Have you ever wondered why few people remember mum’s timeless advice, “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all?”
Unfortunately, not only do they not remember this amongst friends and family but they surely don’t keep it in mind when it comes to business affairs. Some people make it a habit of spreading malicious rumours online while others may really have had a bad experience with a business.
However, for every one dissatisfied customer there is bound to be dozens if not hundreds of well satisfied customers but you never hear from them. For this very reason, many companies in the UK as well as around the world are continually battling bad press. The good news is, it doesn’t need to be a marketing nightmare. There are a few easy fixes you can employ.
Taking Pre-emptive Action
There is one thing you should always keep in the back of your mind when operating a business that is open to the public, or even to business peers. You will be judged by appearances so keep that in mind. If you don’t want to be judged even before walking in your doors, be mindful of where you set up shop.
If you are running a business anywhere near the city, find commercial office space to rent in Aldgate, London, for example so that you ooze success from the very doors where your office is located. There are letting agents like The Workplace Company that can find you the perfect location so that at least you will not need to contend with negative imagery.
When You Are Hit with a Negative Image
If, for some reason, you are the recipient of bad press, whether having been judged by location or a client having a bad go of it, there are things you can do to counteract a negative image. One of the things you can do immediately, especially if you are being slandered on social media and around the Internet, is to hire a PR marketing firm.
These professionals can begin to move positive press up the SERPs, moving those bad comments down and down and down – eventually off page one. You will find that bad news spreads quicker than good, so get the pros on it for you. They know exactly how to re-image your brand so that you come out smelling like a proverbial rose.
Why It Is Best Not to React
Sometimes the worst thing you can do is react to any comments or posts online. Do you know what this does? Every time any post gets a comment or is updated in any way, the crawlers rank it higher and it becomes more difficult for your PR team to knock it down a few notches. What you can do is hire a PR marketing firm with a solid content marketing team.
They will write a number of positively flavoured articles that will use a well-planned SEO strategy so that your articles quickly gain rank for the same keywords within that bad press that has you smeared across the web. Remember, bad press doesn’t have to be a marketing nightmare.
Experienced marketing professionals can help you reimage your brand, mitigating any damage which might have been done. They can literally make it go away.