6. Hire A Better PR Department
You know what really doesn't look good to the billions of peoples living throughout the galaxy? For starters, how about a guy who cancels out the rest of the government, effectively erasing democracy, and grants himself the ultimate power of a dictator? It also doesn't help that he looks scarier than Freddy Kruger waking up in the morning OR happily calling it "the dark side" of the Force. All bad for public image, don't you think? But the Empire's disdain for trying to be popular with the people doesn't stop there. Stormtroopers marching through the streets, invasions and enslavements of completely harmless planets, and weapons of mass destruction that can annihilate said planets. Then there's the ol' doctrines of racist sexism, which are very closed to any sort of diversity what-so-ever. They're basically everyone's perfect bad guys. Nobody wants to live under a regime like the Empire, but everyone would want to string the Emperor up by his feet and hang him in the street to spit on while they pass by. What the Empire truly needed was a good Public Relations Department filled with beautiful women that made them look great. This propaganda could have been used to gain the support of the people and if the people had supported the Empire instead of wanting a change, the rebels would have been screwed.