Role of PR in building your brand.
One question we get asked is how PR helps in building a brand or what is the role of PR in brand building.
‘If I was down to my last dollar, I’d spend it on PR’ Bill Gates. This famous quote from one of the world’s wealthiest men to ever walk the face of the world should not be taken lightly. Good communication is the heart of all successful brands. Proper branding with a dash of PR can result in both higher sales and customer loyalty for a product or service.
This then begs the question – what is Public Relations (PR)
Is it managing your brand image?
Is it spinning narratives to favor your brand?
Is it blasting news releases to the press?
At TrioG, we define PR as a chance to tell your story in an authentic way that your customers will relate and embrace it. It is about creating mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics. A Branding, as earlier discussed (here ) is the look and feel of a brand. It is the personality and voice.
Essentially PR is a long-term process that encompasses communicating to the public, which is designed to develop and build a reputation of a brand. There are different types of PR.
- Employee relations (Internal public relations). This is PR focused on the organization itself. The goal is making an organization a place where people are happy to work. Engaged employees are critical to the organization’s growth and success.
- Community relations (external public relations). This is the community outreach communication that promotes the organization’s image positively.
- Political and campaign relations. I think politicians have always had a field day because of PR. This is one area they invest in because their outmost goal is to win the hearts of the public. The Nairobi’s governor (sonko) is one we like to follow.
- Government communication relations. Government communication can be defined as all the activities of public sector institutions and organizations that are aimed at conveying and sharing information, primarily for the purpose of presenting and explaining government decisions and actions, promoting the legitimacy of these interventions, defending recognized values and helping to maintain social bonds.
- Media relations.
PR enables your brand to build a relationship with the audience and increase awareness of your business. How then can you use PR to building strong brands?
Build your brand using PR
To begin with, PR helps in brand education. A brand can establish itself as an authority in its industry by offering relevant information and advice to its publics. In so doing, the public gets to associate the brand with the respective industry as well as increase brand awareness.
Secondly, as a business/ brand/ company/ individual, finding your niche and owning it will ensure that your story (narrative) is uniquely yours. Using PR, you can then tell your story with an emphasis on your strengths. Closely related to finding your brand’s niche is targeting key audiences. With targeted communication, a brand is able to connect more with its consumers and nurture deep relations. Brand loyalty more often than achievable when the targeted approach is employed.
Another way you can build your brands using PR is being consistent in your messaging. Consistency makes a brand unforgettable. It takes time to be an Unforgettable brand/business/individual continually telling your story ensures you are memorable.
Forming strategic partnerships can help your brand/business connect with more people. Using industry influencers would be a great way to achieve this.
Lastly, the use of multiple platforms to tell your story is another way to use PR to grow your business/ brand.
TrioG Communication 