Brand reputation and exposure is paramount in the success of any business. ‘A brand can take years to build and seconds to destroy’, and in this age of technology is so much more apparent with the ever evolving digital world moving messages and content faster. As technology evolves, the roles of public relations, marketing and advertising have merged where offline strategies integrate online strategies to create an effective PR/marketing campaign mix.

 

Leaving your marketing, content or communications to chance is like giving a child a sharp object. Taking control of messages verbally and visually as much as possible is choosing to manage your brand and deliver it to the right audience at the right time that impacts your business positively. It also allows you to handle any negative feedback and provide correct responses, ideas, products and services to your customers.

 

Before creating a winning PR and marketing campaign there are four important aspects that need to be gained, updated and reviewed at least annually and quarterly if not monthly.

• Know and understand your brand, products and services.

• Know and understand your competitors, point of difference and your marketing position.

• Be clear about the business, brand and PR/marketing goals and intentions (S.M.A.R.T – specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, timed).

• Do your market and segment market research and analysis.

 

No PR or marketing campaign and its distribution method should ever leave the idea pool without the consideration of the brand and business capabilities. It should also include the back-end and response solutions before the launch is initiated. Not doing so can set up the campaign for failure or even worse... destroy a hard earned brand reputation and losing customers.

When designing the winning strategy you should be mindful that timing is everything, keep it real and integrate opportunities.

 

The perfect strategy will...

• Find the compelling angle...everything has one!

• Have sticky headlines, slogans or titles

• Touch, move and inspire the targeted audience by getting related in their world

• Stand out from your competitors with creativity using visual techniques

• Use suited online and offline solutions simultaneously

• Create leads collating lists of email addresses and other customer details

• Funnel customers into their product or service interest and direct them through the buying channel.

• Be consistent with the underlying message relating to your brand

 

Being ‘proactive to be reactive’ is a better position to be in when managing positive or negative external or internal responses.

Remember the feedback may not just come from PR and marketing agendas but also industry related environments and issues at any time.

 

Your basic media and marketing tool kit should include...

• Business collateral – brochures etc.

• Business website

• Social media pages

• Media outlet lists

• Media Kit

• Press releases (various angles and topics)

• Audio and visual library (hi-to-low res images, broadcast and online quality audios and videos

• Testimonials

• Recent media coverage articles audios, and visuals

• Product samples

• Media monitoring

A huge mistake many businesses make in PR and marketing is not communicating to internal departments. It takes various roles and people to have a business work, so staff should have knowledge of the campaign, its intentions and how it is to operate internally.