By: Catalina Jiménez - Director & Founder, Sentidos Comunicaciones
Article published in Forbes
Now well, and with much greater impact, in this digital world, coherence between what we show and say about ourselves is of vital importance.
When we talk about corporate reputation, we refer to the idea that stakeholders have about my brand, about the actions of my company. How do they recognize us? What do they think about us? In practice, many organizations are not aware of how they are perceived by people, even by “their own”. Seeking recognition is inherent to human beings, we do it professionally and normally for third parties, those of us who carry out public relations, communication experts; influencers, artists, opinion leaders, and professionals from different areas in their fields of work, even for themselves. However, there are many other examples of PR strategies that seek to impact the value of a brand to its stakeholders: the student who shows the teacher how well he is progressing in an exercise; the friend who tells his group about his achievements and aspirations, the suitor looking to make his partner fall in love. Now, and with much greater impact, in this digital world, coherence between what we show and say about ourselves, and how the environment perceives us, becomes vitally important; because, although we believe that we are not communicating, we are doing so permanently, in our social networks, with each action that we carry out with external and internal clients.
HOW A BRAND CONNECTS WITH ITS AUDIENCE
There are some words that are inherent to the practice of public relations: brand equity, reputation, experience, notoriety, recognition, storytelling vs. storydoing; audience, relationship, and so on, I could continue listing many more. When we talk about reputation, we refer to the idea that others have about a brand. And although it seems obvious, one of the first questions I always ask my clients is: how do you want to make yourself known? What are we going to highlight? What differentiates you from the way your competition acts? and under this exercise, I check if what they want to communicate and how they want to 'be seen' is effectively reflected in the market. Many times we come across fantastic brands in the agency, who are executing tremendous initiatives, but who are not able to successfully transmit their message, either because they do not communicate it or because they do it in the wrong way. Consulting companies are often heard saying that if something is not communicated, it simply does not exist and in a hyper-digital world this phrase becomes even more relevant, since, if it is not reported correctly, creating that 'awareness' or recognition in your audience, it is unlikely to have a positive impact on choosing a brand or endorsing it. Let's imagine a specific case, the company that we will call 'A', is an application that aims to help young people from all over the world to find their first job. The platform is free and supported by large technology organizations. To achieve their goal they have to link at least two million people, in a certain region. Company 'A' has a story, it also has a purpose, the product has a spectacular development, and it is created for the right audience, but something is missing: a public relations strategy that places them in the center of the conversation and with This will strengthen your reputation and credibility, your brand value and awareness. What for? so that those first two million human beings that want to enroll, trust the brand, and decide to join. If they don't know who you are or what you do, why would they follow you? Why would they buy from you? My advice for brands of any size is that this long-awaited 'brand equity' (brand value) should always be worked on. And from our exercise as public relations professionals, we can help build strategies and tactics so that through coordinated actions companies tell a story, that they have the correct notoriety, thus impacting their recognition and reaching the appropriate audience, connecting with empathy. For what? so that they choose us, so that they are linked and so that what we do, with what we are is made visible in a consistent way.
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