How to Start on the Road to Recovery after a Reputational Crisis.

A reputation crisis can be challenging to overcome, but it is possible to restore and repair your reputation. Even though in the midst of a situation a damaged reputation may seem impossible to repair, a rebuilding process paves the way for recovery:

• Take control of your brand’s online presence
• Monitor what is said about the brand online
• Take responsibility and apologize for any missteps

Whether you had a minor slip-up or a full-blown crisis situation, you find yourself with a damaged corporate reputation. It’s already overwhelming to assess everything that needs to be done to address the issue that put your organization in the situation.

The most important thing to recovery is to start. Starting anywhere is better than not doing anything at all.

As you start down the road of recovery, you need to be aware that it won’t be a straightforward step-by-step process, but it will be an ever evolving course. You may have to overcome new obstacles and sometimes change your approach.

Monitor Press Mentions

You need to understand the public perception of your brand to know how to address it. This will often influence your approach, as the perspective of the press will be a proxy of how the wider public views your business, especially following a crisis situation.

If the general opinion is heavily skewed negatively toward your business, you may need to put in more effort and likely devote more time to restoring your reputation.

Research Customer Comments

At the same time, in the aftermath of a crisis you need to know what your customers think of you. Customers are the lifeblood of any business and you need to understand whether they turned away from your brand following the incident or not, and how it may affect your overall revenue in the short term.

Look at Customer Support Queries

A good first place to check is your customer support inbox. Maybe you received an unordinary high amount of messages from disgruntled customers. If this is the case, you should first and foremost iron out customer-related issues. Let your support team go through the comments and categorize them. Make sure that customers receive reasonable responses. During a crisis, you don’t want to avoid customer concerns.

Check the Comments

In addition to that, check the comment section of news articles published online where your brand is mentioned. If a post has received a lot of attention, people will often be commenting on it. Another place to look for comments is your social media profiles, including direct messages.

Connect with Investors and Stakeholders

Depending on the magnitude of the crisis, you may have to contact your investors and stakeholders. Detail the situation and share with them your plan to resolve the issues. If you’ve lost the trust of anyone along the way, reach out to them and acknowledge your responsibility in a formal apology.