Tips for avoiding the usual PR crises during the pandemic

2020 was an interesting year for the startup ecosystem in Southeast Asia. It left us no choice but to grow up.

While companies in the region have come a long way in less than a decade, it’s no secret that Southeast Asia is one of the most heterogeneous regions in the world. Scaling here will always be an interesting story for a startup to tell – be it to an investor or media outlets.

Sorry, closed forever. / Photo credit: Bryan Mills

But how many founders take their storytelling seriously? At what stage do they realize that this is an important part of their journey?

The year the pandemic started was probably the first time we saw several startup scandals take the spotlight in the media. In hindsight, a lot of these could be have been avoided, provided the firms in question had taken their public relations exercise seriously.

Let’s analyze what can lead to a PR crisis and how best for a founder to face it.

The role of the founder

For the first few years of any startup, the founder is the face of the firm.

As a company starts to build according to its strategy, deciding on its public tone and image is crucial. Image PR is always the most challenging way to build a brand yet it’s also the fastest avenue to do so. It’s troublesome because the company image needs to be authentic and honest, but it’s also the quickest route because people start to associate the brand with a face or a name. Companies like Tesla and Facebook gained popularity because their CEOs became recognizable faces in public.

But what this also means is that a startup’s founder needs to be ready for a public role. More often than not, they jump into communication campaigns because they feel an interim need to build recall. But building a reputation requires thinking in the long term, and if the founder/CEO is not ready for a public role, their behavior and even mood swings can cost the business billions of dollars in profit or investment.

As a founder, you need to analyze in detail your behavior and bio. Do you have dubious stories in your past? Do you often make unfounded statements? Will your nervous system withstand scrutiny and criticism?

In case at least one of these points is in doubt, taking a first-person PR approach becomes risky. After all, PR is not only about sharing good news; the media ultimately respects a leader who can take criticism as well as accolades.

Bill Gates is an example of a CEO who has successfully kept his personal life separate from his professional image and has used authentic storytelling tactics to build a reputation for his brand over the years.

“Red alerts”

Once in the spotlight, startups always run the risk of having stories about their businesses blow up. They can originate from sources like a disgruntled consumer or an ex-employee leaking details to the media. From the media’s perspective, however, news is news, regardless of the source.

There could be some unobvious reasons why a story becomes news-worthy.

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