Don’t put others down to promote yourself
If you’ve ever been tempted to leave a negative review on a competitor’s Yelp page, or make a habit of spreading bad news about other businesses, this week’s Crisis Management Quotable is for you:
“Never make negative comments or spread rumors about anyone. It depreciates their reputation and yours.” – Brian Koslow
In fact, not only is it no help to your reputation management efforts to depreciate others’, but it could also land you in a whole lot of trouble. Already courts have ruled to unmask anonymous reviewers in a couple of cases, and it’s not difficult for a solid web forensics expert to discover who or where those negative reviews are coming from if someone’s willing to pay to find out.
If you want your business to be more successful, if you want to see more clients or customers coming through the door, strive to BE a better business than your competitors. We’re not saying you shouldn’t promote yourself, but doing so by putting others down will only lead to trouble.
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For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
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[Erik Bernstein is Social Media Manager for Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc., an international crisis management consultancy, and also editor of its newsletter, Crisis Manager]