Public relations disasters are inescapable in today’s world. The ease of interaction with brands, along with the widespread coverage of social media, means that public relations disasters can become raging fires before the company has a chance to put them out.
To prevent a crisis from degenerating into a truly devastating event, a company needs to know how to reinvent itself from the ashes of a significant PR fallout. To guide companies that have found themselves walking this road, 10 experts from Forbes Agency Council examine the steps a company ought to take when it considers rebranding itself after a public relations debacle.
Members share their best tips for reclaiming your brand image after a PR crisis.
Photos courtesy of the individual members
1. Pinpoint The Cause And Fix It
In scrambling to get through a PR crisis, many companies neglect to fix what caused it in the first place. If it’s just a name change, a rebrand won’t solve the problem or convince consumers, especially today when things live online forever. Businesses must communicate clearly how they’re doing things differently so that a similar situation never happens again. Only then will they regain trust. – Michael Gordon, Group Gordon Inc
2. Be Honest About What Caused The Crisis
Post-crisis, it is important for the management team to be honest with itself about how the crisis happened. Crises are not the result of poor PR; they are the result of poor management. To recover, adopt a mindset of putting the customer first and create transparency around all decisions, even tough ones. If you are forthright with your stakeholders, they will cut you slack when mistakes happen. – Robert Finlayson, Zeno Group
3. Have Genuine Empathy For Your Consumers
If a business has been around for generations, it’s not as easy to do a quick rebrand. To manage risk during a PR crisis it’s important to have genuine empathy with your customers so you can deliver a human reaction and response. Transparent communication in wrongdoings and an acceptance to take responsibility for the actions needed moving forward can help a brand fail forward gracefully. – Jenna Ahern, Guardian Owl Digital
4. Focus On The Consumer
If you are facing a major PR crisis, focus on the consumer. Their satisfaction should be your priority. People can forgive a brand almost everything if they are loyal to it, and the best way to build loyalty is by offering relevant products or services. I can think of at least five major scandals around Apple, but people still buy their products because the brand is relevant for them. – Solomon Thimothy, OneIMS
5. Be Authentic
One thing to keep in mind is that the companies that handle a crisis well — by showing appropriate amounts of care and concern, proactively addressing real issues and communicating honestly and effectively — can usually recover. Sometimes they even end up in a better place than they started. Be authentic. – Matt Doud, Planit
6. Rediscover Your Identity
The most important thing to do in the face of a PR crisis is to respond quickly and appropriately with action that aims to regain public trust in your brand. Many brands try to get through the crisis as quickly as possible. Instead, use it as an opportunity to reconnect with your core values and remind the public of who you are. Then take action to align your messaging and operations around them. – Mary Ann O’Brien, OBI Creative
7. Communicate Transparently
A crisis doesn’t mean that you need to rebrand. Don’t try to hide from the past. You do need to restore credibility, so proactively communicate in an authentic way with your most credible spokesperson. Explain what happened, what actions you are taking to prevent it from happening again and show empathy to those impacted. Then take action to right your wrongs. That speaks louder than words. – Jim Heininger, The Rebranding Experts
8. Reestablish Trust First
Loss of trust is the biggest consequence for any company. It’s incredibly important to reach out to your audience, take responsibility for your actions, apologize and nurture empathy. Show them why they trusted you in the first place. Listen to their concerns and create a positive feedback loop. – Ashar Jamil, Digitally Up
9. Be Internally-Focused First
A brand is the essence of your organization and encompasses communications, operations and culture. If the worst case scenario happens and rebranding is the best course of action, launch the new brand internally first. All employees and key stakeholders should be able to communicate the “why” behind the rebrand so they can fully embrace the change and be ambassadors for the new brand. – Patricia Rioux, Team ODEA
10. Reconnect, Don’t Rebrand
You don’t own your brand; today, you manage it. In most cases, it’s the goodwill a well-managed brand has before a crisis that helps it through. Making a drastic change or “redo” on the brand can be seen as inauthentic and cause greater mistrust. Leaders need to consider addressing whether their brand was “true” before the crisis. If so, there’s no need to rebrand, just re-engage and build trust. – Bo Bothe, BrandExtract, LLC
