Building a strong brand image with Public Relations

“When wealth is lost, nothing is lost. When health is lost, something is lost. When a character is lost, all is lost.”

– Billy Graham

Our character or image is one of the most important assets we have. Your image is how you are perceived by people and it becomes extremely important if you are an entrepreneur. Most successful businesses use their image as a tool to get more customers and improve their sales. So anyone who is aspiring to be an entrepreneur must realize that to make an impact in the extremely competitive market, you need to build your image and maintain it. Now, this is where you should seek consultation with a renowned PR agency. 

It is a slightly unfortunate and unnerving fact, but when it comes to business, who you become less significant than who are perceived to be. If people perceive you as good, your business will thrive. If people perceive you as bad, your business will stall. Therefore, partnering with a PR agency can help you maintain a strong public image that will eventually translate into business success.

“Rome wasn’t built in a day” and neither can the public image be built in a day. It takes time and consistent effort to build that image bit by bit. Once you get to a position where you wanted to be, the goal becomes all about maintaining that image. Therefore, image building and maintenance is a lifelong process and you need to find a good PR agency that can look after your image and that of your business for a long period.

It’s not too difficult to find a good PR company in Delhi these days as many have entered the market. However, before you sign up with a company, make sure to check their track record to see if they have been able to deliver on the promises that they’ve made to their previous customers. Read reviews and testimonials, get in touch with a client or two if you can to learn more about how that agency functions.

Once you hire a PR agency, you can start the process of building your image. Without further ado, here’s how you build your image with the help of PR.

Building the image

The first step is to evaluate the status and understand the current perception of the brand. After that, you can decide what kind of image you want to build. The data collection to gauge the present image can be done by:

• Interviews and interactions with a target group. Interacting with the target audience can help you understand how the brand is being perceived at the ground level and it’ll help you make necessary adjustments in your strategy.
• Scouting the secondary sources like articles, press releases, and mentions about the brand can help you gauge how the brand is being perceived in public.

The data that you collect forms the foundation of your analysis of the image; studying the data and breaking it down gives you the image of the brand at the time of data collection.

Aspects of analysis

Public Opinion Research: It helps you judge what people think about the company, its product/services, management, etc.

Image Study: Here you ascertain what is the one thing that the organization is known for. If it isn’t what you want it to be, it’s time to make some changes.

Motivation Research: Here you find out why people perceive your brand a certain way. It is a very important step in the process and helps you find the root cause for people’s attitude towards your brand.

After the analysis is complete, you will know whether your brand image is positive, negative, or neutral. It will determine how much work you need to do to change your brand’s public image.

Building the right image

Let’s say after the analysis, you notice that your brand’s present image does not fall in line with your expectations. Therefore, you will like to make some changes. The ‘Mission Statement’ of the brand helps identify the image to be projected and the role of public relations is to narrow it down and bring it in sync with the desired positioning as well.

For instance, a financial services organization may want to be known for its honesty, trustworthiness, and transparency, whereas a food services organization may want to be known for its quality and authenticity. What a brand wants to be known for depends on that particular brand’s domain of operation.

Based on the analysis of the existing image and the desired image, the PR Agency will draw out an action plan. If the brand’s image has already deteriorated, the focus is shifted to firefighting or crisis management.

Steps for building the desired public image

• Adopt the right strategy
• Choose the right message
• Select the right media for disseminating the message
• Disseminate information actively
• Analyze the response and make necessary adjustments

Effectiveness survey

It is one of the most important things that need to be done after an image-building exercise has been undertaken. The effectiveness survey helps you understand the extent to which your image-building efforts were successful. This survey not only helps you pinpoint the degree to which people’s perception was changed but also gives you pointers to help sketch better campaigns in the future. It’s a continuous process that needs to be carried out after every image-building exercise.

Public Relations isn’t a magic wand. It cannot paint the negatives in a positive light. It helps you identify what people do not like about your brand. You can then dial back those things and give people the things that they want.

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