If your brand has experienced negative PR, you might be wondering if and how you can fix it. The good news is that it is usually very possible to fix a damaged brand with some careful positioning, remedial work, and consistent time and effort to right the wrong. It won’t happen overnight; however, with a good strategy and careful execution, your business can experience success once again.
Here are some practical tips that will help you move forward:
1. Obtain expert help
A brand strategy agency, such as Really Helpful Marketing, can help you create a custom plan that will help restore your brand to its former glory. It will do this by addressing the root cause issues and putting together a tailored approach to address them.
2. Move offline
Try to move complaints offline wherever possible so that you can give the customer a better and faster response without the issue being visible online for all to see.
3. Apologise
When you receive customer complaints, deal with them quickly with an apology. Remember that happy customers tend to tell five other people while unhappy customers tell ten. Even better, those who have issues resolved typically go on to tell 20 people about their experience, doing your marketing for you.
4. Be transparent
When you are handling client issues, be transparent and explain what happened and what you did to fix it rather than simply making excuses.
5. Fix issues when you can
When you can fix issues that lead to complaints, put the work in and do so. This feedback will help to create a positive loop and show that you are genuinely interested in your customers’ experiences.
6. Use testimonials
Customer reviews and good testimonials can go a long way towards fixing brand image problems.
7. Reward loyal customers
Customers who continue to support you in difficult times are like gold dust, so nurture them with loyalty offers such as special codes and deals or exclusive content or experiences. Show your customers that you appreciate them.
Last but not least, be patient; brand restoration takes time.