Proactive responses are ways in which the company engages with a negative comment. Typically, “trolls” on social media or attacks by the press are the kinds of negative backlash companies have to deal with. proactive responses is a respective and responsible response. . This is normally approached as a diminish any conflict.
Defensive Responding is when the company response is focused on only validating the company’s actions and denying any validity to the concerns of the press. This strategy is not an efficient way to handle backlash. This type of response will negatively impacts the business to business relationships, as well as your business to consumer relationships.
According to Fast Company, during the “Cola Wars” in the 1980s, the Atlanta-based company was losing market share to rival Pepsi and feeling the pressure to win back consumers swayed by Pepsi’s famous taste test “experiments,” TV advertisements in which blindfolded consumers voted in favor of Pepsi over Coke (Ainsley Harris).
Harris stated that after that, new Coke flopped, and Pepsi sales skyrocketed. But Coke’s response to the crisis offers a lesson in managing innovation gone wrong. The company apologized to the 400,000 customers who wrote letters of complaint, shipped its old formula to stores as “Coca-Cola Classic,” and gradually reduced New Coke’s distribution. By the time the much-maligned new formula disappeared for good, consumers had all but forgotten that it had ever existed.
When you are trying to determine how to respond to irritation messages whether they are false claims, unrelated issues, misunderstandings, or otherwise; remember to be proactive, not defensive. Keep being innovative and learn from your competitors. Alike to author, Austin Kleon’s saying “steal like an artist”, steal like a business owner.