Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their very own.
When folks contact me with questions on government branding, additionally sometimes called private branding, the most typical questions I get are: Which magazines are you able to get me in? Which podcasts are you able to guide me on? Whereas my company does assist shoppers with media outreach, this isn’t the core of what an government branding company does. Let me clarify.
The very questions I simply shared truly spotlight a elementary distinction between a PR company and an government branding company — two distinct companies with totally different targets, which are sometimes misunderstood. A PR company focuses on media protection, public visibility and shaping public notion. PR professionals pitch tales, keep relationships with journalists and try to get shoppers into high-profile placements to spice up their credibility and repute.
An government branding company, however, does not soar into advertising and marketing — readability comes first. Why? As a result of government branding is not foremost about publicity. The purpose of government branding companies is that can assist you hone your thought management. And earlier than anybody might be seen as a thought chief, they need to perceive their very own ideas.
Associated: Why Private Branding Is Essential for CEOs in Right now’s World
What an government branding company does
The function of an government branding company is to assist set up or refine your private model. Particularly, your branding is made up of your distinctive angle or viewpoint, clear messaging factors, your voice, your objectives, your audiences and the way you need these audiences to understand you. For executives or entrepreneurs, this implies crafting a presence that positions you as each a enterprise chief and an business authority whose insights form conversations and affect selections.
Via the chief branding course of, you:
1. Outline your thought management: You confidently come to reply what makes your perspective distinctive, invaluable, and/or compels others to cease and pay attention to you.
2. Develop your core messaging: You outline precisely what you wish to be identified for and by whom.
3. Craft a strategic content material plan: You develop a roadmap for methods to talk your experience successfully.
4. Create content material that helps your model: You get assist within the type of managing your LinkedIn presence, ghostwriting articles and reserving podcasts.
PR vs. government branding: Overlapping actions, totally different outcomes
One of many greatest misconceptions is that government branding is only a type of PR. It is not. Whereas some actions overlap, there are important variations in outcomes.
Key objectives:
PR company: enhance your media publicity
Govt branding company: set up your thought management
Focus:
PR company: public notion
Govt branding company: private readability and positioning
Strategies:
PR company: press placements, media outreach
Govt branding company: content material technique, viewers engagement
Content material creation:
PR company: press releases, media kits
Govt branding company: social media content material, long-form articles
Associated: To Turn into a High Govt, Take Management of Your Private Model Right now
The correct sequence: Govt branding earlier than PR
Many leaders wish to achieve visibility in top-tier publications and be featured on well-known podcasts proper out of the gate. As such, they might have interaction a PR company with the acknowledged intention of gaining publicity for his or her firm. Accordingly, PR professionals will search out compelling enterprise tales that may be pitched to media shops.
Nonetheless, entrepreneurs require a extra nuanced white-glove service. Not like leaders of bigger organizations who can leverage their firm’s established repute, entrepreneurs should construct their private authority from the bottom up. Their particular person imaginative and prescient and skill to spark significant business conversations usually carry extra weight than their firm’s present market place.
In the event you’re operating a small- or medium-sized group, the enterprise itself is probably not the very best driver of media consideration. As an alternative, it is your thought management that may change into the cornerstone of your repute. Your distinctive insights and experience are what’s going to finally differentiate you in a crowded market and create a long-lasting influence past your present enterprise.
The important thing query then turns into: What is the proof of your thought management?
That is the place government branding is available in.
Govt branding gives the strategic framework to showcase your experience and set up your authority. That manner, earlier than getting any media highlight, you have already got:
Developed a transparent private model with robust messaging.
Constructed a social media presence that establishes your credibility.
Created a physique of labor so when somebody Googles you, they see a transparent thread of thought management, not only a smattering of media mentions.
Practiced your talking factors on podcasts with smaller visibility — and, in doing so, created repurposable multimedia content material and succinct soundbites for future interviews with greater shops.
Prices and timing: Be sensible about your funding
After getting a basis of thought management in place, it might make sense to rent a PR company to amplify your visibility. Nonetheless, most leaders make the error of in search of speedy media placements with out first growing their robust government model. This rush to publicity not solely can restrict influence however turns into costlier in the long term.
PR companies usually cost excess of government branding companies, with onboarding charges often doubled and month-to-month retainer charges 4 instances greater. So, as a substitute of constructing a big preliminary funding in PR, it’s less expensive to take a strategic phased method. For instance:
Months 1-12: Work with an government branding company to make clear your model, set up your thought management and develop constant content material.
Months 12-24: Proceed refining and increasing your model whereas rising your audiences and visibility.
At 18-24 months: Contemplate hiring a PR company to amplify your attain by means of media placements.
Associated: 6 Issues Each Model Ought to Perceive About PR
In case your objective is to construct long-term credibility, develop your affect inside your business and set up a recognizable presence, an government branding company is the higher alternative. In case your objective is to maximise media publicity and achieve widespread publicity, then a PR company is an efficient alternative — however solely after you will have constructed the very best basis on your private model. Understanding this distinction will allow you to make knowledgeable selections concerning the assist that you must understand your full potential as a thought chief.