What Businesses Can Learn from the BP PR Nightmare

Oil gushing in the Gulf of Mexico at a rate of over 100,000 barrels a day is a nightmare and videos of oil covered birds and dead fish all spell public relations nightmare. Throw in an out of touch CEO who makes fun of the "little people" and goes yachting In the middle of the crisis, and a company is beyond bad public relations. So, how can companies learn from the BP mess to avoid this kind of public relations nightmare in?

• Be honest from the start. Nothing gets the public more riled than when they feel like they have lied to or something has been hidden from them. By getting out in front of a story and telling the truth, no matter how bad it is, this can help keep a company's reputation intact. Warren Buffet once said, "It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you'll do things differently."

• Take responsibility. Though it is popular to play the blame game, it is essential for a company who has a problem to take responsibility for it. Blaming others will not deter people from feeling whatever they feel about a company, so it is better to just take responsibility and deal with those who may have been involved out of the public eye. An apology will never hurt a company, but passing the buck can.

• Don't insult customers. Calling customers who have been affected by a company's crisis or mismanagement names or patronizing them only adds fuel to the fire. People who feel insulted can do a lot of damage to a company through online means. With billions online on sites such as Twitter, it is not difficult to be destroyed in a matter of days, if not hours.

• Watch what you do. Having video of Tony Hayward, CEO, yachting during a crisis while people in the Gulf Coast are losing their jobs, beaches, fish, etc. showed callousness, even if it was unintentional. The public could view it as not caring or as taking the crisis to lightly. There could have been an innocent reason for it, so it would have been better to tell the public why the person in charge was doing that.

Any company which wants to last has to be able to deal with a crisis, because they will come. If handled correctly, it could be a win for the company. A crisis handled improperly could result in reputation, trust, customers, or the business.