Negative Media Exposure

Like the saying goes: "Nobody is perfect," it also goes to say that no company can be perfect...in the public eye. No matter if you are running a huge empire or a small business, people are watching and they are waiting for you to do something wrong, so the media can expose your "wrongdoings." Even if you think that negative publicity is a nightmare, it isn't always "horrible." I'm going to tell you a few things I do to take care of negative press coverage- if it were to ever happen to me or my companies.

#1- Know journalists. This is by far the MOST important thing you need to start doing with your PR work. I can't tell you how many powerful journalists I know and have created relationships with so if I were to ever get negative media attention I could do the following (or have issues with another company I work with):

• Save my company
  
• Expose companies I have issues with.
  
• And you would be surprised how many journalists will put friendship over attention.

#2- Maintain the relationship with journalists. Knowing journalists won't do you any good, if they really don't know you back on a personal level. You have to be nice to them, but also entertain them with gifts, etc. etc. Keeping them happy, will keep your company's image happy.

#3- Use the journalists. Say that a TV station criticized your business. Then there is all this negative publicity in the air. You call up your journalist friends and tell them you have something better to share, the truth. Lets be honest- a lot of stories are evolved from rumors; if your company is being wrongfully publicized, then you should stick up for it and tell your part.

#4- Talk to your customers. Issuing a statement like Domino's did with their recent issue in the store with the employees playing a "hoax" will definitely give consumers something to chew on. But it is important to keep this statement in a conversational way and not sound like you are reading from a teleprompter.

#5- Turn something bad into something great. I'm not going to sit here and tell you how hard it is to get good exposure for your business in the world, because you probably already know that. But if you get negative press attention, there are a BUNCH of ways to turn that into PROFIT.

• Show the customers you have changed and improved by 1000 times.
• Give the customers an incentive for the situation.
• Be transparent with the "issue."

While each situation varies, as long as nothing is too- out there- it usually can be saved from a meltdown. The press is usually just stating facts, which go off of people's experiences, which a company can change with a "can-do" attitude. But in the end, it all comes back to, giving all the customers with the best experience they can ever have with your company, so you don't have to worry about the customers that have the hookups with the media.

#1 also goes to show that when you have journalist connections, more companies will be willing to work with YOU because they don't want to be negatively exposed themselves.

The bottom line is...start making friends with journalists and make that connection last and evolve.