What happens when a successful brand is suddenly associated with a flawed product or a fraudulent employee? Usually the company’s reputation takes a hit and right beside it sharing the sucker punch is the bottom-line. Is there any hope after reputation damage? Should investors just cut and run? Not necessarily. A good PR team may be all you need to regain the trust of consumers and get back on track to business success.

Get Ahead of the Situation

Start by taking responsibility for the lapse that caused the reputation damage. Acknowledging the error and publicizing an apologetic stance can go a long way in restoring your brand’s image. The general public tends to respond more favourably to entities that take responsibility for errors than those that take a hard lined stance. Timeliness is also crucial. The longer the company stays silent on the matter, the greater the damage to its reputation. Today’s consumer values a proactive approach to corporate blunders as well as transparency and accountability. All three factors need to be evident in the post dilemma communication delivered on behalf of the company to the public.

This does not mean however, that you should accept responsibilities for issues that were not genuinely the responsibility of the company. You’ll also have to weight very carefully the financial liability that the business could incur by acknowledging fault. Sometimes a great tactic is to find some middle ground.
 
Deal With Legal Issues
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Of course legal issues usually follow reputation damage. Your PR team will be crucial in helping the public understand and appreciate the company’s legal stance on the matter. Legal experts, will of course advise whether a settlement is in the best interest of the company or if a legal battle is feasible. Either way prompt action certainly beats dead silence or inaction. It is then up to the PR team to present this stance to the public in a strategic manner. The stance taken by the company is important, but the way it is presented to the public is even more crucial to charting a positive way forward.
 
Flip the Coin
 
 Shifting focus from the unfortunate occurrence to positive happenings will help to restore the brand’s image in the eyes of the world. Social media and other virtual platforms are very useful where this is concerned. After a reputation plunge, a good PR team will work to shift the focus to all the positives surrounding the brand. Part of this plan will no doubt, include the generation of a collection of positively skewed content. This may include anything from SEO articles to videos showing the company being a good corporate citizen by engaging in community development or donating to charities. A savvy PR professional will know exactly how to post these strategically on the corporate website, social media pages and in blogs in order to generate positive discussions centered on the brand. Connections with news media outlets can also be leveraged in order to broaden the ‘good publicity’ scope.

As many companies have discovered before, reputation management is the perfect response to any image crisis that could affect a company. If done effectively, the company could soon be back on the path to commercial success.
 

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Is your company using the right PR strategy? Is it time for a change. These can be difficult questions to answer, especially for companies that are relatively new. Thankfully, there are some signals that can help you to determine if you need a new approach to PR (or possibly a new PR team!).

You’ve Been at it a While

Of course any PR strategy needs time to work. Experts advise that you allow three to six months for the full impact of PR strategies to be seen. If you’ve gone more than a year using the same strategy and experiencing no positive changes, it is time to look in a new direction.

It is important to note though that since varying PR strategies have varying timelines though, your best option is to arrive at a set time with your PR team before the program is launched. If for instance, the team guaranteed an ROI of 12 months then you should start seeing some tangible results by that time. In fact, if most of your PR goals are not met by this agreed deadline it is time to call your team back to the drawing board.

A lot of time also needs to be invested into the conceptualizing and development of the strategy. Strategies that are crafted in haste are likely to have flaws than those that go through meticulous scrutiny and adjustments.

Brand Awareness

You can measure brand awareness among the target audience to see whether your PR strategies are having the effect you envisioned. If your target audience seems largely ignorant of your brand and what it offers, your PR strategies have not been effective.

You’re Stuck in the Past

If Your company has not stepped into the digital age with PR, it is definitely time for a change. While traditional PR tools and methods such as press releases, interviews and editorials remain relevant, they no longer form the nucleus off a sound PR program. More than half of the world’s population explores the virtual world which makes internet based PR a gold mine for attracting a wide client base. If you have not been leveraging the benefits of social media platforms (like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram), blogging, website management digital tools (like chatbots) and artificial intelligence, you are ages behind your competition in public relations and need to act quickly to remedy this.

You’re Not Meeting Your Sales Targets

Sales and PR are correlated. If your sales have been trending downwards or seem stagnant then your PR strategy might be to blame.  One of the reasons people ignore some brands is the fact that they are simply unfamiliar with them. If that is the case, you need to make some serious changes to ensure that your brand becomes more visible.

Customers Say So

One of the biggest signals that your PR strategy isn’t working is customer feedback. Simply invite your target audience to say how they feel about your brand. The results will show you whether your PR is lacking. If consumers complain about a lack of interactivity, or limited information on the products and services or if they say they are bored by your attempts at engaging them, you have a PR problem.

Should you conclude that your current PR strategies just don’t work anymore, rest assured that yours is not the first or only company that has ever considered a change in PR direction. In fact, it is often a healthy and productive way to revive a brand that has lost its flavor.
 

sToday people live most of their lives in the virtual world. More than four billion people actively use the internet, according to smartinsights.com. Many of these people also use one or more social media platforms.  Social media platforms such as Instagram, Twitter and Facebook have become virtual homes for social and economic activities for millions of people around the world. That’s a market that is way too immense to ignore.  Savvy brands capitalize on the opportunities for growth that social media presents.

Social Media Allows Your Brand to Cross Geographical and Cultural Barriers

Gone are the days when knowledge of your brand’s presence and the products or services being offered remains restricted to one physical location. You no longer have to rely on word of mouth (in the traditional sense) to get the exposure your business needs. Your physical location is no longer a barrier to growth as your brand can reach the far corners of the earth.

Social media is the perfect tool for businesses. It is fast, inexpensive and effective. The very nature of social media means that when you use it you’ll be sending your brand into markets you didn’t even know exist. Language barriers, for example, can be broken through the translation features offered by most platforms. This means that your page can be available in multiple languages.

Use Social Media to Maintain a Perpetual Presence

The videos, images and texts you post on social media remain available to viewers long after they’re posted.  This means that not only does your message get out there in real time, but it also stays there for viewers to consume in their own time. This offers you an infinite amount of exposure.
Use Social Media for Customer Service

One of the most common and impactful uses of social media by business is the provision of customer services. Social media platforms like Facebook Twitter and Instagram have proven quite instrumental in providing users with access to the customer service teams in several entities. And because so many people spend so much time online,

Maintain Your Customer base With Social Media

When your social media page accumulates followers or subscribers, you are actually building a customer base of people who either have patronized your business or are interested in doing so. This is an ideal space to do some market research to find out how you can best adjust your offerings to satisfy customers. It is also a great place to keep your customer base informed of the new developments taking place in the business. Over time you’ll discover this to be an invaluable promotional space.

Give Your Promotions a Boost through Social Media

When you decide to run a promotions campaign you’ll find that there really is no better place than social media. When users like or share your promotion posts, you get increased visibility. The right video or graphic content will quickly go viral, propelling your brand into the limelight of the virtual world.
Boost Sales Through Social Media

Social media marketing is a great way to draw attention to your brand. This increased attention soon translates into increased profits as the content goes viral after being shared by social media users.  When used strategically, your social media accounts can also become feeders, bringing thousands or even millions of visitors to your website, blog as well as your virtual and physical stores.
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Undoubtedly, social media platforms offer your brand the chance to experience immeasurable growth. With the right team of experts on your side your brand can flourish and stay ahead of the competition.