Dear PR Matters,
I am quite new in the job working for a medium sized PR agency, and have noticed that many of our clients are seeking services for launches of products and brands. Most of the time, we are asked to submit concepts, which are often subjected to bidding.
What are the things we can keep in mind when making our pitches? Please give us some tips on how to launch a brand.
Sincerely,
Letty G.
Dear Letty,
Launching a brand is a very exciting part of marketing and public relations work. It’s like unlocking a door to a whole new world, and building a brand for your company is one of the most important things you can do as a marketer.
But with that excitement comes a lot of challenges, especially if expectations are high and budgets are low. As Stewart Hodgson says in an article in Marketing Profs.com, “the way you introduce your company to your customers could have a huge impact for your potential future sales.” After all, “you really do have only one chance to make a first impression.”
He goes further in his article How to Launch a New Brand: Five tips for an Unforgettable Debut to share with us five simple steps to make this happen.
Hodgson begins by highlighting the power of a brand, which he says “allows you to differentiate yourself from industry competitors with a unique image, memorable voice and an identity that resonates with your target customers.”
We can achieve that brand recognition by “adopting a forward-thinking mindset, establishing a strategy and fully prepping your rollout.” Here are his five tips:
Start as early as possible
Time, as they say, is gold, and having enough time preparing for the launch can prove to be critical to its success.
“There’s a lot more to launching a brand than simply showing off a new logo or telling people you’re open for business,” says Hodgson.
“The quicker you get started, the sooner you will be able to identify potential problems before they damage your company’s reputation.”
He goes on to cite “the fateful spring morning when Instagram rolled out its brand-new logo, sparking a public outcry, and leaving the business wondering where it went wrong.” With this, it is important to give your team “plenty of time to make sure your strategy makes sense” with “just a few extra weeks devoted to consumer research.”
Know your audience ecosystem
“Your brand is your reputation, your identity, your soul as a business” says Hodgson. “The most successful brands are those that resonate with their customers on a deeper level, sharing unified values and goals.”
The more you know about your ecosystem—is it the mass market or luxury, millennials or more mature—“the more you can design a brand that both generates buzz during your launch and continues to establish long lasting relationships for the life of your company.”
Make the launch just one chapter in your story
At a time when engagement is everything, “successful brands create an affinity with their audience that gradually transforms customers into loyal consumer advocates.” And as today’s customers search for new ways to develop stronger relationships with their favorite brands, “the easiest way to set yourself up for success is to position your launch as an important chapter of your company narrative.”
If you are, for example, introducing a new company, think about what caused you to approach this specific marketplace? If you are rebranding, what trends in your industry pushed you to adopt a new image. Hodgson recalls that when Airbnb launched its new identity in 2014, “it inspired customers with a story about how the new logo was all about belonging.”
But before you share your story with the world, “make sure your employees know your story inside and out.” They are, after all, your most important ambassadors and frontline storytellers responsible for sharing your message.
Have a timeline for your launch
“Timing I important in business,” says Hodgson. “Write a blog at a wrong time, and you could risk incurring the wrath of an unhappy consumer base. Create a product too late, and you could miss your chance to transform the market.”
When you’re launching a brand, “timing is all about making sure that you share the right information with the right people at the best times.
That is why it is important to “avoid leaking information about the brand before its official launch date. Brand media taken out of context could prompt negative conversations about your company before it has even had a chance to introduce itself.” And that would be tragic.
Stay the course
While a launch can be very exciting and create a lot of buzz, “it is just the start of your brand strategy.”
The rollout, says Hodgson, “is your first step to a new identity, and the path ahead involves endless options for engaging, sharing, and communicating with your customers in ways that allow your message to spread to new people and partners.
And although your launch sets the stage for marketing campaigns, content creation and social growth, it’s up to you to invest in all of that.”
More important, “never rest on your laurels after a launch. A brand isn’t just a name, logo, or web site—it’s a dynamic, versatile entity that requires constant nurturing to survive.”
PR Matters is a roundtable column by members of the local chapter of the United Kingdom-based International Public Relations Association (Ipra), the world’s premier association for senior professionals around the world. Millie Dizon, the senior vice president for Marketing and Communications of SM, is the former local chairman.
We are devoting a special column each month to answer the reader’s questions about public relations. Please send your comments and questions to askipraphil@gmail.com.
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