This is a guest post by Kara Jensen, creative principal of B2B marketing and web design firm Bop Design.
Before you invest in a long-term public relations plan, it’s important to ask yourself, “Does my business look the part?” If not, you risk losing any potential revenue or credibility a successful media story could provide.
Let’s examine which brand elements could potentially compromise the success of a pitch.
Logo and identity
A brand is the sum of all the visual, tonal and identity elements of your business. The visual elements include things like your color palette, image choices and design style used in your marketing materials. The tonal elements include everything that speaks to your brand’s “attitude,” language and differentiating factors.
The identity elements of your brand include your business name, logo, tagline, business card, the products and services you offer and even the uniforms or dress code in your office.
This brand core is prominent in any initial outreach to the media. A logo is stamped on every press release distribution, so why give the wrong first impression? Ask yourself what kind of message your logo and corporate identity are really sending. Is it professional or forward thinking? Or is it juvenile or sloppy?
Website
Successful public relations result in business outcomes, such as your ideal customer proactively researching your business and reaching out. Yet too often, media placement drives an interested consumer to a dated, confusing or frustrating website. Jargon-heavy copy, unfriendly navigation and generic stock images are just a few of the common culprits.
Today’s greatest risk is non-mobile friendly websites. According to Pew Research Center, 62 percent of smartphone owners said they got news on their device in 2012. Similarly in 2012, MarginMedia reported that 48 percent of users say that if they arrive on a business site that isn’t working well on mobile, they take it as an indication of the business simply not caring or even knowing.
Not caring about your customers? Sounds like bad brand perception. If you’re actively pitching media, chances are your story will be mostly read online (and the story will reference your company website). If those visitors are being sent to a website that isn’t designed to respond to mobile and tablet devices, you’re turning away future business.
It’s also important to note, your website is key in telling your brand story. Ensuring the design and the content accurately reflects your company’s personality is critical in ensuring that there is no disconnect between the media placement and what the visitor learns on your website. Continue the story on your website—include videos and graphics that clearly highlight your company’s unique value proposition, customer testimonials and images of employees and culture. This all helps tell your brand story and make the most of your media placement.
Social media
Social media plays a critical role in the longevity of a news story. 50 percent of social networking site users have contributed to news stories through sharing. Have a dead social media account? Time to revive it and start building your social voice. Just like your website, your social media presence helps support your brand story so be sure your messaging is clear and consistent across all platforms.
It’s important to monitor your brand mentions before, during and after a story goes live so you can measure customer sentiment, address questions and target new leads.
Customer service
Customer service is often the most overlooked, yet most important, part of a brand. A business can invest in all the PR and marketing it wants—but if customers are being led to an unresponsive customer service team, all efforts fall flat. Customer service is the essence of your brand promise.
It’s great to get the word out and increase sales, but overlooking customer service is a bad long-term strategy. Your customer service is the key to building long lasting brand equity and positive word of mouth. Evaluate your process and values before you start any public relations campaigns.
Kara Jensen is Creative Principal of Bop Design, a B2B marketing and web design firm. Kara has 10 years of experience designing marketing communications for corporations and SMBs. Connect with Kara on LinkedIn and follow marketing trends from Bop Design on Twitter and Google+.
