“A great brand raises the bar. It adds a greater sense of purpose to the experience, whether it’s a brand challenge to do your best in sports or fitness [like Nike], or the affirmation that the cup of coffee you’redrinking really matters,” said Howard Schultz, Starbucks Chairman.

What is a brand and why is it so important?  Quite simply, a brand is an identifier.  It is how your company is perceived by your customers ?  Do they feel you provide a great product and service?  Do they believe you are the low-price supplier?  Do they believe your engineering capability is first class?  Al Ries & Laura Ries wrote in their book, “The Fall of Advertising & the Rise of PR” that “Perception is everything.  The only question is how to create a favorable impression in the customer’s mind? The interesting thing is that if you don’t take control of your company’s brand, your customer will.

The answer to the question of how to create a favorable impression is through an effective product publicity campaign with well prepared press releases.  When someone reads in a credible publication or website about how your products or services can solve their problems, they remember and respond.  Most importantly, when they consistently read about your products and services in the best media outlets and are shown how they solve problems for customers, your company becomes perceived as a problem-solver.  Again, perception is everything!

And repetition is essential to reinforcing your brand and driving home the perception that your company solves problems.  So, as a small company, you can accomplish that repetition most effectively through product publicity.  Again, because publicity is news it provides the added benefit of leveling the playing field with large companies.  With product news which, of course is editorial coverage, you cannot tell the size of a company.

The best way to manage your small company brand is through an effective product news release campaign.  Product releases also provide the additional benefits of driving traffic to your website, enhancing your organic rankings in search engines, and attracting OEMs and distributors.

###