Advertising, Marketing & PR
Published: June 6, 2023 | Updated: 14th June 2023
Graeme Patfield, Director of Polymedia, offers five ways companies can elevate communications and protect their brands.
Polymedia has been working with regional and national businesses for almost 30 years. We are widely known as ‘PR’ specialists, but those two letters don’t always accurately capture the many ways we support businesses to build and protect meaningful connections with their audiences.
So, here are five pieces of advice from us about how to do exactly that.
1. Remember, it’s not always about you
Businesses love to talk about themselves – the services they provide, the experience they have and how successful they are. That’s fine up to a point – but it’s far more effective to think about your audience and what matters to them.
What helpful knowledge can you give them? How can your experience and success help them to thrive? What do they need that you can give them?
Think also about where they tend to get their information from. Media can often play a part, especially if you are working in a specialism where there is a well-read trade publication.
But in many cases a well-chosen LinkedIn group, online or in-person event, or series of bite-sized videos can be a more direct route to your audience. Usually, it’s a mix of multiple tactics, and it often isn’t the ones you’ve traditionally used.
2. Show, not tell
You can talk or write as much as you like that about the expertise of your business, brilliant products or outstanding service – but it’s far better to demonstrate what you mean with real examples.
Case studies are an incredibly effective way to do just that – going into detail through text, images, video or graphics exactly how you supported a customer and what impact you made.
Like any effective communication, the best case studies start with a purpose. Begin with the background on the customer and their relationship with your business. Go on to describe the need or problem they had, your solution and how it was put into effect.
Most importantly, be clear about the positive impact you had on that happy customer.
Case studies work well because they cement relationships with customers, are very shareable and can be used in lots of ways – on social media, on your website and social platforms and those of your customers, and in presentations when pitching for similar customers in the future.
3. Be prepared for a crisis – it can happen to anyone
If you’re a manufacturer, a retailer, a builder, structural engineer or a hotelier, you’ve probably already experienced some kind of crisis or issue, large or small, that threatens your reputation. You should already have a plan in place to handle these (if not, get in touch).
However, lots of businesses, especially those in professional services such as lawyers, accountants, architects or HR consultants, are less prepared than they should be, believing themselves less vulnerable to potential hazards.
That’s a potentially damaging mistake to make and one that shouldn’t be left too late to correct. Failing to plan for the worst is a dangerous oversight – these businesses are still exposed to reputational risk.
We’ve dealt with many over the years, including allegations of sexual assault, illegal material found on computers, claims of gross negligence – even a high-profile member of a team acting inappropriately at a war memorial.
When you are thrown into a crisis there are multiple plates to spin at once – operational issues, establishing facts to discover the truth, collecting and reviewing evidence, following HR practices, informing regulatory bodies – a mountain of calls and admin which you absolutely must get right.
Never overlook the need to communicate through the issue or crisis, or the steps that could be taken to head it off at the pass. Get that wrong and risk horrific fallout that could even be the make or break of a business or partnership.
If you’re reading and recognise a gap in your operations, then the best thing to do is plan now – planning for an issue or crisis makes handling one so much easier.
4. Aim for the heart as well as the head
Never forget that choosing to work with someone is an emotional as well as practical decision. This is true whether your customers are consumers or other businesses.
We all know how wonderful it is when you ‘click’ with an individual or business and how disappointing it is when you don’t. From the first time we hear about a brand to the point of the purchasing decision and throughout our relationship with them, we all make connections to the ones that seem to talk to us personally and understand exactly what we’re looking for.
As customers, we want to feel inspired and that often comes from storytelling that captures the DNA of a brand. Great communications campaigns give you brand personality, reinforce your values and make a true emotional connection.
Crucially, we make connections when we least expect it – so it’s important that this is carried consistently through all your communications tactics and is true to the experience of buying from or working with your people.
5. Measure impact – not noise
As we said at the start, good communications are all about impact – not noise. That means every piece of activity has a purpose, linked to an overall strategy that supports the aims and objectives of your business.
That means you shouldn’t just churn out content for the sake of it – because ‘we’d better put something out’. It means using the platforms and tactics that reach your target audiences, using meaningful metrics to gauge the success of your campaigns not just by numbers, but by engagement and results.
Every business is unique – so measurement may be carried out in the most appropriate ways, from Google and social media analytics to sentiment tracking, sales figures, leads and enquiries or an exercise such as customer satisfaction survey.
Over time, you should see your goals being reached through whatever matters most to your business.
Polymedia delivers communications campaigns for a wide range of business to business and business to consumer clients with a focus on impact, not noise. For a chat about your business, get in touch.
www.polymediapr.co.uk
info@polymediapr.co.uk
01329 822866
