When the company of whose reputation you are the custodian goes into crisis, it can often seem like the worst thing you can imagine has happened. Thanks to the ease of social media and the Internet, a small problem could turn into a big threat to the reputation of the company. This leaves the company vulnerable to criticism from various factions and can even lead to lost customers, lost consumers, distrust of investors, and lag behind competitors.
To counter the effects of a crisis and provide the ideal crisis communication support, This is what you should do:
Share a simple and consistent answer with stakeholders and the world:
Once the crisis hits, you must issue a statement from the firm commenting on it. This is the official position of the firm and it should be simple and straightforward. You need to make sure you address the crisis, but not aggressively. This official statement should also be known to all stakeholders, so that if they are ever asked to comment on the crisis, their message is also in line with the official booth of the firm. This is essential to deliver a cohesive post-crisis outreach message.
Pay attention to the word on the street:
After a crisis, it is very important to monitor what is said about your company, be it on social media or in the news. You should be able to modify your strategy in real time according to the level of damage that the crisis has caused to the reputation of the company. To measure this level, it is necessary to analyze the perception that the public has of the company periodically after the crisis. If a comment deserves an official response, make sure you are the one to take notice to avoid rash statements or unauthorized views of the company.
Apologize or clarify appropriately:
Depending on the level of the crisis, you may need to apologize or clarify a situation to clients or clients. If it’s just a bad review or an inaccurate accusation, it can be nipped in the bud with a direct apology or any other appropriate action. But if the crisis is large enough to have a negative impact on the reputation of the company, even at a moderate level, an immediate apology or clarification is required on a larger scale. For example, on October 6, 2014 Flipkart had planned a mega sale on its e-commerce website under the title Big Billion Day. But the supply of discounted items couldn’t keep up with demand, servers failed, and many online shoppers were left dissatisfied and angry. As a way to quell the crisis, Flipkart’s founders issued a massive letter of apology, clarifying the unexpected customer demand situation as well as technical failures and apologizing for not keeping their promise. This largely diffuse tension and the personal note in the apology letter made it that much more difficult to hold a grudge.
By following some of the steps mentioned above, you can effectively put crisis communication services into action and ensure that your company’s reputation can get back on track intelligently and in a timely manner after a crisis.
