15 Days of Marketing Day Fourteen: Your Brand and Damage Control

• Know that you’re never going to be able to please everyone. I really struggled with this at first. But it’s impossible. Once you truly embrace this and accept it, your stress level will be cut in half. At least that was my experience.
• Be true to yourself. As you become more well-known, people will want to attach labels and/or ideals to you that may or may not be accurate. The more you stay true to yourself, the harder it will be for people to do this and the stronger your brand will become.
• Admit when you are wrong. We’re human and none of us truly know everything. So if you realize something you said or did wasn’t right, admit it. Then move on.
• If someone accuses you of something that just isn’t true, call them out on it. And do it quickly before it spreads. If they persist, ask them publicly for evidence and facts and present your own. Try not to get caught up in any kind of drama, especially if the person in question starts baiting you. Ask for a retraction, present the facts, and then again, move on.
• Remember that sometimes publishing misinformation about you might not be intentional. So when you ask for a retraction or correction, be nice but firm about it. And if the other party is cooperative, then express your appreciation publicly. Too many times we see people talking about how they were done wrong, let’s start talking about how issues were amicably resolved. If we put more attention on that maybe the negative behavior won’t happen as much in first place.
• Weigh the risk vs. the reward. Is causing a stir publicly worth the desired outcome? Or would you get the same outcome by ignoring it? That’s a question only you can answer.
• Refrain from name calling. This will only compromise YOUR credibility. Rise above the fray and try to be as diplomatic as possible, even if you’re the victim of name calling. Once something is said online, it’s hard to take back. I try to only write things I’d be comfortable with my son reading later on (he’s three now).

As marketing in general becomes more word-of-mouth and conversational, the risk of misinformation increases because, like the old-fashioned game of “telephone”, the original message can be easily lost through many iterations. That’s why a strong brand, having Awesome Allies, and being true to yourself and your message are so important.

YOUR HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT

Think about different difficult scenarios you might face that would require damange control and how you would deal with them.

Share your ideas, if even in a general sense, of dealing with different scenarios.