Top Five Branding Strategies for Public Relations Professionals
- Find an Underserved Niche
- Define Your Brand’s Purpose
- Be Simple and Consistent
- Appeal to Emotion
- Don’t Box Yourself In
When it comes to choosing a branding strategy for a public relations career, a communications degree can be very helpful. From getting to know your customers to consistently promoting your brand, the strategies used by communications professionals are usually simple and to the point. Whether you’re starting a new business or promoting a brand for a client, the most important rule is to stick to a narrative. The hardest part about creating a memorable narrative is getting the process started. Once you’ve successfully introduced your brand to an audience, keeping the narrative going is straightforward.
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1. Find an Underserved Niche
Unless your PR firm is alone in your market, you will have to find a way to distinguish your brand from others offering similar services. Likewise, if you’re promoting a brand for a client, the first step of the process should be to find a niche without any competing brands. A niche is a highly targeted subsection of a market. If your brand is for a pet company, a good niche might be ethical pet supplies or cheap dog toys. The niche you choose will depend on the type of product or service you offer. To avoid wasting time and effort on a campaign that is immediately forgotten by your audience, ensure that your message is helpful, memorable and authentic before committing to a niche.
2. Define Your Brand’s Purpose
The purpose of your business should be easy to define in a few words. One of the most important tasks in creating a memorable brand for your business is taking the time to understand your company’s purpose. Defining a purpose is another way to set your business apart from others in the same market. The difference between selecting a niche and defining your purpose is that you won’t describe your purpose to all of your customers. It will be implied by the work you do and the message you convey to your audience. Having a well-defined purpose is an essential part of staying on-target and building a loyal customer base.
3. Be Simple and Consistent
The customers in your niche will be looking for a company they can identify with. The majority of these customers will remain loyal to your brand once they’ve decided to enlist your services, explains Forbes. By keeping your messaging simple and consistent, you can make your brand memorable for all of your customers. Your business will be valued by the people you serve, and it will be easy to maintain your professional reputation.
4. Appeal to Emotion
When you pursue a communications degree, you probably learn not to appeal to emotion when making an argument. Promoting your brand is a different sort of task than writing a college essay, and appeals to emotion are highly effective when marketing your brand. Strong emotions can override your customers’ reason, making them open to suggestion and receptive to your message.
5. Don’t Box Yourself In
A rigid narrative about your brand can make it difficult to adapt to changes in the market. While it’s important to be consistent with your message and your purpose, it’s equally important to be flexible and adaptive as a PR professional. Keeping your message simple is a good way to remain open to future changes.
Promoting a brand is an essential task for any PR professional working with corporate clients. Whether you have a bachelor’s in marketing or a communications degree, the branding strategy you choose should be carefully designed to promote public relations for your company.