PR, Branding and Consumer Trust

I talked in my last post about the extreme differences between PR and advertising.  I stressed why Public Relations efforts provide the third party endorsement that creates a trust and credibility, and how this is something advertising doesn’t provide.   I promised to re-visit the topic of branding, because your brand and how you position it has so much to do with this consumer trust that is lacking in advertisement, but is a staple in the right public relations campaigns.

The American Marketing Association (AMA) defines a brand as a “name, term, sign, symbol or design, or a combination of them intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of other sellers.” – This is a pretty straightforward and accurate description, but let’s break it down a little more…

A successful brand will seek to accomplish the following:

• Deliver their message clearly
• Confirm credibility
• Connect target prospects emotionally
• Motivate the buyer
• Create and maintain user loyalty

Branding is an essential component of Marketing Communications. You can’t (successfully) market anything with out a clear brand vision for your company or product. The AMA also says that a brand is the sum total of  a consumer/client/consumer’s experiences and perceptions, some of which you can influence, and some that you cannot.  This is my personal favorite way to explain a brand. Your complete experience with a product and/or company is what that brand is to you.

If you went to an In N Out Burger and the guy threw your animal style double double at you across the counter then you’re probably not going to have the same perception of the In N Out brand – that most people have. That’s just the way it is. It’s all about experiences and perception. The job of a good brand manager is to have the majority of consumers who deal w/ your company and/or product have a consistently positive experience and perception.

Today, it is important to remember that the world of social media – where transparency is become a key to this branding component of PR and Marketing – we HAVE to do this! We have to be transparent, authentic, and real with our consumers. This means that while yes -  it is important to influence consumers and present your brand in a certain light, it’s just as important today to make sure that brand you are presenting is a genuine and authentic one, and you aren’t just “putting on a front” for your company or product that will fall apart if a consumer sees past the surface. It’s harder than you would imagine to convince the corporate world that it is worthwhile to let a little bit of criticism or complaints show – for the sake of being an authentic company or brand that seeks to become more and more successful through improvement and working on weaknesses.

When consumers can see you’ve let them see the bad with the good – they know your honest – and when they know your honest, it is then they can begin to trust you – and you can start to build a solid brand from their trust, confidence and respect.