Although Apple has been the home of some strong products in the last 35 years, even the Steve Jobs-founded company has had its share of clunkers.

Remember Newton, the personal assistant that was almost obsolete within a year because of its bad design and lack of splashy features? How about the iPhone 4S, which debuted to fanfare in the fall of 2011 only to be overshadowed by the big news about iPhone 5 immediately?

When companies release products and they are met with a collective yawn from the public, or even worse waves of anger when customers realize the product wasn’t worth the hype, then companies need to leverage these bad reviews and bad press into something better.

Obviously, one bad review isn’t going to kill your product. It could be just someone being a bit cranky who had a bad day. But when the product reviews multiply and they are bad, companies can take these reviews and use them as incentive for employees to do a better job designing products that customers can use. In reviews, if customers say they want one particular item or two included that was not in the original product, then future products should include those items.

If a product is being particularly savaged, then maybe the services of an online reputation firm would be the best thing for you. For example, Repuation.com CrunchBase Profile shows the company deals in online management reputation and privacy, and it also shows all of the ways to utilize the service and the people to get in touch with when it comes to dealing with reputation.

Sometimes companies come out with a quick fix. In the latest incarnation of the IPhone, Apple tried to go with its own mapping software. The technology was not perfect, and as a result the software had several glitches like wavy bumps on the screen, incorrectly-positioned buildings, and directional navigation that almost sent customers into rivers and lakes.

Customers immediately complained. Apple responded by firing the person in charge of developing that mapping software and offering customers a chance to download Google Maps instead.

Apple is an example of a company recently that underwent a nasty upheaval as the result of a bad review. The all-time example of how a bad review or rotten marketing decision ended up helping a company smell like a rose is Coca Cola, whose introduction of New Coke in 1985 turned into one of the worst remakes ever of a product. By the mid-summer of 1985, New Coke was banished and Coca-Cola Classic was re-introduced.

Conspiracy theorists will say Coke did this on purpose, but think about it. Why would a company tarnish its reputation just to do something like that?

Today’s tech companies want to have the best technology available at all times as consumers demand it, and if it isn’t there they will let the company know.

The best companies listen to their detractors. A bad review or negative news about a product can be a chance to turn things positive for that company. Lack of turnaround can spell doom for the future. The best thing to do is act quickly.

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