Building that trust for your brand through PR

Authored by Ganapathy Viswanathan Independent Communication Consultant.

If you are a client or a brand, what do you expect from PR. The answer is simple and short. TRUST. We all know trust is a very precious commodity whichis built over a period of time where thousands of hours have been spent withmany interactions and reaching various touch points. While it is easy to say that I want to be a trusted brand but one must also realise there is lot of hardwork that goes into getting that trust status.

Today when you ask anyone as to what the brand TATA stands for and thereply will come in a fraction of a second with the answer TRUST. But to achievethe status of trust the brand has done something right consistently. Here Ratantata has played a significant role, his value system, transparency and the ethicsthat he has followed has stood him in good stead. The legacy continues andthe brand is trying their best to hold on to that trust factor across all verticals and businesses that they are in. Trust is a big property of brand TATA and it willtake all measures and steps to safeguard that property. And in today’s socialmedia world they have to be that much more alert and agile to monitor their brand reputation.

When you run or own a company the more you are honest the more it willhelp the brand to strengthen its credibility and trust. Trust is built over a period of time and it is important for you as a brand to educate your audience byengaging across platforms by addressing their needs and grievances to bring in that element of trust. In today’s digital world the trust factor can erode very fast and therefore you need to be agile and respond quickly and carefully and repose that faith with your audiences under any given situation.

The CEO of the company is so important that he stays engaged with your stakeholders to build that trust and credibility. By being honest and transparent you further strengthen the equity of the brand. And if the CEO happens to be a thought leader in the industry that will further help in building the trust factor and image of the company. So, this is where the corporate communication team has to work and engage closely with the leadership team in presenting the face of the company from time through various touch points with some strong and forceful messaging. The frequent interaction with the media with the right message and news will help the organisation to build a good relationship with the media and its stakeholders to build that trust. So, what are some of the key drivers one has to look into to manage the trust of your brand:

1. Be honest and transparent in what you’re communicating.
2. You should define your values and stand for it.
3. Never shy away from the media.
4. Brands do land up in crisis but you need to act fast and douse the crisis.
5. Be in touch with media and interact with them from time to time.
6. Continuously feed them with good news from the organisation.
7. Show authenticity in what you’re doing.
8. Avoid empty promises and tall claims.
9. Keep monitoring the health of your brand through brand audits.
10. Share your point of view on relevant industry story from your leadership team.