By Brian MCManus
Purchases and consumption are emotionally-driven events, and organizations that fully understand and appreciate this reality, especially those selling commodities, are better
positioned for success. This is not new information to PR pros; the benefits of establishing emotional connections in communications have literally been known since the days of
Socrates.
But as markets have never been more competitive, this information is more relevant to public relations professionals today than ever before. So what is the best way to create
or improve a corporate personality?
First and most importantly, the initiative has to be true to an organization's DNA, including its history, corporate culture and customer expectations. Also, honing corporate
personality cannot happen in a PR or marketing vacuum; it must be embraced and full endorsed by executive management and all areas of the business.
Here are three effective strategies to achieve these important goals:
Get Emotional
Connecting to customers on an emotional level is a very effective strategy, but it is difficult to pull off. Fear is off limits, as playing on this emotion is out of bounds
for PR pros. But humor, love, sadness, and other common emotions can serve as good platforms for connecting with customers.
GEICO and its whimsical promotional strategy is a shining example of using humor effectively. This funny bone of the auto insurance industry was not always such a
jokester. The nation's most recognized auto insurance provider started out by providing auto insurance services to military personnel and government employees.
In fact, for a bit of trivia, GEICO is an acronym for government employees auto insurance company. GEICO had established itself as a solid brand through superior service and
consistently lower rates. With the solid foundation in place, the company was able to be very aggressive with its personality campaign. GEICO has done such a good job of making
us laugh, that we just want to be around them, and we want to do business with them.
Birds of a Feather Do Business Together
A more conservative and proven corporate personality strategy is lifestyle matching - S.C. Johnson executes this strategy flawlessly. The purveyor of Pledge and
many other popular CPG brands makes it clear in all forms of external communications that it is a family-owned company. The company knows that target buyers are typically heads
of households, and that familial relationships are extremely important to this group.
By reinforcing the family message, PR efforts can aim to create that sense of similarity and comfort among its buyers. For a company responsible for such a wide variety of
brands, this umbrella message is extremely effective and scalable.
Be the Rebel
Companies with an entrepreneurial spirit and high-risk tolerance can opt for extreme measures to establish themselves as an independent and better brand than the status quo.
They can choose to be the rebel in their industry. While most organizations cannot utilize this strategy for clear self-preservation and stakeholder commitment reasons, some have
the luxury of taking a quantum brand leap.
Apple, Victoria's Secret, and Jet Blue are good examples. All three companies changed the communications equation in their respective industries by
setting their own path, even with great skepticism cascading down all factions. By ignoring the doubters and focusing on core beliefs and guiding principles, these companies
emerged as clear leaders or surprise contenders in their industry.
These options are obviously not a fit for all PR professionals, but they represent the importance of having a corporate personality. Commerce is commerce, and now that
customers are only one click away from competitors, often with price comparisons in hand, connecting emotionally is critical.
Contact: Brian McManus is a senior account executive at Springboard PR in Marlboro, NJ. He can be reached at 732.863.1900, [email protected].