Can You Recover After a Branding Black Eye?

Question: What do A-Rod, Lindsay Lohan, and San Diego Mayor Bob Filner have in common?

Answer: They all suffered a major black eye to the brand.

Mayor Filner was accused of sexual harassment, A-Rod has been named in a steroid doping scandal, and Lohan, well, she’s managed to rack up six stints in rehab despite being a mere 27 years old.

The question now is: can a brand recover from a major black eye?

While it is unlikely that most professionals will ever face such dramatic circumstances and potential brand devastation, in today’s uber-connected world we have to be more careful than ever to protect our reputations both off and online. A complaint on Yelp or a negative review on TripAdvisor can undo years of hard work.

And while celebrities often have powerful law firms and publicists working feverishly to restore their images, most of us have to go it alone when we are trying to recover from a reputation setback. There are, however, plenty of steps us mere mortals can take to protect our brands in the marketplace and recover when we have suffered brand damage—whether it is justified or not.

Monitor your reputation online

Monitor your reputation online as a normal part of your business practice—before you ever find yourself in hot water. While technology makes us more vulnerable to customer complaints, it also gives us some powerful reputation management tools including Google Alerts, Talkwalker, Viralheat and Trackur. By employing these, you cannot only keep an eye on your rep, but you can also get a window into the competition.

Take responsibility

Take immediate responsibility for the mistake that was made. When seven people in Chicago were killed by Cyanide-laced Tylenol, Johnson & Johnson’s CEO James Burke took front and center with the media throughout the entire incident and not only accepted immediate responsibility, but also prompted a nationwide recall even where no tampering was suspected.

Although it is unlikely you will face anything that catastrophic, follow Burke’s example and apologize, publicly if necessary. Be authentic, transparent, and swift in explaining what went wrong and how similar mistakes will be avoided in the future.

If it is fixable, like having a product damaged in transit, do not just correct the problem but also maximize the opportunity to make it right by sending a note or several replacement products in its place.

Stay the course

Stay consistent to your new course of action. You have acknowledged your error and done your best to make it right. Now comes the painstaking process of sticking to the plan to avoid similar mistakes in the future.

Unfortunately, there are no magic bullets and no shortcuts to this part of the process. You have to demonstrate new behavior over the long haul to prove that you’ve actually done the hard work of improving your products or services.

Stick with the plan, make it known to your customers, and do you best work. Eventually, you will turn things around. Unlike Mayor Filner who, after a string of harassment allegations promised that he would go into intensive behavior therapy—for two whole weeks—then bailed after week one, longevity is critical to true brand turnaround.

By being mindful of your reputation on a regular basis, doing your best to correct any mistakes, and making sincere attempts to improve, brands—like people—can overcome adversity and be all the better for it.

via Business 2 Community http://www.business2community.com/branding/can-you-recover-after-a-branding-black-eye-0590428?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=can-you-recover-after-a-branding-black-eye