Almost all businesses need public relations. However, what is too often overlooked is that PR teams can also benefit from working with other company departments. When PR is treated as a separate entity rather than integrated into a broader workforce, problems often arise from poor communication and ineffectual business strategy. So, let’s look a little closer at teamwork’s importance in strengthening a brand’s image.
Image Source: Pexels
Aligning PR and Marketing
While two different disciplines, PR and marketing still have relatively similar intentions. Unfortunately, these departments often work in silos. By aligning PR and marketing, there tends to be greater consistency of messaging that strengthens the business’ image.
Wherever possible, there should be regular strategic meetings between all members of the marketing and PR teams. These meetings are opportunities for professionals from each of these disciplines to brainstorm and collaborate to achieve shared goals. From here, they can work together on adjusting and designing strategies that ensure messaging is aligned and even share techniques and resources rooted in one another’s areas of expertise.
It’s also essential to have a structure that sees PR and marketing colleagues working closely on a daily basis. If a PR crisis or messaging issue occurs, both teams can ensure they’re on the same page, working together to boost the company’s profile and address its shifting priorities. In physical office spaces, this may involve the teams sharing floor space. However, in larger brands or remote teams, shared project management and communication platforms—like dedicated channels on Slack—can help.
Managing Perception
A brand’s reputation can have a significant impact on its success. In the digital landscape, bad reviews can make or break your business, as they are easy to submit and can spread swiftly, tarnishing your reputation. Avoiding poor reviews by addressing common areas of negative feedback is an excellent place to begin. However, how brands respond to and make adjustments as a result of reviews really matters. Teamwork between PR and other departments can help here.
Perhaps the most crucial PR collaboration here is with customer service professionals. Your PR team has significant skills in damage control and crafting impactful messaging, while your customer service staff has experience interacting with consumers to provide great experiences.
It’s wise to set up clear communication channels between these two departments so that it’s easy for them to connect with one another when poor reviews and social media feedback arise. Any delay in responding to bad reviews gives room for further harm to your brand reputation. Therefore, make the protocols for reaching the right members of PR or customer service clear to all staff. Ensure there is always time and resources for interdepartmental meetings to discuss the challenges and formulate plans.
Building Trust
When it comes to strengthening a brand’s image, there are few more powerful influencers than trust. More trust helps you convert more visitors into customers and develop meaningful long-term relationships. Therefore, part of the challenge PR professionals face is to promote the credibility of the company.
Among the forms of collaboration that can help here is with executives and business operations managers. While PR teams may espouse how trustworthy a brand is in messaging, if there aren’t operational protocols to back this up, consumers’ confidence will not last. PR teams must make a point of meeting with business operations members to better understand what evidence is available that can provide convincing trust signals.
For instance, it may seem relatively innocuous, but your business needs insurance to protect a brand on many levels. It helps minimize the costs of liability claims if people get injured on business premises, alongside addressing copyright infringement, among other issues. Essentially, it allows the brand to keep operating even when the unexpected occurs. Operations managers and PR teams can collaborate on using this in messaging to demonstrate that the business takes steps to ensure the continuation of service, reassuring consumers that they’ll receive reliable service built on strong financial foundations.
Similarly, PR teams can collaborate with investor relations employees to gain information that aids in boosting transparency, which builds trust. There is space for mutual benefit. PR teams can get insights into the company’s financial stability that can influence reputation building. On the other hand, investor relations teams can get advice from PR teams on how to represent the brand in ways that boost investor confidence and greater engagement.
Conclusion
Treating PR as a standalone team is usually a mistake. By putting systems in place to ensure good collaborations with other departments, the business is given greater holistic value. Remember to seek feedback from all members of staff about these collaborations, too. They’ll be able to offer insights into what can make teamwork more effective and rewarding for everyone.
