It doesn’t matter who you, which brand youve built or how well known you are, your reputation matters. It works silently on your behalf and can either contribute to the success or the failure of your business without you even realising it.
In a world where everyone has access to online platforms 24/7, every post that you share, every podcast you’re interviewed on and every interaction you have with an employee has the potential to work against you.
Regardless of whether you’re a personal brand or a product or servce-based brand, you’re only one decision away from ruining what you’ve spent years and decades building.
HATERS GONNA HATE
You could argue that the bigger you become the more opportunities there are for people to try and tear you down. The lesson to learn is that everything you say and do in private has the potential to be shared with the public. That can have devastating consequences (see this aticle in Business Insider about Mr.Beast as an example)
We’re used to seeing this play out among celebrities and influencers with a huge following, but this could happen just as easily to you too.
You may get caught off guard during an interview, or respond to a negative comment without thinking it through before you open your mouth or type a response.
As the famous saying goes, it’s not what you say, but how you respond to what’s being said about you.
You’re human and you have emotions. Often the first form of defence is attack, but it’s important to remember that while people may not remember what you said, they’ll always remember how you made them feel.
CRISIS COMMS 101
Shit happens. And it’s *usually* unintentional, but if you don’t get on top of mistakes and control the narrative, a slight slip-up can blow up with catastrophic consequences.
Don’t be fooled though. A crisis isn’t always a big, dramatic explosion. Usually it’s the consequence of a small sequence of events that have built up over a long period of time. Like a bottle of coke that has been shaken up, the pressure can no longer be contained, so it explodes and creates a mess.
How you respond to that mess is how you’ll be remembered. How you respond to that mess is what will have an impact on your reputation.
Also, don’t be naive in thinking that what you do in private will stay in the shadows. All you need is for a disgruntled employee to share emails or What’s App messages with the press and all of a sudden the ‘real’ you is uncovered (a’la Elon Musk et al)
If there’s one piece of advice I’d give to leaders, brand owners and personal brands, it would be this: what you do in private will bite you in the butt publicly, especially if it involves your behaviour, how you treat people and how you conduct yourself.
‘ANONYMOUS SOURCES’
A few months ago a memo was leaked from disgruntled workers at Dell, which reinforces the fact that your people have the power to ruin your reputation from the inside out (you can read all about it here.) Your reputation isn’t an outward front, it’s everything that you say and do. It’s every interaction you have with people internally and externally, it even plays a role in every step of the customer experience and customer journey.
As I said to Business Insider in the article about Mr Beast:
“If people aren’t happy they’ll vote with their feet and they’ll be vocal about it too.”
FUELLING THE FIRE
In a world that’s connected to online platforms 24/7, a small incident has the potential to gain traction, build momentum and spread like wildfire within seconds.
Video content plays a huge role in the spread of information, with every man and his wife weighing in on a situation and adding their own opinions, which often fuel the fire.
The ‘cake gate’ situation between an independent baker and Coronation Street actress, Catherine Tyldesely in August 2023 shows you how quickly situations can escalate and garner the wrong type of attention.
It’s also the perfect example of how not to respond to a crisis. In this instance, the actress added fuel to the flames by taking to TikTok to share her side of the story. This led to the story being picked up by national newspapers, further spreading the story, increasing the reach of the story and influencing the opinion of others who were quick to place blame on those involved (see the fallout here)
The best thing to do is control the situation as quickly and calmly as possible.
HOW TO RESPOND TO A CRISIS
Here are my top four tips on how to respond to a crisis:
1. Speak with your PR Agency or PR Advisor to assess the situation and create a strategy for navigating through it.
Sometimes the situation can blow over in the time it takes to assess what’s happened and what may happen as a consequence. In other instances, the longer you remain quiet the worse the situation gets. And then you also run the risk of alerting people that there’s a problem when they didn’t realise there was a problem.
There’s a fine line between the two, so get your agency or advisor involved as soon as possible
2. Keep calm, take a breath, say nothing! Social media has made it easy for situations to spread like wildfire and when your notifications are popping off across multiple platforms, you’re going to feel under attack. It’s a natural instinct to want to defend yourself.
Don’t.
The worst thing to do is respond from an emotional place as this usually escalates the situation and causes you to get into arguments with strangers on the internet.
Your responses will also feed into your reputation and how people perceive you. In the words of Boyzone: You say it best when you say nothing at all (well, at least until you’ve spoken with your PR Agency or Advisor.)
3. Take yourself out of the situation and look at it through an unbiased lens. How does it look when the shoe is on the other foot?
You don’t want to respond in the moment if you’re going to regret what you said further down the line, especially if the comment is used to further prove the point people are making.
We’ve all seen arguments escalate between TV presenters and the person they’re interviewing (usually politicians) and we’ve also seen back and forth conversations online that don’t end well.
Sadly, it’s usually you who comes off worse, which can be avoided if you choose not to interact and engage in negativity in the first place.
4. Address the problem head on. Prepare a statement with your PR team and share it across all relevant platforms (once the situation has been assessed and you know the effects the damage can cause) and say it with meaning and feeling.
People can sense when they’re being fobbed off. Saying sorry often isn’t enough any more, people want to know what you’re going to ensure it doesn’t happen again.
YOU CAN’T POLISH A TURD
There are some people who court negative attention as it plays into the ‘disruptive’ character they’ve chosen to portray (James Watt at BrewDog springs to mind here!)
If you’ve created a challenger brand you may feel as though you need to be controversial for the sake of it, believing that all publicity is good publicity. Some people will love it and buy from you because of it, and other people will decide that they’re not aligned with your values and morals and choose to stop buying from you.
Being ‘disruptive’ is something I have issues with – especially if you’re saying things purely for the shock and awe (I’ve written a blog post about it which you can read here)
If you decide that this is how you want people to view you, but it isn’t actually how you behave in private, then the mask will soon slip and you’ll realise that keeping up the pretence is exhausting.
STOP CHASING CLOUT
It’s entirely possible to share your opinions in a way that shows that you understand a situation but don’t necessarily agree with it. But saying stuff purely for clout, likes, or engagement will bite you in the butt in the long run.
FREEZE, FLIGHT OR FIGHT?
In all honesty, none of these options will enhance your reputation or the public’s perception of you.
However, if you’re being asked difficult questions during an interview, then freezing on the spot does at least make you look human and shows your vulnerable side. Butyou don’t want to stay in freeze mode for too long, otherwise it looks like a weakness that you can’t diffuse the situation.
There’s a reason why the phrase ‘that’s a politicians answer’ exists as they reign supreme when it comes to swerving difficult questions or giving an answer they want to give.
It’s not just in public or in the media when this comes into play.
You’re just as likely to be called out or asked a tricky question during a board meeting or a pitch with an investor. Being prepared is underrated. And while you may enjoy the thrill of being put on the spot, you’re more likely to trip yourself up in these moments when you’re relying on ‘winging it’ as we often reveal too much of the truth in these situations.
If you’re worried about how to respond to negativity on social media, employ a social media team to interact and engage with comments on your behalf (just make sure they’re briefed on how to respond in a crisis!)
If you’re not sure how to handle the scrutiny that journalists may put you under during an interview, invest in media training to prepare yourself as much as possible and practise how to overcome or deflect questions you don’t want to answer.
VULNERABILITY IS NOT A WEAKNESS
Alternatively, as I said in an article on reputation management in the August issue of Communicate Magazine:
“If you’re asked a question and you don’t know the answer, or don’t know how to respond, simply say that you don’t know enough to form an opinion that’s worth sharing.”
The best way to move a conversation on is to shut it down completely (in the right way, of course, which your PR team can help you with)
If you’ve invested time and money in building your brand identity but want to ensure that you’re communicating about it effecively, in a way that scales your brand while maintaining your reputation, then we should talk.
You can schedule a consultation call with me here
