Public Relations: Defining Your Organization From the Inside Out
What do your customers say about your company?
Would you let your main competitor control your sales strategy?
Public relations is an inevitable consequence of being in business. Like it or not, your corporate image evolves with every interaction with customers, investors, competitors, and even your own employees. So managing perceptions of your company is just as important to the bottom line as what you sell and who buys it. Unfortunately, many companies view public relations as a reaction to external forces and, as a result, lose control over the direction of the market.
As with all other corporate activities, public relations must be treated as a strategic process. Adopting a strategic public relations campaign allows a business to not only better compete in the marketplace, but also succeed across marketplace boundaries. Being proactive rather than reactive means setting long-term goals that are measurable and repeatable and that ensure the longevity and achievement of the business. Setting goals, milestones, and metrics ensures that any and all PR activities are aligned with company goals and deliver real results.
By answering the following questions, a strategic public relations process will emerge that will support all company processes and goals.
Who are you?
What do others say about us?
What are the corporate objectives?
How can we control the public relations process?
your internal identity
The reality is that good public relations starts in the office: having a strong sense of corporate identity at all levels is key to having a consistent and credible public image. It is management’s responsibility to articulate to all employees the company’s mission statement and make it actionable. This is a message that will be repeated and demonstrated to external audiences on a daily basis through virtually every company interaction. Employees who believe in the mission statement will display the corporate image through their actions. Indecision, multiple or conflicting messages at any level will have a negative impact and inadvertently kill any momentum that can be achieved.
By making public relations a strategic process and not a reaction to external situations, a consistent message will be developed across all corporate segments. Applied correctly, it is a message that will eventually evolve into a corporate attitude and culture. Actively defining the image of your company ultimately impacts the credibility obtained from all sectors: employees, investors, customers, competitors and the general public. Actions speak louder than words and govern how all strangers will interact with you. Establishing a mission that is accepted and embraced by each segment of your company will help verify its value.
Your external identity
Starting a strategic public relations campaign allows your company to control its place in the market by defining perceptions in all segments of the value network. It’s more than just a clever marketing campaign to endorse your products – it’s an extension of your corporate identity. Think about what others are saying about you: your customers, your competition, your shareholders, and the general public. In today’s economy, the answer must be in harmony.
A coordinated public relations strategy is critical to delivering a consistent and compelling message across all interfaces of your business. The focus is on establishing the company’s image and will have an impact on the reception you get from each of these audiences. Confirmation of the corporate message must be practiced with all departments working in unison because mixed signals will undermine the importance of any future effort. For example, your marketing team cannot contradict what the product team claims about the product’s capabilities.
A company’s image is more important to non-customers. What do your competitors say about you? Do they take you seriously? Your suppliers? What about industry analysts? Do potential employees want to work for your company? These impressions count and can determine the company’s maneuverability in a dynamic market by determining access to necessary resources and strategic options. Strategic public relations deliver a consistent and credible message that establishes a foundation for future efforts and results.
Alignment of corporate strategy
Knowing your company’s short- and long-term aspirations is vital to setting the tone for any and all PR campaigns. Having a clear direction allows you to define long-term goals and short-term milestones and measure success. As with other corporate processes, the public relations campaign must be aligned with management objectives and reinforce other corporate efforts. Acceptance is required for all rows and columns of the company organizational chart. Through strategic public relations initiatives, the necessary steps will be developed to implement the plan that will support and promote the achievement of the desired results. Ultimately, by conveying the company’s mission through the attitude and actions of all stakeholders, a common vision will take root and ensure success.
Increase your perceived value
Obviously, not all aspects of external perception mentioned above can be controlled (ie competitors). However, this is why strategic public relations should be implemented as a proactive process. A consistently delivered message, encompassing both words and deeds, across all facets of corporate identity will mitigate even the worst things others may say about your company. To ensure success, public relations must be managed as seriously as sales, product development, and marketing activities. The entire corporate team must believe in the objectives (which will be contagious to all who hear the message) and the process (which will generate buy-in at all levels). Most importantly, an executive must be assigned to shape and coordinate the message across the various media and channels. The inclusion of an external public relations professional can be a valuable addition to avoid groupthink and maintain objectivity (which underlies credibility).
recommendations
A strategic public relations campaign is an often neglected component in establishing a company’s market position and chances for success. It doesn’t focus just on the marketing or sales team, but gives them a solid foundation to draw from, built on the attitude and image of the total organization. Like all other major corporate activities, public relations should be implemented as a well-defined process that is proactive rather than reactive, with short-term and long-term goals, as well as objective metrics. By developing this new mindset, your company can maximize its potential by controlling outside perceptions.