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Key Takeaways Mistakes don’t bring down brands. Poor responses to mistakes do.
Public responses that don’t ring true or sincere with your customer base will breed distrust.
Accountability, authenticity and consistency are the ingredients of the recipe for honesty that will see you through a brand reputation crisis.
When a crisis befalls a public figure or entity, the spotlight can feel unforgiving. Even before the facts are fully known or a statement has been crafted, followers start voicing their disappointment. Questions in headlines start generating more questions. And brand handlers start second-guessing everything they’re planning to do, as fearful of making a misstep as of the initial calamity itself.
What’s really at stake? Brand trust. And it’s such a valued commodity because, in our social media driven marketplace, it’s what every public person or company relies on most to secure their place in their industry.
Given the importance of brand trust, it’s no surprise that shaping it and sustaining it is a core component of my field of public relations. And one of the most critical lessons I’ve taken from the field is how to rebuild trust when it’s been damaged or is under attack.
In a nutshell? You don’t have to craft the perfect apology or settle on the right platform to post it or hire the slickest fixer. Rather, you need to start with a foundation of honesty and then build subsequent steps from there.
People do not lose trust because you made a human mistake. People lose trust when your response to it doesn’t feel real to them. So once you understand that authenticity followed up by reinforcing actions can reshape the story in your favor, you can come out the other side of a brand crisis with your reputation intact.
Why brand trust is the new holy grail
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