How to deal with the brand crisis?

In recent years, some agricultural brands have encountered various crises because of emergencies. The key words of brand crisis in previous years, such as "problematic milk powder", "melamine" and "clenbuterol", are still fresh in people's memory. the crisis has brought irreparable damage and losses to local governments, regional industries, farmers, leading enterprises and consumers in a short period of time. It has become a "pain point" and a "difficulty" that must be solved in industrial development.

How did the sudden, rapid spread and bad impact of the brand crisis happen? Combing these events, we can find a variety of reasons, from the major aspects can be divided into two kinds, one is the internal cause, the other is the external cause. Emergency is the fuse of brand crisis, and the defect of brand management is the root cause. External causes such as sudden diseases hit the aquaculture industry, the magnifying effect of rumors and rumors in the Internet era, changes in the relationship between supply and demand lead to poor sales and so on. Internal causes such as product quality problems, brand subject dishonesty, improper brand expansion strategy, marketing mistakes and so on.

Nowadays, the diversification of information dissemination channels, the high speed of prescription, the globalization of scope, the awakening of consumers' awareness of rights and the improvement of legal awareness have greatly increased the speed and scope of the spread of all kinds of crises. Whether there is a problem with its products or services or a crisis implicated by other reasons, it means that something has gone wrong in some links, which can not be avoided, and crisis public relations is only a rescue activity taken under this premise. The development of any brand is not plain sailing, only when the crisis comes to actively deal with, flexible treatment, in order to resist the invasion of the crisis and consolidate the strength of the brand.

In the face of the crisis, how can we deal with it in order to recover the industrial losses and restore consumer confidence as soon as possible? The occurrence of such incidents and the spread of panic are related to the lack of authoritative voices and correct information guidance. The reason why a number of problematic agricultural products and some individual samples are overly concerned and exaggerated is that there is a lack of credible third-party institutions to investigate and clarify, leading to misinformation. Many things are common sense in the eyes of professionals, but consumers do not know enough about the production process, so they make irrational choices, resulting in unnecessary losses. Whether it is beneficial to consumers or producers, people with professional knowledge have the obligation to provide scientific and accurate information to help the public better understand the truth. For example, after the strawberry incident, the relevant departments also made a corresponding response, such as the release of sampling results, pesticides, plant protection, quality inspection experts came forward to demonstrate, and so on. But how to quickly transmit such a sound to consumers through more and more convenient channels is worthy of further consideration.

In recent years, the degree of organization of agricultural production and management in China has been increasing, but it is far from enough relative to the development of the market. The situation of small-scale production in thousands of households is widespread, and when there is a crisis in the industry, it is difficult to make an effective response in time and clarify the facts quickly. Take the strawberry incident as an example, it is difficult for a single strawberry grower or cooperative, or even an agricultural enterprise, to have the energy, time, money and ability to deal with it reasonably, which leads to the delay and weakness of public relations in the crisis. Therefore, it is particularly necessary to improve the degree of organization of agricultural production and operation, and to enhance the ability of industrial crisis public relations and dealing with emergencies. Government departments need to timely announce the production, testing and sales of brand agricultural products, so that consumers will not be led by small-scale events. Industry organizations can play a bridge role in guiding "city dwellers" to the countryside to look at the production process of agricultural products and understand agriculture. If consumers and fruit growers know more about each other, there will be fewer misunderstandings and rumors.

Different ways of dealing with the crisis bring very different results. Once the brand crisis occurs, we should follow the law of dealing with the brand crisis. whether it is the government or the enterprise, the most urgent task is for the brand subject to make clear its position and clarify its basic attitude towards the crisis through the mass media. follow the basic principle of "people-oriented", honestly admit mistakes, humbly accept public criticism, and have positive rescue or improvement measures. To achieve the communication and understanding between the government and enterprises, farmers and the public, resolve the misunderstanding or hostility between each other, and then establish a trust relationship between the government and the public. Whether the brand subject has healthy and progressive business ideas and measures is the key factor to determine whether the communication effect is good or bad.

President of China Agricultural University Ke Bingsheng:

Food crisis public relations is not a matter of a single enterprise.

At a time when the media and the Internet are highly developed, the crisis public relations in the food industry is not only a problem of individual enterprises, but also needs enterprises, industries and governments to complete it together.

When people have had enough to eat, they need to eat well and safely, pay more attention to their health, and have higher and higher requirements for the quality and safety of agricultural products. In an Internet era with highly developed media, any quality problem of agricultural products will be constantly exposed, concerned and known by the public once it occurs. The actual impact of the possible problem is very small, but media reports will magnify it, and even lead to false positives and misleading effects.

In such an environment, first of all, enterprises are required to regard quality and safety as the top priority. Enterprises should not have a desire for profit, but should have a conscience. Business leaders should also be afraid and understand the serious consequences of the loss of consumers and legal penalties brought about by quality and safety problems. Therefore, enterprises need to strengthen management in the production process, especially in the process of expansion. In addition to the high requirements in the daily production process, enterprises should have their own mechanisms to deal with the crisis, crisis public relations need to be done well. We should adopt a sincere attitude, publish all the information we know in time, build consumer trust and confidence, and do not wait until rumors are rampant to refute rumors.