Fight or Flight?

Whether you are about to by hit by a car or by a lawsuit the human body’s reaction is just about the same. Our heart races, adrenaline flows free and in a split second we make a decision whether to stand firm or run for the hills, “It’s evolution, baby.”

This reaction is fundamental if you spend a lot of time hanging around wild Buffalo, but a uncontrollable desire to run away is not necessarily ideal if you’re trying to deal with problems with your product.

Many believe that the only way to “deal” with a nasty situation that lacks a clear cut resolution is to sweep it under the rug. Bad PR, bad reviews, bad code accidentally going live, they want to write it all off and hope that no one notices. The result, as often as not, is that pretty quickly the rug starts to look a little lumpy, and soon enough the entire team is tripping over half-resolved situations.

Instead of praying that problems “just go away,” have the wherewithal to stand and fight. To be honest, information moves far too quickly on the web to afford not to.

People hate to feel like someone is hiding something, and given a lack of reasonable information they will do everything in their power to fill in the gaps with anything that they can pull together. Most often this will be some strange combination of lies, damn lies and outright fantasy. Instead of letting the mob find their torches, wouldn’t you rather have some part in shaping the response?

• If there is a known bug in your software and people start to balk about it, acknowledge that you know it exists.
• If your PR has gone sour on a release, and it’s absolutely clear what people are angry about — meet their criticism with a clear, concise and honest response.
• If you “personal brand” is being dragged through the mud, stay calm, collect your thoughts and work to find common ground with the mud slingers.

In short, in a world where information will exist whether you like it or not, the best defense is a good offense.

When crafting a response, keep these things in mind:

Argue from a position of strength. It’s one thing to admit fault, it’s quite another to get on your knees and beg for forgiveness.

Be clear and concise. Marketese is not your friend, explain the problem in language that people can understand. There is no point in standing on the front line if your message is so clouded that no one “gets it.”

Take your shot and then get out of the way. Once you’ve explained the situation, don’t keep explaining yourself. Almost as bad as hiding from a situation is overdoing it. Make your points, make them clear and then go home.

Fortunately, marketing a product is not quite as dangerous as taming a herd of wild Buffalo. As hard as it might sound (the marketing part), learning to hold your ground and fight your battles will save you far more time and effort than being able to dig a better hole to hide in.

(Images)