Leverage Power Of PR In Building Brand Equity

Smita Khanna Feb 28, 2023

Public relations (PR) is an essential aspect of building and maintaining a brand's equity. To understand the term Brand equity better; a brand’s competitive advantage, increasing sales, performance of new products and maintaining customer loyalty denotes the equity of a brand.

Equity of a brand refers to the overall value and perception that a brand holds in the minds of its customers, the potential target audience and with the overall public especially in its business geography.

Building and maintaining brand equity is essential for businesses to gain market acceptance and business traction.

One of the primary roles of PR in building brand equity is to create a credibility positioning and maintain a positive image of the brand in the public domain. This involves managing the company's reputation, ensuring that the brand is seen in a positive light and mitigating any negative publicity that may arise.

PR professionals and PR consultants of many top public relations agencies in India use a multi-channel approach that includes driving the brand essence on social media, press releases and PR events, to create and reinforce the desired positive image for the brand being managed!

Primarily if one has to define the most crucial role of PR; the key agenda is to establish a company’s brand's credibility and authority in the industry it dwells in.

PR professionals hired or the appointed PR agency work to position the brand’s spokespersons as thought leaders and experts in its category of business. The services that fall in this realm are namely called out as ‘Thought Leadership’ and ‘Reputation Management’ and involves securing media coverage pertaining to the company spokesperson speaking on behalf of the industry, speaking opportunities at industry and government forums, leveraging opinion of spokesperson on industry topics and identifying awards and recognition platforms for the brand and its representatives. By positioning the brand as a leader in its industry, PR can help build the brand's reputation and increase its perceived value based on credibility building.

Another way that PR contributes to brand equity is by creating and maintaining relationships with the brand’s key stakeholders, which includes engagement with customers, investors and the media. PR professionals work to ensure that the brand is communicating effectively with all its stakeholders and responding to their opinion and needs. This PR engagement service can be instrumental in assist build trust and loyalty among customers and bringing in increased investor confidence in the brand.

Another core service; a specialisation called Crisis Management in which PR can play an important role in building brand equity through crisis management.

When a brand experiences a crisis or negative publicity, it is crucial to respond quickly and effectively to mitigate the damage. PR professionals work to develop crisis communication plans and strategies to address negative publicity and maintain the brand's reputation. By handling crises effectively, PR can assist in dousing the fire, protect the brand's equity and ensure that the brand continues to be seen in a positive light.

In addition to these specialty services that are practices offered by the best PR agencies in India, PR can also help to increase brand awareness and exposure by ensuring a sizable SOV – Share of Voice. Share of voice (SOV) is a measure of the market your brand owns compared to your competitors. It acts as a gauge for your brand visibility and how much you dominate the conversation in your industry. And if the route is propelled by effective Public Relations as the foundation of all advertising; the credibility of the brand in discussion will see a tremendous positive sentiment surge and this reflects directly on the topline by way of incremental sales driven by customer loyalty and bottom line by decreased advertising spends

In conclusion, the PR industry which is at a quarter billion dollars is thoroughly underutilised by companies in India! There is no rule book that defines the size of a business that needs PR.

Ideally, every business should primarily use PR and subsequently resort to traditional advertising! In fact, in additionally to corporates, it is Start-Ups, MSME and SME that need to leverage the power of PR to build their brand equity.

Businesses that allocate investments in PR can expect to see significant returns in terms of increased market confidence, investor interest, customer loyalty and reduce the cost of customer acquisition.