Brand is not reputation
Back in 2002 Laura and Al Ries suggested PR is better than advertising when it comes to brand building ( The Fall of Advertising and the Rise of PR). But as we prepare to turn the page on 2006, there is strong evidence that people have learned to become sceptical about the media's objectivity.
Like most business equations, the two factors conspiring against news media impartiality are time and money. First, there's the constant pressure to fill the news programme. Whether you're CNN or a local suburban paper, you must fill 100 per cent of your airtime or pages. The corporations who own the media outlets are there primarily to make a return on shareholder funds. Selling airtime and print space to advertisers is the main tool to generate their profit.
At Image 7 Group we don't believe that PR's role is only to build brand. It would be extremely difficult to do so in an environment where the media's impartiality is in question. No credibility equals no brand.
We would argue that the role of PR is never only about building a brand. Rather it is to protect the brand. PR is exceptionally good at building a reputation.
A brand or an image can be built through many avenues. Advertising and visual identity are hard examples, telephone answering and personal presentation are soft examples. Reputation, on the other hand, is primarily what others say about you.
Brand is image, while reputation is reality.
Dannielle Blumenthal is a public affairs specialist who believes that, "brand is best conveyed by a consistent sales, marketing and advertising 'core message,' while reputation is best conveyed by transparency."
Now PR faces a new barrier in defending a company's reputation, and that is to actually deliver transparency. Blumenthal suggests:
"It is no longer sufficient for PR to develop and disseminate 'white propaganda' (the truth, delivered with a credible source, but emphasising only the positive). Rather, to counter the perceived bias of the media, PR has to deliver objective information about an organisation to the media, even when that information sounds negative. Otherwise, jaded viewers will know that the media has been corrupted by a PR message, and will simply tune out."
Customers, in general, enjoy advertising and the branding activities that deliver the sales and marketing message. They like a good advertisement, and they enjoy finding out about a product or service that is new or interesting to them. What they don't like is to be misled, fooled or enticed to purchase from a company that doesn't deliver on its promises.
Your customers are searching for brands they can recognise and a reputation they can trust.
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