Building a great company takes time, skill, and dedication. It can be tricky building a solid roster of clientele, while building credibility across your key audiences, which is why PR is a great way to help. If you’re wondering what things your company should have in place before thinking about hiring a PR firm, we have come up with the five most integral steps you should put in place while creating your brand that will lead to credibility, traction, and success:
Set Up a Company Website
According to Forbes, “A business’s online presence, regardless of industry, can have a massive impact on its success.” Having a company website set up that is user friendly, easy to access, and aesthetically fits the company will build your credibility.
Websites legitimize a company and potential clients find safety in a company with an up-to-date site. Without a website, current and potential clients, and more will question the credibility and legitimacy of the company.
It is important to lay out your company’s work with examples, so others know what they can expect from their time working with you. It will also help them see your company matches their current needs.
Lastly, you want your website to be Search Engine Optimized (SEO). “The goal of any experienced SEO is to establish a strong foundation for a beautiful website with a clean, effective user experience that is easily discoverable in search with thanks to the trust and credibility of the brand and its digital properties,” according to Search Engine Journal.
Have a Basic Social Media Presence
In our digital world, social media plays a big part in how we communicate with others. No matter what industry you’re in, being able to connect with those outside of your organization is important. This not only shows that you care about your community, but also helps bring in new business and answer questions publicly, which has become more important than ever since the global COVID-19 pandemic.
“Having an online presence as a business on any of the social media forums like Facebook or Instagram is a great way to interact with your audience and to really connect with them on a personal level,” according to Digital Marketing. “Social media is a place where interacting with your audience gives you more exposure and helps you better understand your audience.”
Social media is also key in brand awareness and humanizing yourself to attract others. Now more than ever people are looking to work with relatable, down to earth companies that have similar morals, values, and work ethics, so using your brand presence is imperative.
It is important to use social media to showcase the things your company stands for, supports, and believes in. These platforms also provide the opportunity to showcase projects, clients, and more to increase traction and give a sense of credibility to your company. It is yet another way to also show potential clients the services you provide.
One platform that every brand, company, CEO, and employee should be using is Linkedin. This is the top platform that potential clients, employees, and competitors use. Having a clean and up-to-date Linkedin page for your brand provides more opportunities for people to learn about you, leading to more credibility.
Overall, companies have been using social media to their advantage, and according to Hootsuite, it is important to keep an eye on your competitors. Use their media tactics to your advantage, learning from them what works and what doesn’t.
Have a Clear Mission and Company Objectives
If you don’t know what your core objectives are, you don’t want to chase PR for vanity purposes. PR is a powerful tool when used correctly. This is why having a clear mission, a solid mission statement and core goals and values of a company will help you align what you want PR for. in addition to what your company’s niche is. “The quality and content of a company’s mission statement can affect every part of a business, including its customers and employees,” according to Indeed. “A strong mission statement gives employees purpose and improves engagement in their work.”
The main three things to include in a mission statement are the following:
- Who you are trying to reach
- What your product or service is
- What sets you apart from your competitors
Having a well-written and accurate mission statement brings another level of credibility to your company and will help attract the right clients.This also helps you know what your goals are before you engage PR so your PR team can get off on the right foot and move the PR in the right direction.
Approved Messaging (or Have your PR Firm Develop it)
The first thing that NRPR does when we sign a new client is hop on a messaging call with them. Why? So that we align ourselves with their core message, and understand who they are and what they’re trying to accomplish. We use this for our media pitching to ensure we’re getting the correct message across.
Each brand, company, and person we work with has a story, and it’s our job to make sure that story is represented accurately and to the best of our ability. These calls allow us to create personal relationships and get to know each of our clients so we can represent them well.
This also helps keep the messaging consistent across all social media platforms, sales and investment materials, and websites. Creating a document of notes from your messaging call is a great way to make sure that you are able to keep the messaging consistent and have documents to go back to for reference.
Bios For Key People
Creating a bio for key people in your company tells more of a story than a resume does, according to Forbes. These people can include the CEO, Founder, COO, Head of Human Resources, and other key players you want to highlight.
Creating these bios provides a space for you to highlight personal wins, awards, company and personal career highlights, and more, according to We Write Bios. Once these bios are created and perfected, it is important to not only feature them on your website and social media, but also on Linkedin.
Whether you decide to move forward with PR or not, it is important to put your key audiences first in all aspects of your company. In creating a user-friendly website, promoting yourself and your company on social media, getting to know your clients on a personal level, branding yourself honestly, and promoting what you stand for, you are increasing credibility and creating a company that will be trustworthy to future clients or customers.