5 Ways to Deal With Negative Publicity

1. Have a process in place to deal with negative publicity
Remember that even if you have a PR firm handling the public relations for your company, national strategies are only effective if implemented locally. Anticipate the unexpected and prepare a crisis communications plan. Employees should be trained on how to deal with likely crises, such as product recalls. Don't speculate on anything when speaking with the media; only tell them what you know. In the meantime, provide them with a steady stream of information BEFORE anything occurs so you have good relations with reporters in place. If you establish a relationship with bloggers in the online community relevant to your industry, you'll have a much easier time getting them to cover your side of the story if something happens.

2. Responding to Negative Publicity Online

The internet is flooded with user-generated content from social sites, blogs, forums, and review. It is imperative that you set up alerts for your company name, your important brand names, top people within your company, and other companies in your industry to keep an eye on the competition. With alerts your emailed every time something new is published for subjects of your interest. By monitoring your reputation you can respond to negative comments quickly. If the problem is more personal, such as a disgruntled customer, you can make an offer to make amends. The customer is likely to write about you again, but this time in a more positive light. If you see a negative blog post, comment on it to show that your brand is willing to take an extra step to resolve issues with unhappy customers. Try leaving a way for readers to contact you if they want more information.

3. Reverse SEO
Reverse SEO pushes down bad publicity within the search engine's organic listings. Many customers will research your company or product online before purchasing. What you don't want them to see is bad reviews
or negative reports. Studies have shown that the majority of searchers never go past the 1st page when searching. And only a small fraction ever get to the 3rd page of their search results. Keep in mind that the
more traffic these negative reports get the harder they are to push down the search results page, so the key is to suppress the negative pages quickly. Use press releases, blogs, and social networking sites to get your name out there. Get your happy customers to give you a testimonial, and display the testimonials on your website and blog. Write for prominent article submissions sites like EzineArticles, ArticlesBase, GoArticles etc.

4. When dealing with extreme situations
Take action immediately when a crisis strikes. It is vital to let customers know that you're aware of the situation and are doing everything possible to resolve it. For example, send emails telling customers about the problem and what your company is doing about it. This gives consumers a sense of confidence in your brand. You may want to consider buying ad words so when people look up the issue, they will be lead to your site and how you're handling the problem. If all else fails when taking care of negative publicity, create formal press release featuring the correct information. However, take care not to draw attention to the bad press.

5. Ask publishers to remove content

Don't try to censor bloggers, which often makes matters most. Instead, try directly contacting the content publishers if there are slanderous comments. Usually they will comply if they are unfounded. If that doesn't work when someone makes a vicious review, ask them to elaborate their perspectives, and then let them know if there are any inaccuracies.

Content Resource:http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kristen_K_Jason