Public Relations aims to create innovative communication strategies, capitalizing on the brand's differentiating values to captivate the target audience and increase sales.
It was World Cup time. Mexico was getting ready to host one of the biggest events that brings the whole world together every four years around one passion: soccer. Convincing FIFA that the country had the sports infrastructure and technology needed to host the Mexico 86 World Cup had been a hard task, but it paid off. However, not even the experience of having hosted the Mexico 70 World Cup could save the country from an earthquake that left it literally in ruins nearly a year before the eagerly awaited event.The whole world watched the television images of the devastating earthquake, and wondered whether Mexico would be ready to handle all the logistics that an event of that scale demands. Contrary to what many thought, Mexico managed to rebuild and was ready to welcome all its visitors.
The warmth and hospitality of the Mexican people, the technology used, plus the excellent communication with the press from around the world — placing journalists in the country's most representative cities such as Guadalajara, Puebla and Querétaro, and setting up press rooms so information could be handled quickly and efficiently — turned this event into a successful Public Relations (PR) case.
In crisis situations, to strengthen a brand in its consumers' minds, attract future customers, improve reputation, and create a favorable climate for sales, Public Relations is a set of highly creative communication techniques that highlight the interesting aspects of a company, build a profile that positions it as a trusted authority in its field, with recognition and trust among its target audiences.
The PR professional, within a Public Relations agency, builds direct relationships with the media to showcase the new or interesting side of a given product or service, in a way that shares valuable information for the general public — and more importantly, for its specific market.
The best-positioned tech companies in the market use this valuable tool to announce their launches or communicate interesting aspects of their brand that should be highlighted or known by their target audience.
Imagine you're the director of a cloud solutions company, and unlike the competition, your “cloud datacenters” are located at strategic points across the continent, guaranteeing quality service; your technical support is entirely in Spanish and available around the clock (24x7x365); and you've just created a tool that will make your service more powerful and benefit your users. What should you do to get your target audience interested in your solutions? Would announcing it only on social media or sending an email to your customers be enough to promote your brand?
Social media and sending an email to customers to introduce your product will certainly help to some extent. However, these actions don't contribute to building brand reputation, don't position the product in consumers' minds, and don't create the emotional ties that lead a user to choose one product over another.
Why is it that, even though my brand has clearly strong differentiating values over the competition, it can't get ahead of them? The answer is simple: your competitor is using all the Public Relations techniques and strategies that keep them top of mind for the consumer — because they heard the CEO or General Manager interviewed on some outlet, because they read a release with corporate information, or because they held an event aimed at their internal audience, their employees, and it got covered in some newspaper or magazine, which builds a good perception of the brand.
Just as human relationships are based on trust, the relationship between a brand and its audience must be anchored in an atmosphere of harmony and friendship that brings them closer, becoming a win-win relationship. On one side, the user gets satisfaction; on the other, the brand builds customer loyalty.
With that in mind, Public Relations aims to create innovative communication strategies, capitalizing on the brand's differentiating values, highlighting its services, telling a success story — like the Mexico 86 World Cup — that puts the company one step, or many, ahead of the competition.
It's important to note that both the Public Relations agency and the client must make ongoing efforts to build communication strategies or establish relationships with the media that strengthen their partnership.
An innovative, sustained Public Relations strategy can greatly benefit your company or some of its products. Just from the cost-benefit ratio, the experience will be worthwhile and will pay for itself. On top of that, you'll notice that PR can contribute to your company's growth and deliver tangible savings in your marketing budget.