Guest article by: Karen Post

It can strike without warning. It can slay your stock and drive away your customers. It’s bad news when your brand undergoes a complete meltdown. The good news is there are proven strategies to get your business back up and running after a cataclysm.

Today’s competitive and transparent environment offers any number of threats from within and without, from customer complaints, negative press, product recalls, natural disasters, to financial failures. A single individual with a strong social media following, or the poor performance of a highly visible employee, can turn the company tide. These events can blindside even the strongest of brands.

Karen Post knows that a loss can be a gain, and she has the turnaround examples to prove it. BRAND TURNAROUND (McGraw-Hill Professional; December, 2011; Hardcover, $28.00) examines the seven principles and strategies that will protect your brand against any corporate storms that may arise without warning – and get you back in the game.

Ford. Barbie. Exxon. Martha Stewart. Tylenol. Eliot Spitzer. BP. JetBlue. Michael Vick. Harley-Davidson. Pee-Wee Herman. Here is a diverse mix of more than 75 brands and celebrities, and Post’s fascinating post-mortems of how their public profiles tanked and how the losses in each case were specific and unique. All the examples Post features in the book were once at the top of their game, fell from grace, and rallied back in the face of loss using a series of Post’s key survival principles.

Researching the keys to brand recovery, Post has put together a strategic game plan that needs to go operational within the first moments of crisis:

· Take Responsibility – Shift the brand tide from crisis to composure. This chapter examples a wide variety of instant handicaps and how they should be handled immediately.

· Never Give Up. After suffering losses, here are profiles of companies and brands that bounced back stronger - and why.

· Lead Strong – The special qualities of the people behind the turnarounds, responsible for making key decisions in the turnaround process.

· Stay Relevant – How to indentify, prioritize, and craft a strategic communications and relationship-building program.

· Keep Improving – In addition to returning to that original state of glory, brands must also show that they are committed to doing even better than before.

· Build Equity – In the face of scandal, successful brands create bonds with an increasingly cynical consumer market that will stick by them through good times and bad.

· Own Your Distinction – Call it your unique attribute, your “Brain Tattoo.” What’s your compelling differentiator? What are the unique qualities of your brand that will fuel your comeback?

Writes Post, “If and when your brand gets hit by outside forces and uncontrollable situations, or if the bad or weak in you and/or your brand explodes, remember, there is life after a disaster and brand meltdown. Take a deep breath and apply the seven game-changing strategies.”

BRAND TURNAROUND offers the keys to rallying in the face of disaster.

Read more Brand Turnaround success stories and blogposts at http://brandingdiva.com/