On Turning a Brand Blunder Into a New Beginning

This is an edited excerpt from my marketing agency, Backstory Consulting’s newsletter. To sign up, head to our site.

Many of the clients my agency works with with have reached out to us because they’re trying to navigate a situation where they’ve made a misstep regrading racism or another -ism. When I asked my mom for her advice (she’s basically a silent partner at this point) she told me to tell my clients not to see these blunders as breakdowns, but rather breakthroughs. A chance to look forward, and do the work.

It’s not inherently wrong to make mistakes. What is wrong, is recognizing your blind spots and doing nothing to fix them. See these brand blunders as opportunities for growth. A chance to use your brand and your platform to promote humility, owning up to your actions, and doing the work that it takes to make change.

If you find yourself navigating a brand blunder, I’d recommend starting with these 3 Rs alongside doing some deep reflection across your company to examine exactly how and why it happened in the first place.

1. Regroup: Get to the root of the problem and be honest about you/your company’s role in what happened. Examine if this is a problem based on the company’s infrastructure or if it was a one time blunder.

2. Reset: Halt any upcoming initiatives and take a beat to strategize around next steps. Read through all feedback on social channels and make a note of any running comment themes. This step may include reaching out to an agency like Backstory for help.

3. Refocus: As you figure out a crisis management strategy, recognize that this moment can also serve as a learning experience. Think long and hard about how you can prevent something like this from happening again. Hint: It usually involves taking a holistic look inward and making some long-term changes.