As earlier discussed, (Here), brand building is a continuous and intentional process that has no definite end. As long as one has a business / company / or is in existence, the process of brand building never ends.
Keeping your promise (brand Consistency) sometimes, when the proverbial shit hits the fan, can be a toll order if one is not well equipped to handle a crisis. How you handle yourself (business owner or your employees) during a crisis can either propel your brand building ventures in the right direction or tank the whole brand building effort. Rebuilding a damaged brand will take much more effort than learning how to deal with a crisis. With this in mind having crisis management strategies is very important for any company / business.
We love working from coffee shops because of our love for people watching and good coffee. More often than not we hold our meetings and appointments in coffee shops across the globe. Due to this, we have been privileged to have front row seats to seeing how brands / businesses (especially coffee houses) interact with their audience.
What is a crisis?
Shift communications (Crisis) have painted an elaborate picture when it comes to crisis. They use a fire fighting analogy that is timeless.
A fire requires 3 things to burn:-
- Heat (Energy)
- Fuel
- Oxygen (catalyst)
Taking away any of the above elements consequently and the fire goes out. In a crisis communication situation, your brand is on fire. There is something your brand did or is responsible for (fuel). There is public opinion (heat / energy). The speed of your reaction (oxygen). A PR officer (fire fighter) should be able to easily identify the 3 elements and work towards taking one out so as to break the chain reaction that causes fire.
What is a brand crisis?
A brand crisis is a glitch that can happen in a brand building strategy or in a business / company’s marketing campaign or during an active business process that causes your audience to perceive you in a way that does not align with the image you are trying to create. One can refer this to a reputation implosion.
Most of the time, we’d like to think that we respond well under pressure, that we can rise to the occasion and handle any crisis like the professions we are. This however is not always the case in every brand crisis. This is why putting in measures to help you navigate through a crisis becomes very important in brand building.
Crisis management 101 (case study)
All brands hit bumps on the road to success and it is usually a PR nightmare. A transparent and genuine response to the crisis leads to a faster and holistic recovery. Hiding or knee jerk reactions, or ignoring the crisis fuels the fire.
As pointed out earlier, we work from coffee shops. On Friday (14th June 2019), some of our associates had a bad experience in one of our recommended coffee shops. Their order took more than an hour to be brought and when it finally got to the table, the expectation was not met. On pointing this out to the institute, they swiftly took responsibility, and sent a heartwarming apology.
This simple act, did not go un-noticed.
The coffee shop would have chosen to ignore the DM and the public would not know (apart from the directly affected individuals). They would have lost royal customers and with them, all the business they were actively (and more importantly freely) sending their way. Instead they took the high road and :-
- Took responsibility: – The coffee shop did not try to cover up or give excuses, and they responded to the feedback.
- Remembered to be human :- behind every brand is a person. The response was ‘we are sorry we let you down’ this speaks volume. It goes to show how they value and respect their clients. Can it get any more human?
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to be Contd….
TrioG Communication 