ex per t advice
Heather Ripley | CEO | Ripley PR
IS YOUR FRANCHISE BRAND PREPARED FOR A CRISIS?
Franchise brands aren’t immune to crises or controversies. Far from it. With hundreds or thousands of stakeholders in the mix, from corporate executives to franchise owners to store employees to customers, potential problems are often only a social media post away. Crises come in many forms. It could be an executive being arrested for DUI or something more scandalous; regrettable franchisee behavior caught on video, an employee making a hateful social media post. Or, it could be an actual disaster or tragedy that impacts one store or many. Having some kind of future crisis is a certainty, and franchise brands have one choice to protect themselves: Be prepared.
Franchising USA
Be Ready Knowing that a crisis will inevitably and eventually happen, not if, means that franchise brands have the opportunity to develop a proactive strategy to minimize the damage. This means establishing steps to respond quickly and effectively to protect the corporate brand and the reputation of its franchisees. By developing and implementing a crisis plan, franchises can better protect themselves when the going gets tough. When crisis strikes, though, don’t think you can keep the story covered up. There are too many eyes and ears on social media. All it takes is one person posting to Twitter or Facebook, and the story will spread too fast to keep under wraps. Social media is a two-edged sword for any
business. It gives franchise brands like yours a direct platform for pushing out the facts of an incident and plans for making the situation right; however, it also gives anyone the ability to spread their own stories about your brand without regard to facts or context. Depending on the magnitude of the problem, it may be best to get ahead of public discussion and make the first announcement concerning a crisis. This lets your brand set the stage for the discussion. Every situation is different, though, and some issues may warrant a wait-and-see strategy. When it comes to damage control, if social media has already become involved, the only real solution is countering the story with your own message to minimize the damage. Each incident is a lit match that
