Back in 2017, Watsons Malaysia was in hot water for their Legenda Cun Raya advertisement inspired by the Dayang Senandong legend that netizens dubbed as racist. They issued not one but two apologies as netizens felt that their first apology was insincere. The controversy became too much that the advertisement had to be taken down and removed from all channels. Since then, the case has been one of the few PR crises in Malaysia that every organization can learn from.
A PR crisis usually happens when an organization, brand or individual gets into hot soup due to negative or damaging publicity. Someone from your company may say something that sounds wrong online or offline and - boom! - he or she gets public backlash for it. What should we do when that happens? Here are a few PR tips for crisis management.
Plan before it happens
Repeat this mantra - there is no such thing as over preparing. Social media is a great platform not only to boost someone’s image but also to help fix it whenever something goes awry. Have a social media schedule ready in case of anything.
Create a crisis management team
The team should consist of PR-trained personnels who know the dos and don’ts of PR. They have a list of experts to contact for verification and can draft messages to send to the right people.
Create holding statement templates
Holding statements show that you’re aware that a crisis happened and that you’re investigating the matter at the moment. Reviewing these templates for the crisis may help to soothe any negative impact upon your organization.
Comms and intelligence
Always monitor how your brand or organization is portrayed online or offline. Intel is not only useful for you to gauge your performance, it can also show early signs of negative publicity.
Identify influencers and brand ambassadors
If your organization has a brand ambassador, other than the CEO, he or she could also make public statements to help soften the blow from any negative publicity. If you don’t have influencers or brand ambassadors, then choose the right person depending on the crisis you’re facing.
Gather facts before you speak
Ask yourself - What is the reason behind the sudden negative publicity of my brand? Did
someone respond badly to a customer? How did the public respond to the crisis? Always keep yourself updated prior to coming up with a response statement.
Accept responsibility and apologize
Recognize that whatever happened was a mistake. Apologize and take responsibility for it. You can also share how you will make things right and how it won’t be repeated. Depending on the magnitude of the negative publicity, spread your apology through the proper channels such as social media, press releases, blogs or TV appearances.
After you’ve handled the PR crisis, you must monitor how your brand is doing in the public eye. It’s also crucial to analyze the crisis management plan and learn how to improve it. Among the things you should never do in times of crises are: pretending the crisis never happened, attack someone else for it and having a really slow response to it.
A PR crisis doesn’t have to escalate further and you can turn things around for your brand when it happens. As long as you respond properly, you can take the crisis as a time to improve things at work.
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