Crisis Communications: Dealing with Bad News
Chalk it up to bad decisions or just plain bad luck, but sometimes, bad news happens. When it does, work fast to find out what went wrong with your business, collect all pertinent facts, and prepare to fix the problem, if possible.
Waste no time before circulating facts about what happened and, if possible, what actions you’re taking to see that it won’t happen again. As much as you’d like to run and hide, don’t. The last thing you want is for those who care a lot less about your reputation than you do to be speculating or spinning the story for you. Almost certainly your business will fare better if you show a concerned face and release a truthful explanation through the same exact media channels in which the bad news is traveling.
Public relations strategists have complete scenarios to use in what are called crisis communications. If your event is apt to have negative ramifications that continue for more than a few days, and if the bad news seems likely to reach out farther than your local market, call on pros to help you manage the story.
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