7 Easy Ways to Bounce Back from a PR Blunder

Public Relation blunders are common — more so for businesses that use social media intensively and believes in interacting with the target audience (which is a good thing, by the way). Sometime the errors are small, other times they are as big to carnage the whole reputation of the brand within minutes.

No wonder PR agencies in Hong Kong and across the world are in more demand than ever.

The best thing to do is avoid such PR mistakes at all cost. However, when things aren’t going as bright, even with the best intentions, the brand falls for negative (and legit) scrutiny of the audience and media. If you’re in the same spot, or are preparing for the worst, here are 7 easy ways to bounce back from PR blunder like a complete pro.

1. Apologize immediately even when you think you’re right — even when only a small portion of your audience is objecting with whatever you said and did.

2. Think before you follow-up your mistake with any other statement. This is a time much like Miranda warning situation — “Anything you say or do can and will be held against you.” So be thoughtful in how, when and with what you’re going to respond.

3. Be personal in your response and address the core problem. Show an emotional side. You don’t want “Sorry if some of you have got offended”. “We shouldn’t have…. We understand…. So, we’re really sorry,” would take you and your company a long way.

4. Humor-up the mistake. Of course you don’t need to be a Jerry Seinfeld to come up with the cleverest and funniest of lines. Just laugh if off whatever you did with a calm follow-up statement.

5. Explain the audience what your real intentions were and assure them that you have understood your mistake (even if you haven’t really; in which case, you should) and it won’t happen again.

6. Dial your market influencers and explain them the situation. Since with higher credibility and large following, they can put off the fire talking to the audience for you and your company.

7. Hire a reputed Hong Kong PR agency. While it is always a good idea to have these professionals by your side all the time, at times like these, it is rather essential. So contact a good agency and let them handle the matter from hereon professionally.

These are the 7 easy damage control ways for a PR mistake. It won’t be as dramatic as ‘rising from the ashes’ kind of thing though. Your audience might forget or laugh-off the blunder, and you sure will need to win their trust back.