Receiving bad publicity for your brand is a nightmare for every business owner because often a negative review can undo all the hard work that you have put in over the years. Worst of all is when the bad publicity is completely false as you feel trapped as if you can do nothing about it. However, there is another way of looking at things and as Oscar Wilde once famously quoted: “The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about”. If you take this attitude when you receive bad publicity, then you can immediately turn things around and turn the negative press into a force for good as you explain to the public why the comments are untrue. If you have found that your brand is in this position, then read on, as we are going to take a look at the various ways that you can turn negative publicity to your advantage.
Be strategic
When you respond to negative publicity it is important to be strategic and not to reply in kind with trash talk and hate speech. You may be so angry because allegations have been made about your brand that are untrue, but do you really want to air your dirty linen in public? You wouldn’t do so if you were having a bitter relationship split, so don’t resort to an endless slanging match online, it isn’t pretty and will not stand you in a good light. Instead, take time to think about the comments that have been made and then answer in a calm and professional manner. If you spell out why the public is wrong in a clear way, then your audience will appreciate your honesty, rather than looking on in a bemused way at the arguments that you are having with your detractors.
Listen
Sometimes it is important to listen to what people are saying when they post negative comments about your brand because sometimes they just happen to be right and you are wrong. If this is the case then it is an excellent opportunity to turn the negative press positive by asking for more feedback and then acting on that feedback to improve your product or your offering.
The public will really appreciate this honesty and will clearly see that you are striving to turn things around so will be more likely to re-engage with your business. As long as you live and learn from your mistakes, you will be moving forward positively which is evident to your online following, which in itself turns out to be great positive publicity!
Reverse SEO
Everyone uses Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) to drive traffic to their website, but did you know that it can also be used to remove negative publicity? And as all Australians agree, everyone deserves to be given a fair go. You might be in a position whereby a competitor is making life as difficult as possible for you, and if so, professionals at Quint Digital Marketing Agency from Melbourne recommend that you use reverse SEO to remove the damaging headlines from Google’s algorithms so that this publicity will not appear when people are making searches about your brand or business.
No one looks at the second page of search listings so do the opposite of what you would do to promote your business and then these negative remarks will appear on page 2 or lower. Conversely, as you can tune your SEO to your product or brand, you can use this negative publicity to promote the good publicity leading to an overall positive image for your brand.
Admit to mistakes
In our personal lives, we always have more time for somebody that is ready to own up to and admit their mistakes, and there is no reason why this cannot apply to the business world as well. If you make a gaff in the form of an advertising campaign, or even if one of your products has manufacturing issues, then head to your social media platforms and own up to these mistakes.
Explain why you made the decisions that you did and why they didn’t turn out right for you, and then show how you are going to put things right. Learning from your mistakes is something that will stand you in good stead throughout your whole life, so show the world of social media that you have learned this valuable skill, and actually, you will find that your brand becomes more popular as a result.
As we have learned there are many ways that you can turn negative publicity to your advantage. Be strategic about how you respond and don’t rant and rave or you will sound bitter, instead, listen to what your detractors are saying and learn from them, just make sure that everyone knows it! Admit to your mistakes and use reverse SEO to move any untruthful publicity to the lower pages of google search results, and if you follow these tips you will soon find that negative publicity can be turned into a force for good.
