Chicago Reputation Management Lawyers

Common Causes of Reputational Damage

A person’s reputation can take a hit for a variety of reasons. A few of the more common causes of reputation damage include the following:

• Data Breaches – Personal or business data breaches can often result in those whose data was revealed being forced to do damage control because confidential information that was never meant to see the light of day becomes public information. Depending on what was revealed, people can lose their jobs, their companies, and personal and business relationships if they don’t act quickly to limit the damage and/or repair their reputation.
• Social Media Missteps – Social media is a powerful tool. If you use it right, it can build your reputation, and if you use it wrong, it can tear your good name to pieces. If an ill-conceived social media post or comment goes viral, the entire world can see it, judge it, and condemn you for it in the blink of an eye. People have lost their careers, their significant others, and more because they posted the wrong sentence, picture, or video on social media.
• Public Comments – Whether it is a quote in a news article, said during a television appearance, or blurted out while in a public setting, the wrong comment, especially concerning a controversial subject, can quickly grow from a snowball into an avalanche. Before you know it, your reputation has taken a hit. In some cases, even some of your friends and family may turn on you for something you said. In addition, you could lose your job or if you own a business, your company’s profits could take a nosedive. Whoever said, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me” never had a controversial comment go viral.
• Smear Campaigns – Sometimes, if you feel like the whole world is against you, you’re not as wrong as you might believe. In some cases, especially when it comes to politics, organizations, and even individuals, can target a rival with a smear campaign. This can include attacking their reputation through the media, word of mouth, ad campaigns, and social media. It can be overwhelming if you don’t have any help to fight back. Even your own friends and family may not know what to believe.
• Public Incidents – Our private lives are rarely as private as we believe. Anyone can pick up their smartphone and record us at our worst. In addition, if we have an incident in public that is illegal or even just frowned upon, we can rest assured that it will find its way to the light of day via word of mouth, public records, social media, or some other means. In the aftermath of such incidents, our reputations are bound to take a hit. All our worst nightmares may come true, such as losing our job, losing our business, or losing friends and family. That’s why it’s important to act quickly following a public incident. There may still be time to limit the damage, and if not, then it is critical to begin rebuilding our reputation as soon as possible.
• Personal Attacks – It is often those closest to us that can hurt us the most. When a former friend, an estranged family member, ex-spouse, or former employee attacks us on social media, in public, or through the media, it can do serious damage to our reputation. Whether what they say is true or not, those who don’t know us may take the word of someone who we were close to as gospel. That can make our fight to defend and/or restore our reputation that much harder.

What Can Having a Bad Reputation Cost You?

When your reputation is ruined, it can have a negative impact on several areas of your life. Here are a handful of the ways that having a bad reputation can cost you:

• Money – A bad reputation can cost you your income and drain your financial holdings.
• Relationships – When our reputations take a dive, so can our personal and business relationships if we’re not careful.
• Opportunities – Just like having a good reputation can open the door to business and personal opportunities, having a bad reputation can close the door to those same types of opportunities.
• Business/Career – Many people have lost their jobs, careers, customers, business relationships, and businesses because their reputation went from good to bad.
• Health – A bad reputation can have a negative impact on a person’s health. It doesn’t feel good to know people see you in a bad light. Feeling that way, especially for an extended period, can hurt your mental, emotional, and even physical health.

Schedule a Confidential Consultation with an Experienced Reputation Management Lawyer Today!

If your reputation has been damaged, hiring an experienced reputation management lawyer is one of the best moves you can make. Pissetzky Law LLC has been successfully helping clients inside and outside of the court room for over 20 years, so if you’re in the middle of a public relations nightmare, our experienced reputation restoration attorneys can help. We know all the ins and outs of reputation repair and online reputation management.

For instance, if a media outlet or an individual is prepared to put information online that will damage your reputation, we will contact them and do whatever we can within the confines of the law to prevent that from happening, such as buying the content from them or issuing them a cease-and-desist order. If the damage has already been done, we can help you clean up your presence online and in the real world, and we can put measures in place to protect your reputation against future attacks.

For more information about our law firm, read what our clients had to say about us and check out our case results.

To speak with our experienced Chicago reputation management lawyers, give us a call at (312) 883-9466 or contact us onlineto set up a confidential consultation. Se habla Español. Mówimy po polsku.