In a dramatic turn of events, Elon Musk and Donald Trump’s friendship came to an end recently, with Musk attempting to throw his ally-turned-rival under the bus in a statement that referred to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. How can Musk save himself after this public fallout with the President?

Steady wins the race

PR professionals have pointed out that Musk’s fall from grace was characterised by frantic posting of memes aimed at demeaning President Trump, while Trump posted patiently and with PR perfection, which made him come out on top. Trump, winning at PR? What is this sorcery, we hear you ask!

A shift in focus

Rather than entering a childish spat and trying to humiliate, PR professionals say Musk should have focused more on his argument than what he could achieve by throwing insults out of his pram. Granted, getting things off your chest when your emotions are heightened can feel like the only way, but by fighting back with policy and facts, he would have had a better chance of having people rally to be on his side.

What is PR

Public Relations agencies have professional expertise in dealing with public fallouts such as this prime example and can help public figures to raise their profiles, dispel rumours and improve their reputation. If Elon Musk had contacted a Cheltenham PR agency //headonpr.co.uk/, for example, they may just have been able to rehabilitate his image before it was too late.

For instance, they might have advised him not to take to social media to continue any private discussions or disagreements. Then, when the time was right, they probably would have encouraged him to use Trump’s failings to promote his own successes, using the situation as a marketing tool. With so many followers already and a series of successful businesses at stake, this would have been to do with damage control as opposed to gaining new followers.

That said, there will be many people who will now follow him just for the sake of it, now that he’s publicly slammed the President!