Live.Foxnews.com the national news outlet invited me to share my thoughts on CEO’s reputation and behavior and their brands. They wanted to know if leadership behavior impacted consumer buying and what are some tips for leaders of brands who may encounter these bumps. The interview ran on Tuesday live. Below are my thoughts. See the video to watch the segment.
After a business misstep is made, follow these 8 steps to recovery:
- Take inventory of the facts and views of stakeholders.
- If the CEO can, conduct brand opinion research after the situation to gauge damage and monitor online chatter.
- Have a recovery plan ready projecting worse case scenarios, including building the story the brand wants the public to remember.
- In most cases, the CEO should be the brand voice and spokesperson but sometimes this is not the case. In this event, careful selection of the spokesperson is key, they should be authoritative and knowledgeable of all the facts.
- If the CEO is the spokesperson around the issue, the CEO should take full responsibility, be prepped on messaging and media management focusing on the solution, not the past or blaming others is essential.
- Leverage real-time social media action and take an offensive approach if the situation crosses the tipping point of high visibility. If the negative situation is contained, sometimes it’s best to remain low profile.
- Disseminate enough positive volume, optimize information to counter negative stories on web via search.
- Again depending on the situation, sometimes 3rd party credible voices like trade associations, other leaders and loyal customers should be part of the voice platforms.
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