Welcome to the Media Mastery mini-series, where we look at the five most common challenges business owners face while trying to build a leading brand.
Negative press will eventually happen when you start getting meaningful media coverage. In the internet era, news moves fast–unfortunately, the old adage that “all press is good press” is untrue. Bad coverage is bad for business, but you can use it as a growth platform.
Whether it’s a minor criticism or a complete media meltdown, I always tell my clients to have an action plan so they can respond calmly and deliberately.
Stay Calm
Negative press isn’t a death sentence for your brand or business. Whatever crisis or scandal you’re facing, you need to go in with a clear head. While it’s true that a quick response is required, it doesn’t need to be immediate — you always have time to take a breath.
This is the part where you need to look rationally at your business’s role in the issue at hand. It’s difficult, but you must look in the mirror and acknowledge any wrongdoing you or your company are responsible for.
Ask yourself: Is the press coverage criticism or an accusation? If it’s criticism, generally, that’s an opinion. If you aren’t being accused of wrongdoing, sometimes it’s safest to let the situation blow over. For example, if someone posted a bad review of your work, that’s okay. That’s going to happen. No further action may be needed.
If it’s an accusation, ask yourself: are you guilty of whatever wrongdoing they are accusing you of doing? Try to leave emotions out of it. Either way, you’ll have to address it. Fully understanding the part you played is critical. The following two steps will walk you through the process.
Respond Deliberately
If you’ve been accused of wrongdoing, you need to respond. The only question is, how?
Your response needs to be proportional to the accusations. If a client accuses you of cheating them, a proper response might be to contact that client directly and try to resolve their concerns. A more significant response is warranted if someone publically accuses someone in your business of a criminal offense.
First, decide if you need legal help. Then, as much as you can, take complete responsibility for your role in whatever happened.
In the era of the #MeToo movement, we’ve seen many apologies –- sincere and not -– from businesses and high-level professionals. The public has gotten pretty good at seeing through non-apologies. So, it’s better to own your mistakes (whether it’s 100% of the accusation or only a small portion) and commit to doing better than to go on the defensive.
Getting defensive (or, even worse, accusing someone else) is a quick way to make a bad situation much worse. If you issue a planned apology, you will often gain respect and have an opportunity to take control of the narrative.
Coming forward with a planned apology or addressing concerns gives you and the media something to write about. It can cease speculation, show off your leadership, and ease concerns from the people most impacted by negative press.
As a final tip, while addressing negative press is an opportunity to open communication with the public, do not treat it as an open interview. Stay focused, concise, and sincere.
Are you dealing with negative press right now? Or maybe you want to build a plan to protect yourself against it in the future?
Contact us today to see how we can help!
