Crisis Management: How to Handle PR Disasters in the Digital Age

Table of Contents

What is a PR crisis?

Anyone who is famous and in the public eye will inevitably face the issue of this crisis. You are in the public eye, and one day the world becomes negative to you. So, what exactly is a PR crisis and why is it a total nightmare for any famous person or brand? Let’s find out.

A PR crisis generally happens due to an action or event happening and there is backlash from the public and the media either to that person or brand or organization. There are multiple reasons for the PR crisis, maybe the famous person or celebrity said something that does not go well with the public or group of individuals. It is not limited to a celebrity though.

A brand or an organization can convey a message that has negative consequences and public backlash. A brand can also put out an advertisement that becomes controversial. Anything that stirs a negative reaction from the public can be considered a PR crisis.

Consequences of the PR Crisis

A PR crisis has very adverse effects on the celebrity or the brand depending on the amount of backlash from the public and the negative reactions. If not controlled in time and as early as possible, it can save the reputation.

If not it can permanently scar the reputation of a celebrity or make the brand completely fail. All the reputation that the brand has built all over the years can turn into negativity and make the brand fail.

That’s why it’s critically important to control The PR crisis at a very early stage. But how can you handle a PR crisis and what are the ways to handle that? Let’s start discussing that.

How to Handle PR Disasters in the Digital Age

Here are some of the main steps through which you can handle PR Disasters in the Digital Age. Use these techniques to save the PR disasters.

Taking Responsibility

The first point starts with when a PR crisis happens and takes full responsibility. You should take responsibility for whatever happened. Generally, our first reaction in these types of situations is to cover the crisis. Don’t cover the damage you have done.

When a Brand or a Celebrity tries to cover the PR disaster, the situation gets even worse and the news of the event spreads even faster. This will do more damage and make the situation even worse.

Just be responsible for it and take full ownership of that event. The best thing to do in this situation is to do a press release answering all the questions and answers on that event. Just try to mitigate the situation through a press release. Which helps us to go to the next point.

Why Controlling narrative is important

During the event of a PR disaster, the situation can get worse fast, if you just let the public and media do different interpretations and assumptions.

That’s why it’s extremely important to control the narrative the moment it starts spreading.

Just control the narrative before it spreads. Push your story out in the world before the narrative spreads.

Firstly, craft a well-planned story with your team but be quick in that. Then spread a fast response as soon as possible in the mainstream. Through this strategy, you will get time to make a proper detailed response to tackle the situation in a great way.

Here you need proper industry info and how to spread the news to the main sources, you need a great PR agency in United States and Upstage Media can help with that if you want to get into the digital space. We as Digital PR Agency will do that.

What’s exactly Happening

While it’s appropriate to control the narrative and be super proactive in controlling the situation, don’t control anything without understanding why it’s happening. Monitor the media continuously to understand the situation and what conversations are going through.

Let your official spokesperson make a quick response to the media and then you have some time to prepare a detailed response. But, understand the people and their concerns and why they are outraged with the celebrity or a brand, brainstorm for new solutions, and then get ready.

It doesn’t mean you disappear from the situation completely But be active and respond with full planning and seeing all the consequences.

Respond but, don’t react

Don’t react under any circumstance, understand the circumstances fully and then respond very carefully.

This is the most important point in this blog as when any PR disaster strikes, people or brands react very fast sometimes. This makes the situation even worse.

If you react, you will say something that will make you regret it. So, properly manage a well-made response and then act accordingly.

Apologize and proceed with the right action

In some PR cases, the situation happened because of your company’s issue.

Maybe your company’s employee put out something that caused public outrage. Or, there is a failure of some product or caused some damage to anyone.

If you run away from the crisis, it will create an even bigger PR disaster.

Just apologizing to the affected people helps and takes more calculated steps to solve the problem.

Don’t wait for the situation to get worse. Just Apologize and take the required action to solve the issue. This happens in fashion brands as well, where a brand introduces a new style and it creates a backlash. If the brand doesn’t understand it can get worse. Therefore, they need a fashion PR agency to handle that for them.

Politeness is the key

When there is a huge backlash, sometimes we react so negatively and just indulge in negative comments, especially on Social media. Never indulge in these types of conversations.

Sometimes a Tech company responds too fast and indulges in negative comments on Social media and making the PR crisis worse. From the start, they should know a great Tech PR agency to handle the Social Media scenario.

If you start reacting, then you let the best PR agency in US handle that situation in our land. Otherwise, this PR Nightmare will destroy your brand or your reputation forever.

Let a Great PR agency handle the situation

Sometimes we as a brand or a celebrity try to solve the situation but it worsens it. At that moment you need good Public relations in the United States to solve the situation. These people are professionals and they know the job. Just let them handle the situation and they will help you get out of the situation in the best way possible.

Conclusion

A PR disaster or PR crisis can destroy a celebrity’s or brand’s reputation, if not addressed well. But with these tips, you can solve the situation. We advise you to contact a PR agency in US to save you.

One of them is Upstage Media, we provide solutions for all and we are the PR agency for all. Whether you want a healthcare PR agency or in Fintech business and want a FintecH PR agency Or B2B PR agency then Upstage media will help you in all these scenarios.