It’s easy to make PR mistakes, especially when you’re a new company or you don’t have a lot of experience. However, making these common mistakes can be costly and even damaging to your reputation. Here are some of the most common PR disasters, mistakes, and pitfalls that businesses make each year. Of course, your job will be to avoid them!
Not Responding to Crises Quickly Enough
When a crisis hits, you need to act fast. The longer you wait to respond, the worse it will be for your company. Not only will you look like you don’t care, but you’ll also lose the trust of your customers and clients. In today’s 24/hour news cycle, it’s important to be proactive and responsive to any crisis that may occur.
Thankfully, you’ll find many ways of achieving this in 2022. Firstly, you can hire an agency such as Pure PR. PR companies are experienced in handling crises and will be able to give you the best advice on how to respond. Secondly, you can use social media to your advantage. Social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook are great for getting your message out there quickly. Also, you’ll find social listening and monitoring tools that will alert you whenever your brand is mentioned in a negative light.
Failing to Plan for the Worst
No one likes to think about what could go wrong, but it’s important to have a plan in place in case something does. By having a crisis communications plan, you’ll be prepared for anything that comes your way. This plan should include who will be responsible for managing the crisis, what channels you’ll use to communicate with the public, and what messages you’ll share.
Just some potential ‘worst-case’ scenarios that could arise include:
- A product recall
- An employee going rogue on social media
- A data breach
These days, a data breach is the worst of the worst. Not only does it lead to a hit to your reputation, but you could also face all sorts of fines and penalties.
Offering an Insincere Response
Your first instinct when something goes wrong might be to offer a quick apology and move on…but no response is better than an insincere one. Your customers and clients can see right through a half-hearted attempt to make things right, so you must take the time to come up with a genuine response.
If people think that your response is forced or fake, it will only make the situation worse. Be sincere, be transparent, and most importantly, be human.
Not Accepting Responsibility
Another big mistake companies make is not accepting responsibility for their actions. If you’ve made a mistake, the best thing you can do is own up to it. Trying to cover it up or make excuses will only make you look bad in the end.
People can see through a company’s attempts to deflect blame, and it will make them lose faith in your brand. As mentioned, the best thing you can do is admit your mistake and try to make things right; explain the steps you have taken to ensure that the problem doesn’t happen again.
Not Listening to Your Customers
Your customers are your bread and butter, so you should always listen to them. If they’re unhappy with your product or service, take their feedback on board and try to make the necessary changes. If you don’t listen to customers, you run the risk of them taking their business elsewhere.
Avoid these PR disasters, mistakes, and pitfalls today!