Lisette Pallas
2024 has been an eventful year for the technology industry. Well over 30,000 tech workers have been laid off in the U.S. alone this year, and nearly 200,000 more workers will be affected by 2023. And while a majority of Americans believe Big Tech is “too powerful,” a crowd set Waymo on fire. With the advent of driverless cars, it is clear that trust in technology is waning.
As a public relations professional, I believe the deterioration in public opinion toward the technology industry is a defining moment.
Building and maintaining a positive brand reputation requires long-term and careful attention, and with retrenchment so prevalent, there's never been a more important time to focus on brand building.
What's in the brand?
Jeff Bezos famously quipped, “Your brand is what people say about you when you're not in the room.”
Communications professionals are typically the stewards of a brand, creating its positioning, visual identity, voice, and campaigns, but their power lies in their ability to align everyone inside and outside the organization with what the brand stands for.
The most successful organizations do more than just sell products and services. They evoke feelings and experiences that people want to share. If you think about some of today's most valuable global brands, from Apple to Coca-Cola, there's probably a set of opinions, visuals, and words associated with them.
Building a brand takes time
For early-stage startups, the focus is on brand building. Because these companies are relatively unknown, you need to create messages, stories, and programs that people will eventually associate with them. A brand effort lays the foundation for who a company is, why it exists, the values it provides, its purpose and vision, and consistently and authentically tells the story that helps the company grow and expand. Helpful.
For established companies, on the other hand, the focus is on “defending the brand” because there is a well-perceived identity that distinguishes the organization from other organizations. However, this doesn't mean the company should rest on its laurels. Rather, how can the company maintain a good reputation and continue to remain relevant? When an established company expands into new markets or develops new products, this Brand building activities may be required to support growth.
In both cases, brand commitment takes time. While specific news events can be a starting point for incorporating into a company's messaging, activities that increase awareness and credibility go far beyond a one-time announcement.
don't wait until it's too late
Research shows that companies with strong brand reputations tend to outperform their competitors, and it's no wonder. People are more likely to do business with organizations they like and trust. But when companies experience uncertainty, branding efforts often take priority. back burner. And that's where so many companies miss the mark, prioritizing short-term cost control for long-term reputation.
This is true for many technology companies today. They are making mass layoffs, and they just have to apologize for the lack of empathy in their response. Or they are reacting to employee backlash by downplaying their commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging. And there are growing concerns about how the rapid adoption of artificial intelligence will lead to further job losses, bias and discrimination, and privacy concerns.
For every good brand or PR campaign, there's another example of a bad campaign that negatively impacts your business, from lost sales and low employee morale to decreased credibility.
Technology companies can never afford to ignore how to truly build, maintain, and protect their brand in the midst of volatile markets.
Lisette Paras is the founder and president of Gravitate PR, a marketing communications agency that works with high-growth technology companies.
Illustration: Dom Guzman
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