Handling Bad Press

 Here’s a PR person’s worst nightmare. She lines up a media interview for a client. The client shows up on time, is cordial, doesn’t have a list of “can’t ask” questions, and smiles for photo opps during the junket / interview. Then, out of the blue, the piece is printed or run on TV and it is scathing.  Yikes! Guess who is at fault- you! At least your client will see it this way. You are supposed to screen and qualify the media. What happened?

If you ever find yourself in this position – keep reading. I have three fail safe ways to recover from this scenario. First, you want to confront the source.  Make sure you address your concerns in writing, via email or a letter, and wait a day before you send it. You also to have your legal team review the letter before sending over anything in writing. You do, however, need to address this issue in writing should it scale beyond an apology.

Your next step is to confront the article, in a positive way, via social media. Make the statement brief and share one of the photos taken during the interview. Hashtag the post with #confused. This will put your existing audience in your corner and the reporter on the defensive. This usually will stop the rest of the press from jumping on a negative “shock jock name making” article.

Finally, have your client post a blog about what a great time he or she had during the interview and make sure they ask for fans to not instigate or engage the reporter. Make sure your client writes “everyone is entitled to their opinion” before signing off on the blog.

It is nature to attack those who attack us, but I promise you these tactics will result in a better outcome for you and your client.

Until tomorrow,

Coco the CEO