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<p><br>A brand can be referred to as a product or a business that has a distinct identity in the perception of consumers. Your brand is one of your business’s most valuable assets and you have to commit to protecting it. </p>
<p><br>In a nutshell, a brand is the sum of how a product or business is perceived by those who experience it—including customers, investors, employees, the media, and more. Branding in this context is the process of shaping these perceptions. A brand, then, is more than just a company’s name, logo, product, or price tag. It’s more than the marketing and advertising around these things. The consistent and recognizable feelings that all these things evoke are what define an organization’s brand.</p>
<p><br>A negative brand image can have a disastrous impact on any company. Even the biggest, most established brands are not spared, they can lose billions in revenue, and countless customers on account of a simple slip-up. </p>
<p><br>Managers must work to achieve a strong brand reputation. While a good brand reputation helps boost your brand equity and increases customer loyalty, a negative brand image does the opposite. It destroys the trust of your target market, and makes your competitors the necessary alternative to your hard-earned customers, dwindling sales and ultimately affecting the bottom line of an organization. The good news is that there can be a comeback! However, the road to recovery can be short or long depending on the severity and the complexity of the damage suffered by the brand. The goal of redemption is to boost customer engagement and rebuild trust. </p>
<p><br>If your brand is a victim of a negative image and you are looking to salvage it, Here are things to try.</p>
<p><br><strong>Assess the Severity of the Problem</strong><br>The first step is to determine the severity of the problem. Whether you know the source of your company’s image problem or not, you need to first assess how bad things are. You can approach this step by evaluating your customers’ expectations compared to the reality of your business to meet those expectations. This is referred to as the reputation-reality gap, this information can help you determine what changes need to be effected to regain customer trust. </p>
<p><br><strong>Be Proactive</strong><br>You can’t always predict how your ad campaign and messaging strategy will impact your customers. However, you can take a proactive approach to tracking, understanding, and preserving your brand’s reputation. It just takes a little work. These days, there are tons of tools available online to help companies keep track of everything from customer satisfaction scores to reviews. Adopting social monitoring tools can help you track “online mentions”, and you can gain insight into your brand’s actual reputation. <br>Paying attention to the negative information spreading about your company, reading reviews, and reading news reports will help you identify, gain different perspectives, and promptly tackle false claims and scandals faster and more effectively.</p>
<p><br><strong>Start from Inside, Out</strong><br>Your employees are your best allies and representatives. If they don’t throw their weight behind your image revival, no amount of marketing or PR will help your business regain customer trust. Make your team members an integral part of your rebranding process to unite everyone behind your efforts. Offer training in your brand standards (or refresher training if sticking to your original image is the best strategy). Likewise, if you plan to redesign your customer experience, start with your employees. There’s a saying that the customer experience is only as good as the employee experience. If you want customers to become consistently loyal to your company, offer incentives, and benefits, and utilize the power of positive feedback to help your team members find reason to love your company. Charity begins at home!</p>
<p><br><strong>Plan your Media Strategy</strong><br>Do not be like some of the large and small businesses that make bad situations worse by jumping into action without a clear strategy and often resorting to a trial-and-error approach in tackling critical situations. They become defensive when responding to negative comments or trying to sweep issues under the rug. Before you spring to action ask do I have a plan to deal with the problems? To help mitigate these problems, you will do well by putting a well-thought-out crisis management plan in place. For example, determine who’s going to be responsible for addressing customer concerns and develop a plan for sharing information quickly with your target audience. Your strategy should include a key messaging template, the best channels for reaching out to former and potential customers, and ways you will make your communication credible.</p>
<p><br><strong>Own Up</strong><br>When your brand is at fault, it’s best to acknowledge and take ownership of the mistake. Customers are more likely to respect you for taking responsibility and making amends. These days, consumers have higher expectations of brands than ever before. However, that doesn’t mean they always expect you to be perfect. Most consumers understand that businesses across many different industries can sometimes make mistakes. What they expect from you is the right response. Whether you’re dealing with a negative review or a press release that has left you with a tarnished brand image, own up to your mistakes. Don’t try to pass the blame or explain away the issue. Validate the emotional responses of your customers, and apologize for making a mistake. Remember, the “customer is always right”. Address the problem quickly and comparatively, and identify the best way to fix the problem. Working with your customers to address any issues they might face can turn unhappy customers into happy ones in an instant. Ia proof that you’re committed to positive change.</p>
<p><br><strong>State your Brand’s Position</strong><br>When the fault is not your own, stand by your brand. Take inspiration from Johnson & Johnson’s response to the Tylenol tampering incidents. The brand’s comments established that it cared about its customers. Loudly communicate the values critical to your company, rather than taking the blame and risking further damage.</p>
<p><br><strong>Bring in the Big Guns</strong><br>If you’re facing a serious problem with a negative brand image or when your brand is the victim of misinformation or disinformation, you’ll need to work with the media to mitigate the damage to your brand. Working with established and influential news sources will help you build credibility. Sometimes, the only option is to bring in the big guns – a professional brand manager or PR expert who can help you develop a comprehensive strategy for fixing your image. They can offer guidance on how to respond to customers. Some experts can also assist with your marketing strategy, and uncover ways to turn negative attention into a positive experience. PR experts can also help to spread your brand message to the right publications and outlets, ensuring you can stay on top of the problems.</p>
<p><br>While you might not be able to avoid negative attention forever, you can determine how you’re going to respond to it. Taking a proactive approach to preserving, protecting, and repairing your brand reputation is crucial in today’s fast-paced world. With the right approach, you can turn negative press into happy customers, and even increase brand loyalty.</p>
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<p><br><br><strong>Abimbola Adepoju </strong>is a certified public relations, project management professional with strong dexterity in organizational leadership, Client Service, media relations events and people management.</p>
<p>He has over a decade and half of experience which spanned project and program, event management as well as strategic corporate leadership across industries.</p>
<p>His aptitudes in public relations and program management have helped to build solid brands and elicit goodwill which culminates in increased productivity and profitability. </p>
<p>He served as the General Manager of Success Power International, a position that exposed him to public speaking, branding, people and financial management opportunities.</p>
<p>Abimbola holds a PGD in Mass Communications. He is an associate member of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations, global project management Institute and attended strategic leadership course at Harvard University USA</p>
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