No matter the size of the business, the principles for addressing a brand crisis remain the same.
For SMEs, reputation is everything, so when you see big brands having serious brand trouble, it can feel a little concerning. I mean, if they can’t get it right with their huge marketing budgets and expert publicity teams, how can small-business owners expect to weather a PR storm efficiently?
The answer is: You own it.
Last year, we witnessed some rather massive brand bungles (Optus, Qantas and Splendour in the Grass), where the management, or more accurately mismanagement, of their respective situations led to serious brand damage. Each was categorically responsible for the issues that occurred, but rather than stepping up with integrity to face the public, they failed to take any level of responsibility, instead laying blame on external causes and in some cases even blaming their customers. Had any of them made the decision to accept fault and attempt to rectify the issues, the narratives would have played out very differently.
As detrimental as it was for them, however, for us as small-business owners, it’s fantastic because it perfectly illustrates how not to PR.
So, what is the right way to handle a PR nightmare?
I’ll give you an example from my career to demonstrate how a publicity team tackles these types of situations on a large scale. Hopefully you can then apply these tactics on a smaller scale if, god forbid, you ever find your business in a brand crisis.
“Don’t wait for your customer to complain, get in there and own it.”
Back in pre-COVID days, I was working for a PR agency in London, and we were hired by a high-profile, global car rental company in Europe, because their brand reputation was going up in flames.
Their media reach, coverage and share of voice were all relatively high, but unfortunately not in a good way. Scathing reviews were pouring in daily and the media was having an absolute field day.
In the wake of the bad press, our first task was collating and assessing the feedback to get a clear idea of the issue, or multiple issues in this particular case. The results weren’t pretty.
The sentiment analysis metrics for the brand were incredibly low, and we found a wide variety of complaints, ranging from accusations of bogus cleaning charges, right through to a class-action consumer protection suit being lodged due to clauses in their car hire contracts.
In situations like that, counteracting with proactive PR campaigns is pointless, so it was time for full-scale damage control. Our priority was not to generate positive publicity, but to address the negative press. For this, we took a three-phase approach.
Firstly, we needed to respond directly to the complaints and accept responsibility where applicable. Apologies go a long way in maintaining brand reputation. Often, the greatest desire of a wronged customer is acknowledgment. So that was step one.
Secondly, alongside an apology, compensation is sometimes required and, even in instances where it isn’t warranted, having something to offer as a gesture of goodwill is advisable. In the case of our client, we had to tailor the compensation to suit the complaints. We looked at options such as partial or full refunds, discounts on future rentals, and even a free car rental for equal or lesser value to the hire in question.
Finally, we issued a formal press release, addressing the recent issues and highlighting the ways in which they’d been rectified, along with direct statements from the CEO.
This strategy slowed the immediate backlash, appeased the angry customers, and prevented the bad press from getting out of control in the short term.
Now that the fires had been extinguished, it was time to look at some proactive PR. It wasn’t enough just to escape the crisis, we needed to generate positive publicity to get our client’s brand back on the map as a reliable car hire company.
To create a buzz, we launched some engagement campaigns. The first and most crucial was influencer collaboration. We teamed up with a carefully selected group of well-known travel influencers and offered them free car hire in exchange for a review.
Secondly, we partnered up with a couple of high-profile travel suppliers and ran an online competition for people to win a free holiday that included flights, accommodation and, obviously, car hire.
Finally, we generated a whole lot of press focusing on the positive impacts the company was making. For example, its carbon offset program, the jobs being created by its new regional branches, and its latest sponsorship deals, one of which was an English Premier League football team.
Within six months, our internal metrics showed that we’d improved brand perception by a substantial amount and their share of voice was sitting up around 30 per cent, which was on target for its market share at the time.
As small-business owners, what can we take away from this case study and how do we apply it in a smaller-scale PR crisis?
- The customer is always right, even when they’re wrong: Never publicly attack or blame your customers for mistakes, it can deter potential customers and make you look unprofessional.
- Don’t respond in the heat of the moment: It can be easy to take things personally, especially when you’ve done everything right. But it’s important to remain calm and objective. Take a moment to breathe, and tell the client that you understand their concerns and you need some time to investigate and/or respond.
- Acceptance, not avoidance: If someone leaves a bad review or lodges a complaint, don’t ignore it. Get in touch to understand exactly what the problem was and address it. Most of the time, people just want to be heard.
- Get ahead of the game: If something has gone wrong, don’t wait for your customer to complain, get in there and own it, and give them a solution to rectify it.
- Listen and learn: Mistakes can often be good growth moments, so be receptive to the idea that perhaps there’s room for improvement. If you take the time to review your service, process or product honestly, you may find that there are things you could tweak to avoid the same issue in future.
Mistakes happen and they happen to everyone. After all, we’re only human, but how we respond to them is the most important part of the equation and the difference between losing brand credibility, or your customers staying loyal to you.
Integrity is everything when it comes to public perception, so it’s up to you to maintain your brand’s reputation no matter what dramas arise.
This story first appeared in issue 41 of the Inside Small Business quarterly magazine
