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PR is Painless Branding

Guest post by: Kathryn Kates

Article Overview: Creation of a brand is the most powerful tool for a company. How can public relations help you build a brand?

PR is Painless Branding

A company’s success can be measured in many ways: sales, customer loyalty, market share and more. The strongest indicator of success, however, is brand power. Companies like Apple, Nike and Lululemon have cultivated an image so strong that it is seared into our consciousness as if by a hot iron. When an image and a company become synonymous, that company is a brand.

Heating the iron

Brands aren’t built overnight. It takes years of planning and a dash of luck to create a lasting and meaningful brand. The key ingredients include:

Aesthetics

It’s important to look your best. A visually appealing layout that matches your product and your desired image is a powerful tool. A great example of this is Apple's website, their commercials and their products. Crisp blacks and whites throughout, but sleek and appealing.

Product/Service Advantage

Any competitive company will know what makes their product valuable to consumers. It is important that the company tells those consumers why it is valuable. Highlighting the advantages of products and services in the early stages will plant a seed for that product’s future. Eventually the idea will be so ingrained that advertising will take on minimal importance, as the idea will be synonymous with the product.

Communication

In order to plant these seeds, a company must communicate. There is no better way to engage clients and forge an image than by talking with them. Company’s can communicate through a charismatic leader, with a great support structure or through well-trained front-line staff. What is most important is a well thought-out and consistent communication plan across the entire company.

Public Opinion: The Ultimate Intangible

Arguably the most important aspect, there is no brand without the public thinking there is a brand. Despite what some “experts” will try and tell you, you can’t control public opinion. Your brand is at the mercy of the public, who can choose to ignore or embrace you. That said, if a company controls what it can control, communicates well and engages its stakeholders, public opinion can be influenced.

The Role of PR

All of the above categories are specialties of public relations practitioners. As we discussed last week, PR is in charge of engagement and communication just as accounting is in charge of money. A good PR group can

· Integrate communication through a detailed communication plan

· Engage stakeholders on behalf of the company

· Train employees in proper “brand communication”

Perhaps most important at all, good communication is a far more effective selling tool than marketing has ever been, and costs a lot less. So you have to ask yourself: why spend money on an expensive national add campaign when your PR department or agency is more effective? PR is painless, and lasting, branding.

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Article Tags: brand, branding, public relations



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