Build a brand with public relations thinking

I have wanted to talk about this topic for a long time, and today I would like to discuss it with you all.

I have met several similar clients recently. They all prefer e-commerce channels, but they all have their own original products. They sell well and make money, but they just can’t build a brand . In other words, people's purchasing motivation lies in channels and product reliability, rather than a certain brand, which is distressing.

A home furnishing company has a spokesperson, shoots commercials, opens physical stores, and has followed all the standard branding procedures, but there is still no brand recognition.

Another small and medium-sized enterprise that makes small household appliances has good business and sells well. Its products are all original and are often even copied by big brands. I was worried about how to build a brand. In the past two years, I spent a lot of money to find celebrities and shoot films, but I still failed to create a brand.

In fact, there are a lot of customers of this type, including many Taobao brands and native e-commerce brands, which sell hundreds of millions of goods a year but have no brand awareness.

These clients often try all kinds of methods out of desperation. They find a high-end advertising company, think of a high-end slogan, and shoot a brand declaration movie. Not counting the millions spent on media placement, they finally find out that it is still a channel brand and brand awareness has not been achieved.

I have been thinking about this question for a long time, and my final conclusion is that everyone has overlooked the value of public relations to brands, especially for new brands. The value of public relations is even greater than advertising. We must not imitate big brands and shoot blockbusters right away. Doing so is a clear waste of resources.

Today we will talk about what public relations is, the value of public relations in brand building, and how to use public relations to communicate with consumers.

Below, enjoy:

1. Public relations is the underlying thinking

If advertisers are killers, creativity can kill with one blow. That public relations person is a wizard, killing people without being seen.

Our understanding of public relations today is too traditional. As far as I can see, everyone’s understanding of public relations is too traditional.

The general understanding is that low-level public relations people work as assistants and do odd jobs. A better public relations person has resources, knows various media teachers, and can send out 50 articles in an instant.

The highlight moment for public relations directors is writing apology letters. Once a company encounters an accident, or encounters something like March 15, it begins to verify whether the public relations director is qualified and whether he or she can write an apology letter that can turn the tide, cleverly turn negative news into opportunities, and do a good job of crisis public relations.

I don’t know who started it, but in recent years, it has become popular for public relations directors to speak personally, and they don’t even speak in public channels. It’s popular to write a paragraph in WeChat Moments, and then the public relations manager will take a screenshot and send it to the media, and the media will then spread the screenshot to the public.

This is not to criticize the above forms, but these are just some of the visible work contents. Public relations is not like advertising. All the work content of advertising is visible, but a lot of the work of public relations is invisible. All the great public relations people are the manipulators behind the scenes, definitely not the ones waving in the front.

In recent years, the public's understanding of public relations is mainly divided into several categories: crisis public relations, black public relations, and government public relations. This profession does not look like a good one no matter how you look at it. But most people ignore the value of public relations in brand building. I believe the most important value of public relations is brand building.

The core of public relations is to convey information, communicate with the public, influence the direction of public opinion, affect consumers' minds, and stimulate public discussion.

The core has not changed. In the past, the only communication channel was the media, so the main work of public relations was to release news releases to the media. Now there are too many communication channels, and most of the time you have to choose, choose to communicate the right information through the right channel.

So nowadays, public relations is a way of thinking, and is no longer confined to a certain form.

Everyone says that Alibaba’s public relations are great, but the real strength of Alibaba’s public relations is that the public may not realize it’s public relations manipulation. “Ali wants to live for 102 years”, is this public relations? “Making it easy to do business anywhere”, is this public relations? "You still have to have dreams, just in case they come true." Is this public relations?

Then in specific work, under the public relations thinking, information can be transformed into any form. It can be a TVC carrying information, a press conference, the boss's jeans, or a bell ringer at Nasdaq.

The core is information, and then the information is released in an appropriate form. The information may not even be in written language. A certain color, a certain outfit, or the appearance of a certain person are all information itself.

But if we look back at the existing system, the public relations department and the marketing department of most companies are separate, and the division of work is relatively clear. The public relations department is responsible for dealing with the media, while the marketing department is responsible for filming and placing films. Due to the different content of their respective work, it is difficult to integrate the two tasks.

For example, if a brand wants to upgrade its brand, the marketing department may be responsible for the logo, visuals, TVC, etc., while the public relations department will be responsible for press conferences, media releases, etc. Such division of labor turns one job into two jobs. Everyone works independently and only takes care of their own business, and it is impossible to achieve the effect of one plus one being greater than two.

In the current brand building, public relations thinking should be elevated to a higher position and given a more important position. Of course, they need people who have public relations strategic thinking.

2. Let the brand enter public opinion

The brands mentioned at the beginning built their brands, shot commercials, and hired celebrities, which also had huge exposure, but ultimately they failed to form brand awareness. The core is that it did not convey effective information, did not enter the public opinion space, and was not set the tone in the public opinion space. This is the key.

In my previous article "Building a Brand from 0 to 1", I mentioned that a very important step in the process of a brand's growth and transformation from a niche to the mainstream is to enter public opinion at the right time and set the tone for the brand in public opinion. This part of the work needs to be done by public relations, and shooting TVC cannot solve this problem.

For example, take a small home appliance brand that has been relying on channels to sell products. It has some fixed consumers and makes a lot of money, but it has no brand power and is at most just a business. So what should they do? It is obvious that there is not much attention on this brand if we talk about it directly, and the article we write will be an advertisement at first glance and no one will read it.

But the "small home appliances" track is very worth talking about. In this track, there are either big brands such as Midea and Xiaomi, or very large-scale and cheap brands. This track lacks a small, beautiful, and product-focused high-end small home appliance brand. So, is there an opportunity to occupy the blank positioning of high-end originality in the small home appliance track?

After you have decided on the tone, the next question is how to implement it , that is, who to talk to. The home appliance category is supposed to be a very traditional industry and does not receive much attention, but small home appliances can be very young and avant-garde.

For example, coffee is very traditional, but Luckin Coffee is widely known in the Internet circle. For example, milk tea shops are everywhere, so why has Heytea become the representative of new consumer brands? These are the positioning of traditional industries entering the technology and Internet circles.

Then the categories of small household appliances can also enter the Internet technology circle, and the technology media can report in depth on why this company is so unique in the small household appliance track, why it has become a small and beautiful independent brand, etc.

Whenever one or two in-depth reports attract attention, dozens of long-tail media will follow up with reports, and then the brand spokesperson will come out to talk about his or her experience, which basically completes the brand tone and enters the public opinion space.

After this, you can do mass communication, shoot commercials, find celebrities, produce content, etc. It is only effective if you do this at this stage, and a brand can be said to be on the table.

Setting the tone is one angle to enter the public opinion space, and many other brands do not need tone-setting public relations. The value of public relations is to integrate the brand into public opinion.

3. Tell It to Yourself and Others

Next, let’s talk about specific methods and the changes in public relations in the current Internet communication environment. First of all, I think marketing and public relations should be integrated together and should not be separated.

Advertising and public relations have merged together and evolved into social marketing with social media as the core, doing the same thing.

Marketing strategies based on public relations thinking will be broader. Not all brands need TVC or advertising to solve their problems. Of course, TVC can also be a form of public relations information.

We divide public relations into two parts: one part is speaking for ourselves, and the other part is letting others speak for us.

Let’s first talk about what the brand said itself. The official response, statement, and apology were all forced. Who would issue a statement for fun? He said that driving brand building is also divided into two parts:

One is the official speeches at important occasions, such as press conferences. The key word for Xiaomi’s press conferences is “reasonable prices.” Often, only one page of PPT is circulated at a press conference, and it is considered a successful press conference.

For example, ringing the bell at a listing is a highlight moment for a brand and also a good marketing opportunity. If a listing event can convey a message, it is a good marketing effort.

The most classic example is Alibaba’s listing. We still have to have dreams, just in case they come true. We have no way of verifying whether this statement was planned, but I guess given Alibaba's public relations level, it would not be a random statement. For example, when Luckin Coffee went public, it mainly released the Coffee Manifesto.

The second is major media placement, which is what advertisers have to do, and it is also a good public relations and marketing opportunity. We advertise to convey information and to speak to consumers.

Why are most advertisements nowadays so ineffective? I personally think that a big part of the reason is that brands are talking to themselves, lacking communication skills and a sense of action. If public relations thinking is incorporated into advertising, the results may be different.

For example, last year’s most classic Nike advertisement “Dream Crazy” featured many great athletes, but the banned athlete Colin was used to voice the advertisement. Colin’s appearance caused huge public opinion and was even criticized by Trump. But at the same time, it became the best ad last year, and the reason it became the best was because of the story behind Colin and the values ​​that Nike firmly believes in.

This is the public relations thinking in advertising. There should be more such advertisements in China, and of course they are not just about politics. The New York Times' previous advertisement "The Truth Is Hard to Find" was also an advertisement with a public relations mindset and won multiple Cannes Lions.

Creative techniques are not enough to support a stronger point of view; marketing must speak for itself.

What is more important in public relations is to let others speak. Many times, you speak just to let others speak, such as setting the brand tone by letting others speak. Most people think that it is just about finding media to publish articles. Isn’t this the main job of public relations? They know teachers from all kinds of media and will say whatever they are asked to say.

How many people still read corporate press releases today? No one watched it.

Nowadays, getting others to speak is a more complicated and delicate task, including when, at what point, to whom, where, and how to speak it out. How to spread the news after it is spoken, how to follow up, how to dig deeper, how to testify, and how to finally set the tone is a complex strategic issue.

All this complicated work may end up just spreading a sentence, and that sentence may change the public's perception of the brand.

I have drawn a public relations communication flowchart before. Not all communications are like this, but it can be used as a template. Today, new media has infinite communication points, and public relations has become more complicated.

They say it is public relations plus advertising, but others say it is more like public relations plus social media. Because all communication today is on social media, public relations must also be new media-oriented.

It is difficult to give examples of cases that others have talked about, because they are all manipulated behind the scenes, and only they themselves know whether it is the brand manipulation. This is also the side of public relations people becoming wizards, accurately manipulating public opinion behind the scenes.

4. Summary

I don't have any other intentions today, I just want to throw out some ideas to encourage everyone to pay attention to public relations. First, don't get stuck in advertising creativity. Maybe you can find a better solution by stepping out of it.

The second is to simply talk about what public relations can do. This is not comprehensive. There are many things that public relations can do. A good public relations person can be very good, but they are not seen by the public.

First of all, the reason why some new brands and some channel brands are not recognized as brands by the public may not be because they do not have a TVC and slogan, but because the public relations are not done well, the brand is not allowed to enter the public opinion space, and the public does not talk about it.

As I wrote in my previous article, setting the tone of public opinion is critical, and public opinion setting the tone requires public relations. It is the ticket for a brand to enter the public eye. Only after entering the market, brand communication will be effective.

Then I want to emphasize the public relations thinking in advertising. Most of the advertisements exposed today are unknown. Today, in this environment of information explosion, it is difficult to truly communicate with consumers by relying on creative techniques, big productions, and popular stars.

Advertising content must express something; advertising must have a point of view, communication, and action. Therefore, advertising content requires public relations thinking and needs to be expressed in the advertisement.

Then there is the main job of public relations, which is to let others speak. Today in the social media environment, there are too many people or media who can speak and have the right to speak.

When discourse power is intertwined in an intricate network, guiding (manipulating) public opinion becomes a more complicated and difficult task. It is definitely not feasible to rely on the previous method of finding media to publish articles. More precise operations are required.

Finally, I would like to say to non-PR people such as advertisers, creative people, new media marketers, etc. that good creative content, if combined with appropriate public relations expression, will make brand marketing more effective.

The above is all. I wish you a promotion and a raise in salary.

Author: Yang Buhuai

Source: Yang Buhuai