Tips to Improve Company Image During a Crisis
It’s not always easy for businesses to improve company image during a crisis, which is why it’s so important to build a positive brand reputation and prepare a plan in advance. Even though your brand image is one of the most important aspects of business growth and a key sales driver, it is often put on the back burner to short-term tactics and immediate business needs, like servicing existing clients.
During times of crisis, it’s critical to have a top-tier PR partner by your side. Unfortunately, if you don’t have a trusted PR partner when a crisis hits, it will be much harder to control your message and truly improve company image.
How to Improve Company Image in a Crisis
As the leading PR advisors to B2B and technology companies, we have successfully navigated our high profile clients through crises and worked to help them improve company image. If you are facing negative criticism or in the midst of a company crisis, here are some tips to get you through it. This can also serve as a foundation for an effective crisis management plan.
- Be Swift: Do not hide under a rock amidst a crisis. Be visible and address any concerns right away. You should be aware of sentiment around your brand at all times and prepare a plan in advance. Otherwise, you will waste critical time creating your response and fail to improve company image.
- Be Honest: You will only dig yourself into a deeper hole by misrepresenting the facts publicly, especially during a crisis. To improve company image, it’s best to be completely transparent from the get go. The media and public are often much harder on dishonest or evasive companies, while companies that are honest and open are generally treated fairly.
- Be Proactive: Your response and messaging should be proactive and solutions-driven to improve company image during a crisis. Your messaging should convey your understanding of the situation at hand and steps you’ll take to correct any issues. If you’re messaging is too passive, the crisis may escalate.
- Be Organized: While it’s impossible to prepare for every scenario, a good PR firm will equip their clients with detailed plans addressing an array of potential crises. Make sure to appoint a high-ranking individual within your organization, such as the CEO or another key executive, as sole media spokesperson during times of crisis. With one source of information, you can ensure your company is unified and communicating a consistent message to work to improve company image.
Walker Sands has your back before, during and after a crisis. We support you by identifying negative criticism, addressing it appropriately and working to improve company image through strategic PR, social and search campaigns.
We know it takes a multidisciplinary approach to improve company image over the long term, which is why leverage the power of top-tier media coverage, brand-building social media campaigns and powerful search engine optimization (SEO) tactics. Working together, these strategies solidify and promote your brand image, while driving sales and preparing you to overcome negative comments and crises.