Businesses of all sizes, mainly startups, can suddenly experience a PR crisis that adversely affects your bottom line and overall business image.
PR Crisis Management
Any business needs a proper PR crisis management plan ready so that you can deal with any mishap smartly. Your brand reputation could be damaged if you don’t take the appropriate steps at the right time. So, here are the PR crisis management tricks that you should implement for your tech startup:
Tell the Truth
Every PR crisis has its own story that the public and media would want to know. Even your customers would like to know why it occurred and how you can fix it. They want to know what inconveniences or issues it is likely to cause them, and if necessary, whether or not you’re willing to compensate them adequately for damages. In such situations, the best way to manage such crises is, to tell the truth publicly.
Don’t make statements that assume or speculate on any crisis aspect. Ensure that legal counsel evaluates all statements before getting released.
Hiding the facts is always a risky proposition when handling a PR crisis, as it may backfire on you, should an eagle-eyed photographer or persistent journalist find out the truth later through some means. Instead, it’s better to just tell the truth as it helps you control the narrative.
Employ a PR Crisis Management Team
When a public relations crisis affects a brand, the reporters and journalists tend to contact the CEO, spokesperson, or the PR department. Reporters ask for accurate statements and explanations that they can quote in reporting.
Employ a PR crisis management team or individuals. Direct all information requests to certain members of the group/the spokesperson. Your company should communicate with a single and consistent voice.
You can also hire a PR firm or crisis management experts. You may approach the issue through all known media channels, such as TV, social media, and even print media if you have the resources.
Deliver a Public Statement
Your public statement should be concise, transparent, and consistent with your overall PR strategy for handling the crisis. In addition, it needs to help customers figure out if they purchased a contaminated or defective product. For example, you could give an estimated timeline so customers who bought your product around that time can check their product for any visible faults, or even bring it in for a refund or replacement.
Customers who have bought the products should know the associated risks. Be sophisticated when you address the public. Deny accountability/responsibility for situations that create more public/customer hostility.
The main goal of PR crisis management is to mitigate damages to help keep your brand value stable. A press release can manage crises more effectively than a public statement.
You can also add a Q&A exchange to the press release considering what the people want to know about the crisis. Use Q&A format to give general information in brief paragraphs of only one or two easily readable and understandable sentences.
Interpret Any Possible Legal Issue
You should discuss legal issues with counsel. Attorneys may want a comprehensive “no comment” to the media until they fully understand the legal angles of your PR crisis. Attorneys should also examine applicable policies for insurance issues.
However, it ruins the public perception of your business, presenting a poor image of your company. It also results in intensified media investigation as they may be inclined to figure out what you’re hiding. In addition, if your crisis leads to the filing of civil lawsuits, the comment refusal by your company will create a negative impression on the jury.
The success of your tech startup depends a lot on PR activities. Consequently, you should have a PR team that can handle every crisis with finesse and patience. When it comes to PR crisis management, you can’t afford to panic as that irks people.
Be quick, honest, and prepare a transparent response when a PR crisis strikes your tech company. When mitigating PR damage, you also need to minimize losses. Follow the crisis management tricks above to recover your losses in sales and save your brand image.