How to Build a Strong Brand Image Through Strategic Public Relations & Marketing
In this article we’ll be looking at how to build a strong brand image. Whether starting from scratch, considering a fresh strategy for the year ahead, or revamping your brand with a new focus, building a cohesive brand image and identity will help to improve recall and resonance with your target audience, whoever they might be.
Developing and solidifying the vision for your brand, and what you define as success is the most important step, and will affect how your strategy takes shape.
The foundations of marketing strategy
Before you even begin to consider what your goals might be for the future, we’d recommend a SWOT analysis, which provides a simple breakdown of the current business. Identifying any weaknesses and threats is just as helpful as recognising strengths and opportunities. It can often be more insightful, allowing you to understand any areas which need more immediate attention. It might also help narrow down the various aspects of your brand you want to highlight within your marketing strategy.
Ensuring your whole team is aligned on the goals and values of your brand will bring clarity to future planning and help you build a strong brand. Is your brand committed to delivering sustainable results and solutions to your audience? Are you expanding to become a competitive, global force in your chosen industry? Is your business maintained within the same family and a localised area? Is there a focus on British craft or local expertise? Depending on your unique offering and proficiency, your marketing strategy can be adapted to focus on each of these aspects, to spotlight what will make your brand stand out amongst a crowded space of competitors.
Crafting a compelling brand narrative
Once you’ve pinpointed the features of your brand that make it unique or that you want to highlight, crafting a compelling narrative that tells this story, and how it is relevant to your audience will help shape the overarching brand image. We’re often asked to review the ‘about us’ and ‘our story’ pages on client’s websites to strengthen and perfect a narrative which intrigues and resonates with consumers and key media.
Recapping the brand's history into the broader via authentic content will always resonate more with potential customers when incorporated into web design and used within the wider marketing comms timeline. Increasingly, consumers are more engaged with the provenance of both physical products and services. Emphasising aspects that differentiate your offering from competing brands via behind-the-scenes social media content or spokesperson profiling within critical media are just some of the ways this can be communicated.
Understanding your audience
It’s also worthwhile speaking to any current customers or supporters of your brand to understand their behaviours, how they feel about your offering and presence, and what incentivises them to purchase, as many similar products or services can often be available in the same market space. Strategically targeting your audience segments through channels you know, they follow more closely, whether through a curated print and digital PR campaign or by utilising specific social media platforms, can focus the mind and build resonance with critical demographics in a more considered way. Spreading yourself thinly across all platforms is far less effective than using two or three platforms consistently and well, underscoring the importance of a strategic approach to build a strong brand.
The importance of images
Conversations on building a solid brand often come back to discussions on the strength of the imagery. We spoke about the importance of photography for a successful PR campaign last month and how consistent, high-quality imagery can be used to create a more cohesive marketing and PR campaign across platforms. Imagery that conveys your brand's values and successfully communicates your product offering or services can be utilised on the website, in newsletter communications, on social media and within the media strategy. Consistency is vital, but imagery can also be used to differentiate from critical competitors within the same industry. Not all brands will have the budget or expertise to regularly create eye-catching, compelling photography.
Developing strong media relations
It is a common misconception that PR stands for ‘Press Release’, and although not all that the job entails, media liaison remains a crucial aspect of our role. Building solid relationships with the press across print and digital platforms and securing earned coverage within publications read by both your current and target audiences will encourage further awareness of your brand. To build a strong brand, the positioning and brand offering will affect which titles should be included in any media outreach, considering sector, aesthetic, and price point to ensure the press are engaged with the concept and specific narrative. Outreach should be tailored, particularly for newer brands. Spamming editors with blanket emails will never be as effective in building these critical relationships as personalised emails that explain why and how your product or services are directly relevant to them and to the readers of the publication they write for. Brand offering aside, general emails are likely destined for the junk folder or deleted before being read if they pass the spam monitoring services. Although time-consuming, these relationships are vital.
Thought-leadership and brand insights
To further enhance engagement from journalists, offering a spokesperson for thought leadership pieces or opportunities that rely on commentary and tips will enhance the brand’s image as a leader within your industry.
In particular, online media increasingly rely on commentary within trend pieces, practical how-tos, and announcements of new products or services. From the journalist's perspective, they are aware that this boosts their domain authority internally as audiences are more engaged by articles which include opinions and insight from experts within the industry.
Significantly, though, for you, strategic placement of commentary can also increase the SEO of your brand and improve your Google search ranking.
The broader community and your brand
For some brands, building resonance within local communities is equally as important as inclusion in widely read media titles and fosters more meaningful connections with target demographics. Demonstrating your commitment to social or environmental causes that link back to the brand’s history will set you apart from competitors and provide a more personal hook that may resonate with potential clients who share similar values.
Involvement in or sponsorship of community events, encouraging support for charitable initiatives, or partnerships with organisations with complementary beliefs and values can strengthen the integrity and authenticity of your brand image. This is vital for encouraging word of mouth and brand association within more specific communities but can be used within the wider marketing strategy as well.
Similarly, it is important to engage with your brand’s community on digital platforms. Particularly for brands in their infancy, responding to comments and questions via direct messaging, engaging with like-minded brands and individuals, and cultivating positive sentiment around your brand is key to forming relationships with consumers that will last.
Measuring success
By incorporating elements of the various strategies set out above depending on which resonate with your brand ethos, you can strengthen the reputation and credibility of your brand, and increase awareness and visibility in the marketplace. It is important to set clear KPIs at the beginning of your campaign to keep track of the effectiveness of your strategy, and be able to adapt if need be. By monitoring engagement and sentiment, tracking media mentions and website traffic, and overseeing social media metrics, you can refine and decide upon any additional work that may need to be undertaken.
Conclusions
In conclusion, building a strong brand through a strategic marketing campaign requires:
An analysis of your brand’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats
Identifying your brand’s values and goals
Understanding your target demographic and their behaviours
Creating authentic, compelling narratives that can be used across different media
Producing strong imagery that builds on each of your brand’s key differentiators and successfully showcases your offering and services
Building relationships with the media to encourage increased levels of coverage across print and digital platforms
Utilising the relevant experience and expertise of brand spokespersons to secure additional coverage and increase awareness of the brand as experts within the industry
Amplifying your values through community engagement and involvement in events and outreach that demonstrates wider commitments and values
Monitoring the success of your campaign with each of the identified goals in mind
