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Open TikTok right now – guaranteed you'll see more than one business dealing with a reputation mess they’ve completely fumbled.
That's the amber zone most leaders never plan for.
This isn’t the help-my-store-is-burning-down type of PR crisis. It’s the messy middle ground between ‘everything's fine’ and ‘major disaster’.
An old Tweet that hasn’t aged well resurfaces. You discover you've been underpaying staff for months. A customer service AI agent gives out wrong information.
These might not be full-blown catastrophes, but they can absolutely hit your reputation and kill sales, brand deals and funding. Just ask Odd Muse founder Aimee Smale – one TikTok greenwashing video means she’s splashed across the Daily Mail and is facing boycotts.
She’s not alone. I see reputation damage hitting businesses hardest in five key areas:
Have a think: do you know where YOUR reputation blindspots are?
Do you know exactly what you’d do if an angry customer went viral tomorrow? Or your team have a major fall out and stop coming into work?
We’re going to stress-test your reputation so you’re not left winging it when something goes wrong while juggling your team, journalists, community and customers all at once.
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Use the table below to identify specific reputation threats across these five areas.
For each impact area, think of 2-3 realistic scenarios that could hit YOUR business. Then explore how that same scenario might play out at different levels — as green (manageable), amber (a short-term hit but not catastrophic), or red (could threaten the long-term sustainability of the business).
Be brutally honest – this is for your eyes only! Most founders discover they're flying blind into the amber zone in at least 2-3 areas. I’ve included one example for each area to help.
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| IMPACT AREA | GREEN | AMBER | RED |
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal brand spillover | I share a personal opinion on socials that receives a lot of negativity | A controversial old interview of mine resurfaces | I’m arrested for fraud/assault |
| Team liability | Payroll error affects one employee's overtime calculation | I discover systematic underpayment of multiple staff | Lawsuit for wage theft |
| Customer escalation | Client complains about issue via email | Customers create Facebook group to discuss product/service failures | All products recalled |
| Partnership risks | Email platform has brief outage | Email platform goes bankrupt mid-sale | Email platform has massive data breach, exposing my customer data |
| Growth pressure points | New location has minor safety violation during inspection | Multiple safety/compliance failures across stores | Workplace fatality due to inadequate safety protocols |
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You’ve just spotted your reputation blind spots.
But that's useless if you don't know what to DO when something goes wrong and your neck is on the line.
Step 2 is building a Crisis PR Bible. Think of this as your reputation insurance – just like you have business, cyber and car insurance to protect you.
When amber zone issues hit, your Crisis PR Bible will give you exact steps to follow, pre-made templates and community & customer notification plan to help you:
What you do in the first 24 hours after an incident makes all the difference. What would happen to your business if you lost 20% revenue (and counting) overnight?
If insurance sounds like exactly what you need to stop one bad day undoing everything you’ve built, book a free call with me to find out what your Crisis PR Bible could cover.
ps. Keep an eye on your email…there are a few surprises coming your way!
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