Eden Gillott serves on the Los Angeles chapter of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) Business Accelerator program, which provides entrepreneurs with the tools, community and accountability needed to aggressively grow and do business. As president of Gillott Communications, a crisis public relations and bankruptcy communications firm, Eden helps companies protect their reputations and build trust. As the author of a Business Owner’s Guide to Crisis PR: Protecting You and Your Business, we asked Eden how in crisis executives can apologize after saying or doing the wrong thing. She shared the following:
Did you know that the holiday season brings an increase in the number of people saying or doing things that lead to unexpected PR crises? In 2020, the added stress of Covid-19 and political divide could exacerbate this unexpected seasonal consequence. That means more people than ever before are in need of authentic apologies.
Why do many companies and their executives communicate so poorly after a PR error?
We often hear: “Oh my god! Have you heard something like that? Your Instagram is exploding!” Or, “I can’t believe it was said like this! It’s all over the internet. What did you think?”
What we say and do is broadcast and documented online. The platforms on which we build our brands – TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook Live – are the same ones that cause us the most problems. Traditional crisis communication statements do not perform well on these platforms. You have to adapt while maintaining your authenticity. If your audience is used to watching videos of you but you give a written statement instead, they’ll be wondering what’s going on.
Here are four steps to creating an authentic and effective video apology.
1. Manage the stress
Most people who end up in hot water are a mixture of panic, fear, remorse, and sleep deprivation. It can be extremely lonely and isolating when you are put in the spotlight. The stress can be too great for a person. Your initial instinct might be to post a video apology right before the situation worsens, but doing so can have the opposite effect. Resist this urge and take a moment to breathe. Your business partners and your family are usually too close to the situation and too emotionally and financially invested to be able to give impartial advice. Put together a team that offers an outside perspective, calmly assesses the situation, and develops a solid strategy.
2. Manage the fallout
There’s a basic crisis PR formula to follow regardless of what caused the fallout:
- To breathe.
- Set a goal.
- Get the facts.
- Formulate a strategy.
- Create calming messages.
- Watch the situation.
- Be ready to pan.
3. Manage the message
With video, companies can communicate with their audience on a very personal and direct level. We feel closer to the companies we follow online and invest more in them. Think about how easy it is to tell when a close friend is acting weird. It can feel like an invasion of the Body Snatcher.
Similarly, followers can sense that something feels “off” when the person or company apologizing changes completely in their communication. The tell-tale signs include unrecognizable personality traits, a complex sentence structure, or a robotic “script” cadence.
Ideally, you want to strike a balance between ultra-polished and completely out of date sound. It’s okay – and sometimes even desirable – to show a little vulnerability, even if a cornerstone of your brand is keeping perfectly up to date. You can still be “real” while avoiding basic PR pitfalls in crisis.
Use signposts instead of script to help you achieve this balance. If you know where you want to go and how you want to get there, signposts eliminate (or at least reduce) tangents. It is also helpful to read up on the strategy for structuring apologies.
There is an increase in people making multiple apologies when the audience seems dissatisfied with their previous apologies. Remember: there will always be people online who are not your target market and are happy to tell you how you could have done better. Ignore them. Instead, focus on the people who matter most to you.
If your target audience is still upset, see if your apology simply missed the mark or if you have an underlying issue to deal with. When it comes to how your company works, determine how you can realign yourself to the market. In general, however, you shouldn’t apologize multiple times unless you have something useful to add.
4. Manage the future
Performative apologies and behavior sound hollow. People’s BS radar is pretty good. If you’re not real, they’ll call you. Think of the many companies that have come under fire for PR campaigns feigning support for Black Lives Matter.
Brand and end-of-career events depend on many factors: Your reputation upfront. How much you screwed up. Whether your path to salvation is real. Your ability to endure the consequences of your actions.
Several brands, influencers, and YouTubers have apologized after receiving a backlash on social media and then decided to leave platforms or close their stores altogether after their apologies were not well received. While you can’t expect to please everyone, sometimes it makes most sense, both personally and professionally, to step back. This is usually the case with companies that represent one of several projects or brands in a portfolio. If the controversy continues, there is a risk that the others will be damaged.
In the end, it boils down to trust. Once you lose confidence, it is difficult to regain.
The opinions expressed by Inc.com columnists here are their own, not those of Inc.com.
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