Stop lighting your own house on fire.

You don’t need a coach to tell you when your business is less-than-great in one department while you publicize the stellar parts of another. If you don’t know about the rot, your customers will tell you.

Businesses are hyper-focused on PR messages – and make no mistake, they’re important. What you do, however, is key to whether people believe them or not.

Example: One part of the business is darn near flawless. You’ve got the stories, glowing testimonials and credibility that brings people to your door. You tell the world you’re the best in the game and for a minute, they believe you.

But there’s something else happening in another room. Balls are dropped, clients are unhappy and management’s voicemail boxes are “conveniently” full. This is a total collapse of broken publicity promises. You work hard on the good part, just to let others on your team speak to customers condescendingly. See the disconnect?

This dynamic is something I see too often. A company builds a brilliant public relations image, but the moment you peek behind the curtain, you find a mess of unreturned calls and defensive staff (remember — perception is reality when you don’t immediately fix what’s broken). Whether it’s a breakdown in training or plain old apathy, the result is unkept PR promises. The situation is always troublesome.

Running a Business Isn’t Easy

(You say, “Tell me something I don’t know, Gail …”) Here’s the reality: When you charge a premium price, you lose the right to make mistakes and pretend they didn’t happen. The minute you open your doors, whether physically or digitally, you’re responsible for someone or something. And when people sacrifice things to afford you, but they’re delivered a busy signal or chatbots that ask you the same questions 50 times before the call drops, you’re not just shattering your message, you’re lying about your value. That burns a reputation faster than a match to a gas tank.

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Stop letting different departments or divisions live on alternate planets. If your publicity and sales teams sell a dream, be sure you communicate that value. When they drop the ball, your PR message doesn’t matter.

Communicate clearly, transparently and respectfully with people in and outside your business. Repeat daily if you have to: Positive experiences in one room while chaos reigns in another dismiss all the good you release to the public.

Prepare for Crisis

Prepare every department leader for crises with consistent messaging and action plans. Whether you’re a one-person shop or employ hundreds, you have to be ready when something goes sideways. Don’t hide behind a full voicemail box. Own mistakes and tell everyone in your purview how you’ll fix them. Then do it.

Crisis communications counselors (many PR specialists are qualified) can guide you through preparation and restoring the public’s faith in you after the dust settles.

Was it really bad? Were people hurt? Apologize and mean it. No corporate jargon and “this isn’t who we are” or passing the buck stuff. Be human. Be compassionate while you fix your system.

Represent Respect

Respect what your customers see and feel in every interaction, regardless of how you see a situation. Yes, some complain just to complain, but follow through before you dismiss a thing.

PR value is found beyond your best moments. Your credibility is measured by how you handle the worst ones.

Disclaimer: This newsletter was written by a human for humans. AI identified repetitive words, which I changed, but in my own language, not its stodgy stuff. — gs

 ©2026 Gail Sideman; gpublicity.com; SIDEbar

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