Public relations is important for businesses large and small

Editor’s note: Michelle Stockman is an independent consultant with her company, Fort Smith-based Msaada Group. Stockman earned a bachelor’s degree from Loyola University-Chicago in communications and fine arts, and earned a master’s in entrepreneurship from Western Carolina University. Her thoughts on business success appear each week on The City Wire.

While your business is starting to stand and grow a little, another curve ball gets thrown your way. Once you catch your breath from one issue to another, your business, like a football running back, keeps dodging and sprinting for the goal. However, what happens to your business when negative press invades your camp?

A product malfunction occurs, someone gets mugged outside your retail shop or a disgruntled employee exposes a trade secret, are all examples of the unfortunate things that could happen within your business.

Behind the bad news is always some form of media, especially in the day of social media, ready to share your problem with the world. While there is no shortage of opinion about you and your business, there is a distinct shortage of time to address the bad press.

There is no magic formula to address the bad news that is in the news; however there are some common actions to take quickly.

First, obtain the news to fully understand what is being said, by whom, why and who is the audience?

Once you understand the situation, investigate if the comments are true within your company and what happened to make it true.

Next, reply to the media. Make sure you are open and honest about your business as this grows your customers trust in you.

What you find in your quick assessment and reply of the news will help determine what actions to take. If the news is regarding a problem with your product or service, talk to the media to address the issues and include the solution the company will take to fix the problems.

If a negative review of your business is spreading like wild fire, share success case studies or have supportive customers reply back on your defense. The more you know about each scenario, the more you will be ready to take the appropriate responsive action.

For instance, Toyota’s first actions in regards to the first wide-scale recall on their cars a year ago is a classic example of what not to do. The automaker would have benefited by admitting the problem early in the media coverage and sharing their plan to fix the cars as quickly as possible before the extended media coverage damaged their reputation and consumer trust. Likewise, BP with the Gulf of Mexico oil spill took quick action to show they were working on cleaning up the mess, but they fumbled while dealing with taking ownership of the disaster as a whole.

Businesses on the receiving end of negative stories, opinions, comments, Twitter feeds or other messaging avenues need to have a strategy on how to turn the negatives into business opportunities.

Public relations have evolved at speeds of light with the growth of online media; however keeping customers happy simply requires honesty and delivering what you promise them. No business is safe from an opinion tweet, a Facebook status update, a local news story or beyond.

Regardless of how the negative comments come out, business owners need to remain aware as well as prepared to address the situations that threaten the business.

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Stockman can be reached at [email protected]