Public Relations Agencies Cultivate Successful Brand Reputations
A public relations (PR) agency works in alliance with companies to foster brand success. This is facilitated in alignment with the brand’s mission, vision, and both immediate and long-term goals.
We take “The Good” brands
For some companies, this means taking their newly launched company and managing all aspects of marketing, messaging, content, press releases, media exposure, and other multichannel publicity outlets to build brand recognition and following in a positive light. Think Starbucks’s launch from a small Seattle coffee shop to a brand that is recognized and loved in more than 31,000 stores and 80+ different countries around the world.
We take “The Bad(ish)” brands
Sometimes, we take brands that used to be popular but have faded over time, and make them a brilliant success again. Think Converse, an athletic shoe brand that was a trendsetter from the 1940s to the 1970s, rendered nearly obsolete through much of the 80s and early 90s, and then came back with a must-have vengeance (the result of savvy PR firm work around a nostalgic, “retro” campaign).
We’ll even transform The Ugly brands
Finally, a genuinely talented PR firm revels in turning an “ugly” brand’s bad press and negative public perception into a major success story via creative and strategic planning. Think Nike’s turnaround from sweatshop monger – and the resulting tanked sales – into its current ranking as “the most valuable apparel brand,” worth around $32.4 billion.
Ultimately, your public relations agency works closely in alliance with your key players and brand visionaries to keep your company at the forefront of your prospects’ and clients’ awareness, building loyal, trusting, and positive impressions for a lifetime.
Your PR Firm in Day-to-Day-Action
So, that’s a lofty, philosophical explanation of what the typical public relations agency handles in a big-picture sense. Now, let’s talk about what a PR agency does in the day-to-day realm.
We develop a plan that aligns with your goals
First and foremost, we form an intimate bond with your brand’s top players so that we live, breathe, and understand your company, mission, products, and services from the inside out. We also listen to where you’ve been, where you are now, and where you see your brand in the future.
From this, we create a mutual set of goals, and then we set to work to achieve them one by one, using smartly played strategy, creativity, and professional experience and expertise.
PR firms produce content via print, media, digital, and any other means possible
To develop brand recognition and a positive reputation, you need to be out there like nobody’s business. Your target market should be able to recognize your brand’s color scheme and logo on a highway billboard or Tweet as quickly as they recognize the iconic “orange Wheaties box” and the outline of the telltale Wheaties name-stamp.
Our PR firm has the privileged opportunity to craft our clients’ stories from the get-go, because we all know s/he who controls the story wins. However, we are equally happy to take your story, dust it off, and relaunch it in a new light to generate new levels of awareness and positive brand perception.
We achieve that level of marketing success by creating…
Content, Content and More Content
We’re always thinking and dreaming of more creative ways to market brands via a myriad of content platforms and modalities:
Analytical content that allows us to analyze, interpret, and – ultimately – anticipate public interpretations of your products, services, and image so we can proactively and reactively control the public’s emotional narrative.
Editorial and print content that supports each of your campaigns, every step of the way (readers, viewers, and followers should be taken on a guided journey – such that they never realize we’re holding their hands)
Nudges, pokes, and full-fledged connections that put you in the view of the industry’s influences, producers, editors, journalists, and the best photographers and videographers out there.
Images and videos are essential in our digital, screen-oriented culture and era. You need to be read, heard, and seen, so we brainstorm and execute the visual content that makes that happen.
Website and social media content allows audiences to engage with your brand on a more personal level, and in shorter and more relevant ways.
Creative content creation generates brand interest and loyalty
The content we create, in all of its forms, connects you to clients, prospects, and the local (and global) community, so your consumers feel bonded – and more loyal – to your brand.
3 Specific Examples of What a PR Agency Should Do For You
Now, we’ll take those every day, real-world content bullet points, and explain how we put them to work using three specific examples.
1. Using metrics, data, and ROI to craft smarter, targeted, and more compelling stories
A public relations professional is obsessed with metrics. S/he constantly reviews dashboard metrics and analytics pertaining to every aspect of how the outside world is – or isn’t – engaging with your brand, who they’re sharing it with and how often, what they’re sharing about you, and so on.
The information we glean via cold, hard numbers, measured results, and data is recycled right back into our think-tanks and creative visioning sessions to generate ever-increasing returns on your investment via custom narratives.
2. Positive promotion of awards, accolades, and general successes
While the world may love underdogs in Hollywood films and professional sporting events, they prefer top dogs when it comes to investing hard-earned cash in your products and services.
Therefore, PR firms go nuts when we have the chance to publicly promote your company’s awards, accolades, and general success stories (in humble and heartwarming ways, of course) via multi-channel public relations. Followers will celebrate and share how great you are.
3. Thriving in the face of crisis management
Finally, we don’t shy away from the negative stuff. We respond quickly, promptly, and professionally to any poor online reviews, negative social media frenzies, or any other unpleasant buzz that may crop up from time to time about your company.
If you’re in the midst of a crisis stemming from genuine, in-house slip-ups that threaten the integrity of your brand or that risks alienating your customer base, an adept PR agency gets right in the thick of it. We strategically plan the best way to get the company back into everyone’s good races again. All the previously mentioned metric data and analytics mean we know precisely which story threads to cut away and which ones to add or weave back together again for synergistic success.
Looking For the Right Public Relations Agency Match?
Public relations agencies do everything, anything, and all of the things necessary to get the right information, to the right people, and at the right time. PR work, and the realm of multichannel publicity, requires public relations professionals who are fluent and at ease in the constantly evolving field of print, digital, and social media – not to mention the human social- psycho-emotional perspective.
To find the right match for you, search for PR firms with content that speaks to you, a roster of clients you’re familiar with and respect, and who wow you with their portfolio. Take a peek at their team bios and look for diversity, creativity, enthusiasm, and a spectrum of work experience – all of which bodes well for creative, innovative, and next-generation strategy formulation.
If you can check all those boxes, odds are your prospective PR agency will do what it takes to take your brand and its reputation to the next level, and then the next – and the next.
