for a response before the negative story came out, ask why and see what your company can do to foster a more positive relationship with the media in future.

In any sit-downs with the media, control your anger.

If your aim is to build better communications with the media, a display of temper will do nothing to improve ties and may well result in additional negative publicity.

Evaluate PR Efforts

A brush with bad press may prompt you to re-examine your company's public relations department, if any and what changes might be made to help shape a more accurate public image for your business.

If your company is small and has no PR department, you need to reassess what you're doing in-house to keep the public informed of your company's activities and how that effort might be improved.

Lastly, in the event that your company is doing little or nothing on the public relations front, it might be wise to retain the services of an outside PR firm to help out.