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Four Questions to Ask When Aligning Your Brand & Reputation

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When you decide to advise, partner, collaborate, or join forces with another organization, their brand automatically becomes an extension of your own. You make connections all of the time. When deciding to align, sometimes there are important questions that are often overlooked, especially when passion runs high, the potential of the outcome looks promising, and there’s a lot of excitement between parties.
 
However, it can takes years to build a strong brand in the market and a matter of minutes to damage a reputation. The steps you take before you align can prevent the latter. 
 
Recently, Star Mountain Capital, a specialized investment manager, announced that I’ve joined the company as a Senior Advisor. You can check out Star Mountain here to learn more about their focus on the lower middle market. 
 
With my background and expertise in communications, marketing and digital media, I’ll help to further Star Mountain’s development in these areas, as well as provide value to its small and medium-sized portfolio company investment partners. 
 
When you’re making a decision to align your brand (and reputation), here are four simple questions you can ask and answer:
 
  1. Does the brand align with my ethics and values?
  2. Does the culture of the organization match my company culture and what I look for in a group of professionals?
  3. Would I be proud to promote and share on behalf of this brand, because I believe in the vision and mission?
  4. Am I learning and growing as a result of the partnership, initiative, collaboration, joint venture, or the reason that brings our brands together?
These questions may take a little more time and effort to uncover. However, by answering them, you can make all of your brand alignment more meaningful, and the answers will make your selection process easier too.
 
Here’s my video with more details on the topic of brand alignment, and answering these four simple questions.
 
Are there any questions you ask when you’re evaluating your alignment to other brands? 
 
 
 
Richard Bistrong and Deirdre Breakenridge, FPRA Annual Conference

Rebuilding Your Reputation: From White Collar Crime to Industry Thought Leader

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I’ve been writing a lot about the Modern Communicator and answering questions that have flowed in through Twitter, Skype, LinkedIn and Facebook. Who is the Modern Communicator? What does it take to become one, and how can you be more effective with your communication, whether it’s for your professional brand or your business? All great questions. My article, “If You’re a Modern Communicator, Then You THINK AHEAD” addresses these questions.
However, there’s one fundamental quality of the Modern Communicator that has to become an automatic part of your practice. It’s your ability to make tough choices, and to move outside of your comfort zone, as the communications landscape continues to evolve. Here’s where you have to trust your gut and know when to shift into your “uncomfortable zone.”
I’ll share a little story with you. In 2014, Richard Bistrong, a former international sales executive, contacted me after he was released from prison. He had read my books while he was incarcerated for 14 months. When he reached out, he asked if I would help him with his messaging for the media , work with him to navigate social media, and to rebuild his damaged reputation.
Here’s where, as a Modern Communicator, I had to make a choice. Should I step out of my comfort zone to take on this account? Should I align my work and brand with someone I had never met before, and I’m only first learning about his story? Even some of my closest colleagues said I shouldn’t take the assignment (all good intentioned professionals). I rose to the occasion and decided to work with Richard.
Richard and I will be discussing the details his journey in a Fireside Chat at the FPRA 80th Annual Conference on August 7th in Jacksonville, Florida. Until then, here’s a little bit about the Richard’s story (from the Modern Communicator’s perspective).

Of course, if  you’d like to know more about my journey with Richard, you can email either of us at Deirdre@PurePerformanceComm.com or RichardTBistrong@gmail.com.

 

PRStudChat Sponsored by Spin Sucks

#PRStudChat Discusses The State of Digital Corporate Reputation

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PR in the 21st century requires an intense focus on reputation management and brand health. Businesses face greater reputation risk as social media and mobile technologies increase the speed of communication and a dynamic public actively shares what they see and how they feel, 24/7.

Mike-Schaffer-headshotOn Thursday, May 24th at 12:00 p.m. ET, the #PRStudChat community will gather for an in-depth Twitter discussion on the State of Digital Corporate Reputation. Joining us as our special guest and co-host will be Mike Schaffer (@mikeschaffer) Senior Vice President, Digital Corporate Reputation at Edelman in Washington, DC. Mike will lead a community discussion focused on the best practices for online reputation management and the ways that PR pros can mitigate reputation risk.

Here are the questions Mike and the community will discuss on the 24th. We encourage all community members to share their perspectives and ideas on digital corporate reputation.

  1. What is digital corporate reputation?
  1. How do you get other areas of your organization involved in digital reputation management?
  1. Will you please share with us some of the best practices for online corporate reputation management?
  1. How do you measure a company’s digital corporate reputation?
  1. What are some of the challenges brands face with their reputation management in an age of digital communication.
  1. How does content play a part of reputation management?
  1. How does search and social media marketing play a role in reputation management?
  1. Which companies understand the importance of reputation management. Do you have any good examples?
  1. What are some resources for PR pros to learn more about digital corporate reputation?
  1. What advice do you have for students and pros about protecting / managing their own reputations?

As always, we welcome your questions before or during the chat. You can tweet @PRStudChat, @SpinSucks,  @ValerieSimon @lkpetrolino or @DBreakenridge with any questions you would like answered.

See you on May 24th at 12:00 p.m. ET!

About #PRStudChat

It began with a simple question asked by Angela Hernandez, then President of PRSSA at Central Michigan University (CMU). “Is PR Right for me?” A follow-up blog post by Communication Strategist Deirdre Breakenridge inspired a series of direct messages on Twitter between Breakenridge and fellow PR industry pro, Valerie Simon. This was an important question and one that should be explored beyond one student or one blog post. Why not build a community to help students across the country, and even the globe, learn from the experience and perspective of industry professionals … A community where everyone can learn and grow together. 

About Spin Sucks

Started in September 2006 by Gini Dietrich, the founder and CEO of Arment Dietrich, an integrated marketing communications firm, Spin Sucks mission is to change the perception people have of the PR industry.

What started as a simple blog, soon became a movement. Spin Sucks is the number one PR blog in the world, the go-to resource for PR professionals to learn new strategies and tactics, to share and receive expert advice. It’s also the place where people have fun discussions, brainstorm, ask for help, and make new friends.

 

Internet Exhibit at Newseum

Guest Post: 4 #PR Trends to Look Out for in 2018

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A Guest Post by Emma Ingram, Student, American University

The year 2017 has been quite a year for the PR industry. Not only did we witness numerous crises and campaigns, but also several new trends emerged. Some of the biggest ones included the continued popularity of live-stream video as well as the use of influencers. With this year almost over, it’s time to make some predications for what 2018 will look like for the PR industry. Below I’ve pointed out the top four predictions that I believe we will most likely see going forward.

Closer link between PR and Marketing

Everyone knows that PR and Marketing have always been considered cousins of one another. While marketing is the force that drives someone to buy or engage in a product or service, PR is the force that gets the message across in an informative yet persuasive manner. Over the years we have seen the two forces become more interconnected. However, next year they will get even closer to each other. In fact a 2017 USC Annenberg Global Communications study showed that 60% of marketing executives believe PR and marketing will become dramatically more aligned in the near future. In addition, 87% of PR executives believe the term “public relations” will no longer describe what they do within the next five years. Clearly, the two worlds of PR and marketing are becoming more interconnected everyday.

Growth of Digital Content

It’s not uncommon to hear that the traditional press release is dead. However, when you think about it, it’s not that the press release is dead, but rather it has been reinvented to reflect the shift towards digital PR. Today’s generation of PR professionals are more visual, they prefer graphics and images to help understand a message. Next year we will continue to see the growth of digital content in order for companies to project their messages and ideas to key audiences. PR professionals will need to include new digital strategies into their work in order to bring an added awareness and value to the brands they serve. Digital PR will help us achieve our client goals in new and more effective ways.

Storytelling will become more creative

Today there are a plethora of niche outlets that strive to receive business and consumer attention. This growing source of information makes it hard for certain companies to get their stories noticed. In 2018, we will see the rise of more storytelling. More specifically, companies will need to craft more creative stories in order for them to get any attention at all. The key to doing so will be found in conducting extensive research that looks at both quantitative and qualitative data. Companies will need to dive into their imagination even further and truly question the traditional way of telling a story in order to stay relevant in the coming years. 

Online Reputation Management

In today’s world, the decision to speak up on controversial issues can either make or break a brand. However, in 2018, I believe we will see more companies taking this leap of faith. While yes, making a statement on an issue such as climate change or health care can be risky, if one does it right, the brand will be rewarded in many ways. In addition, as PR professionals, we are trained to craft unique and decisive messages that help clarify our opinion on issues. So as long as we put a decent amount of thought and research into what we say before we say it, our reputation will continue to grow in more positive ways than negative ones.

Conclusion

The four trends I discussed above are only a few of the many things that may emerge in this industry within the next twelve months. It will be interesting to see how companies continue to evolve and grow, whether it’s through creative storytelling or managing their reputation. I personally am looking forward to witnessing how the industry changes as I prepare to launch my own career in public relations. The constant shift of this industry forces me as a student to continue keeping up with these changes so that I can be one step ahead of the game when I enter the real world.

Emma Ingram, PR Predictions 2018Emma Ingram is a junior studying public relations and strategic communication at American University in Washington, D.C. This year she is serving as the President of her school’s PRSSA Chapter. She also serves on the 2017–2018 Industry News and Current Events Subcommittee for PRSSA National. Follow her on Twitter @emmaaingramm or connect with her on Linkedin.