How to deal with brand crisis public relations? Here’s a guide for you!

This year is definitely the year of public relations crisis. Major Internet platforms have been frequently exposed by the media. For today's companies, public relations crisis is a lesson that cannot be avoided.

The classic theory of public relations crisis has a 5S principle, namely the principle of responsibility, the principle of sincere communication, the principle of speed first, the principle of system operation, and the principle of authoritative verification. The following 11 points can be said to be the dismantling and supplement of the 5S principle:

1. Quick response is most important

Crisis public relations must be handled quickly and effectively. On the Internet platform, the company is often required to make a corresponding statement within two hours after the incident occurs. Nowadays, the statement is usually issued through the company's official website and the company's official Weibo.

A quick response can represent the company's level of attention, and can also alleviate the panic of consumers and the general public, while at the same time buying a certain amount of processing time when a solution has not yet been introduced. If there is no timely response, it is likely to attract related posters from many competing brands , thereby expanding the impact of the incident.

2. Comfort is more effective than explanation

When a public relations crisis occurs, admitting mistakes is more effective than explaining the reasons for the mistakes. For the general public, emotional comfort is more urgent than knowing the truth. Even if a company does not deserve excessive blame from a commercial law perspective, it still needs to calm public sentiment and then explain itself through third-party media.

A major characteristic of mass movements is the irrationality of the masses, and this is how many rumors arise. Trying to explain the cause and effect of events through rational analysis and explanation is not necessarily the best option. Moreover, explanations often lead to greater emotional backlash, and in the public's mind, explanations are often equivalent to quibbling, which leads to more negative news.

3. Being humble is more effective than being aggressive

Many companies are known for their strong and aggressive public relations style, but the current communication environment has amplified the voices of individuals and self-media . Strong public relations methods often need to be used with caution, otherwise they are likely to lead to a bigger war of words.

Being aggressive may bring more recognition to die-hard fans or people in a small circle of the industry, but for the general public, psychological emotions are always on the side of the weak, and companies are definitely strong compared to ordinary users. Therefore, lowering one's status and communicating with stakeholders on an equal footing can gain more advantages in public opinion and sentiment.

4. Self-deprecation becomes an effective PR tool

Self-deprecation is often not accepted by international brands. In fact, in the context of Internet communication, self-deprecation can make a brand feel more playful and friendly (such as Baidu’s “This Baidu Public Relations”), and divert users’ attention in a joking way, thereby successfully turning the page on crisis public relations events.

However, self-deprecation often requires a sense of scale and direction. Excessive self-deprecation will make people feel that you are insincere and will cause disgust, and the wrong direction will make people feel that the company is trying to change the subject in a slick way. In addition, when it comes to malicious incidents (such as murders and other serious incidents), it is not recommended to make fun of yourself, as that will backfire.

In addition, self-mockery must be used as a lubricant under the guise of a practical solution, and don't expect to escape the underlying problem by self-mockery alone.

5. A sincere attitude is essential

Whether it is self-deprecating or other methods, the company's attitude needs to be sincere to the parties involved. External public opinion may prefer to see some conflict points that are welcomed, but the parties involved only hope that the company can take the crisis seriously and solve their own problems.

A sincere attitude can be reflected in many aspects, such as the speed of contacting stakeholders, the degree of initiative, the communication of solutions, the appearance of company leaders, etc.

6. Nine principles for communicating with stakeholders

In ordinary consumer disputes, consumers will only expose the incident through other channels and trigger a public relations crisis when they fail to communicate with customer service. In social events, it is often the exposure of negative information that leads to crisis public relations.

After a crisis public relations event occurs, it is necessary to communicate with stakeholders. Generally speaking, the following nine principles should be referred to:

1) Be prepared: Prepare crisis public relations plans in advance and be ready for crisis public relations that may occur at any time;

2) Timely communication: Communicate quickly and timely with consumers, partners, media, and the public;

3) Proactive communication: proactively follow up on the development of the disclosed event and proactively contact relevant stakeholders;

4) Moderate communication: Avoid excessive communication that may escalate the crisis;

5) Effective communication: Use different words for different channels to convey information in a practical and effective way;

6) Unified statement: External announcements must be unified and consistent;

7) Borrowing a third party: It is more convincing to express your own opinions through a third party;

8) Principle of non-confrontation: Communication with the media requires cooperation and non-confrontation to avoid escalation of the crisis;

9) People-oriented: Public interests come first, be good at listening, be good at empathy, and have a positive attitude.

7. Daily relationship maintenance with the media

Media relations need to be maintained in daily work. Don't wait until a crisis occurs before rushing to seek positive media coverage.

Maintaining media relations is a long process. Different media have different positioning and different journalists are of different types. For corporate public relations personnel, the division of corporate media circles, the maintenance of relationships with media executives, and the maintenance of relationships with ordinary journalists all require refined operations . Maintaining adequate communication in daily work and making regular visits and exchanges with key media are both of great help to crisis public relations.

8. Launch practical solutions

For consumers and the general public, the most important thing is how to resolve the losses caused by the incident and how to ensure that similar incidents will not occur again. Then companies must come up with effective solutions, compensate consumers for their losses and stand with consumers.

On the other hand, the occurrence of incidents can often be attributed to the imperfection of the company's internal management system. Therefore, the company can introduce a series of internal and external supervision and management plans to allow the public to participate in supervision and prevent similar incidents.

9. Shifting the focus of public opinion

Whether through third-party media articles, event marketing or other methods, the incident cannot be allowed to ferment endlessly. Through real-time public opinion monitoring of media reporting trends, other events and news hotspots can be used to divert public opinion.

In the process, it is usually necessary to rely on the reposts of large self-media accounts and KOLs to guide the major media to report on other events, and the focus of the news is shifted.

10. Bosses step in for important events

For public relations crises that cause major impacts, it is necessary for company CEOs and other bigwigs to make personal statements to show the company's level of attention.

But on the other hand, corporate CEOs need to be cautious and modest in their statements, and even statements of fact need to take into account public sentiment and the company's attitude towards handling the matter. This is a double-edged sword. If used well, it can make a big deal out of a small one, but if used poorly it will increase public criticism.

11. Don’t lie

Lying or covering up the truth during a public relations crisis is undoubtedly digging a hole for yourself. Under the public's close attention, lies will basically be exposed, and if a company lies to the outside world, it will make the company lose credibility and become a target of criticism. Even if the company has reasons and evidence in the incident, lying will put the company in a low moral position and make the company's reasons become unreasonable.

All public relations skills are nothing more than the skills of communicating with people. As long as you can always put yourself in other people's shoes, all crises can be averted. Of course, the most important thing is that there are no major flaws in the quality of the company's products. Otherwise, even the best public relations skills cannot save the product from failure.