Crisis PR & Reputation Management for Small Businesses with Dave Oates | Ep. 33 | My SBA Loan Pro

What happens when a disgruntled employee or angry customer attacks your small business online? Protect your company’s reputation with expert crisis management strategies from Dave Oates, founder of PR Security Service.

In this episode of the My SBA Loan Pro podcast, host Ryan Smith and Dave Oates break down exactly how business owners should handle negative online backlash, viral social media complaints, and internal company crises. Drawing from his 30 years of experience as a US Navy Public Affairs Officer and corporate marketing executive, Dave shares actionable steps to bulletproof your brand.

Key Topics Covered:

• The Real Source of Business Crises: Why over 50% of PR disasters stem from disconnected or wrongfully terminated employees posting on platforms like Yelp, Glassdoor, and TikTok.
• The 60-Minute Response Rule: Why you must issue a statement combining empathy and clear action within the first hour to maintain public grace.
• Reputation Monitoring: How to use free tools like Google Alerts to track what people are saying about your management team and brand.
• Digital Footprint Defense: The importance of building a robust internet presence so negative comments don’t dominate your search results or generative AI summaries.
• Crisis Preparation: Why drafting communication templates for likely scenarios (like network outages or product issues) minimizes financial disruption.

Whether you’re an everyday Main Street business owner, an exhausted landlord, or an M&A advisor looking to bring maximum value to your clients, this episode is packed with actionable insights to keep more money in your pocket and out of Uncle Sam’s.

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Key Chapters:

00:00 – Podcast Introduction
03:00 – Military Background and Finding Public Affairs
07:23 – Transitioning to Tech PR and the Private Sector
12:26 – The Promotional Marketing Era
14:37 – Surviving Industry Shifts and Pivoting to Crisis PR
20:19 – Financing the Pivot and Learning from Bad Leadership
25:16 – Real-World Cases: High-Profile Scandals and COVID-19
31:25 – The Most Common Sources of Business Crises
35:52 – Who Calls for Crisis PR and Initial Strategies
39:48 – Inside the Situation Room: The First 60 Minutes
44:38 – The Public’s Threshold for Forgiveness
48:46 – Free Tools and Strategies to Prevent a Crisis
54:22 – Episode Wrap-Up

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