How Can PR Help To Build A Brand?
PR, or public relations, is an incredibly important tool that businesses should utilise when trying to build their brand, so the development of a successful PR strategy should always be made a priority. Understanding how to use PR to your advantage and its specific benefits, as well as how to effectively communicate with the public, is essential knowledge for any small business owner. In this article we will break down the different ways in which securing good PR can benefit your business and ultimately aid in building a brand.
According to PRCA, PR is “all about the way organisations communicate with the public, promote themselves, and build a positive reputation and public image.” Therefore, the introduction of a successful PR strategy can help in building a brand through increasing its brand awareness. Through successfully communicating with the public a business can grow public recognition of the brand and ultimately build its audience.
Similarly, PR can also help to build a brand through increasing brand trust and credibility. Unlike traditional paid-for advertisements, PR focuses on unpaid, earned media coverage from the press which is often valued higher by consumers as it is seen to be more authentic and trustworthy. PR frequently comes in the form of mentions or recommendations from journalists and influencers so is seen to be more reliable than traditional paid-for advertisements as it comes from a trusted, external source, helping to achieve brand growth through an improved brand identity.
Boosting the business’s search ranking is also a benefit of a good digital PR strategy as the more online links that a business secures, the higher they will rank on a search engine’s results page. If this is a main goal of your PR strategy, online publications should be targeted in order to score digital press coverage, that uses follow links to reference back to the business’s website, building the brand through good digital PR and SEO (search engine optimisation) strategies.
PR can also be a great way to support a business’s social media campaigns to maximise success. Securing press coverage to further promote campaigns can help in targeting a wider audience and reaching and exceeding the campaign’s aims and objectives, helping further to build the brand.
PR is also a good way to communicate your brand’s USPs (unique selling points) to your audience. For example, securing PR coverage that promotes the fact that your business is sustainable will not only help in reaching a wider audience but also creates a more positive brand identity in the consumer mindset. Your USP is often what makes your business shareable, so journalists will often write a piece for others to spread via social media or with friends via word of mouth.
To summarise, opening an effective line of communication between your brand and its audience through PR will allow for a better understanding and a more trustworthy identity, therefore helping to build your brand.
Abbie is a PR & Content Marketing Intern at Unearth PR
Instagram ~ @abbiemarks.portfolio