By Ugochukwu Ugwuanyi
While makeup is usually worn by women to enhance beauty, it is a public relations anathema for an organisation that would be appealing. In today’s attention economy with its attendant digital rebellion, the souls of brands and businesses are constantly under a ruthless, unforgiving microscope. It’s so scrutinising that any attempt to keep dealings under wraps or be cosmetic in conduct becomes a recipe for crisis.
Some practitioners misconstrue PR as meeting stakeholders’ vaunting expectations without realising that it is more about managing those demands. While the prior lands them in a “makeup studio”, the subsequent places them before the mirror, which is more admirable. After all, that popular saying upholds honesty, not hype, as the best policy. Not every campaign will deliver perfect results. But every tactic should be geared towards an honest insight.
A discipline that entreats trust, courts credibility, and counts on connecting with customers can’t afford mendacity, prevarication or a skeleton in their closet. Clients, investors, and internal teams prefer to see how their companies operate rather than what they claim, which is increasingly becoming noise in today’s world. Business leaders will be well advised to resist the urge to treat public relations as make-believe, given that it’s a seeing-is-believing affair.
TAC Trifecta: Transparency, Authenticity & Credibility
A successful brand is one sustained by the elements of what I call the TAC Trifecta, short for Transparency, Authenticity, and Credibility. Transparency isn’t a weakness but a strong signal that exudes confidence in organisational processes and outcomes. It’s a testament to the importance of transparency that businesses regularly publish ESG metrics, supply chain impact, audit results, and annual reports.
They also stage Open House shows for members of the public and the media to see how their facilities, factories, or offices operate. These acts of standing before the mirror go a long way in establishing mutual understanding and long-term goodwill. Credibility is accorded to brands that are seen (transparent) to be true (authentic) to their values, pursuing their mission and vision with ethical considerations. People support brands that portray, not just parrot, integrity. That’s how businesses get judged as authentic.
There is so far Authority can take a brand, but audiences will always regard Authenticity. An emergent brand that levels up with its publics will easily dislodge the market leader. PR is currently faced with a generation that has turned radical realness into a fad. Raw storytelling, spur-of-the-moment expressions, and behind-the-scenes content are increasingly preferred over polished and highfalutin narratives. Research has also found that modern talent would rather work for companies that communicate openly about failures, culture, and leadership decisions.
According to a recent study published in Psychology Today, more than 70 per cent of consumers spend more on what they consider authentic brands. Authenticity was defined in that study as “the extent to which consumers perceive a brand to be genuine, transparent, and consistent in their communication and behavior.” By being down-to-earth without papering over flaws, brands earn trust, creating relatability and engagement with stakeholders. This affirms transparency as the haymaker.
Meanwhile, third-party credibility is so critical that organisations can give an arm and a leg for it. As an impression derived from people’s interactions with an organisation, credibility is not picked off the shelf but instilled through an organisation’s routine. It’s the fallout of a company’s culture where doing the right thing is the default, not the exception. It springs from the small, quiet choices businesses make daily: the email sent — or not sent, as well as the shortcuts taken — or avoided. Goodness isn’t a performance but a practice.
Openness overrides Opaqueness
Transparency comes highly recommended in PR because it mirrors integrity, authenticates authenticity and culminates in credibility, which no glossy marketing can ever instil in stakeholders. People follow who you are long before adhering to what you say. It is the sunlight that makes a reputation shine, not the clouds. Credibility isn’t built in a day but in every decision that can become public knowledge.
With perception playing catch-up to the super information highway, businesses that are opaque in their engagements with stakeholders risk losing far more than they gain. MarTech reports that “Consumers are tired of cookie-cutter CEOs who speak in abstractions, and they’re choosing to follow leaders who speak plainly about their failures, unconventional paths and beliefs, not just the talking points the PR department approved.”
Concealed decisions, when exposed, make salacious stories and can go viral within minutes. Credibility doesn’t suffer selective truth gladly. The organisation that opts to spin its blunder in the best possible light burdens itself with the liability of a boomerang. As the African adage posits, someday the wind will blow, and the fowl’s rump will be exposed.
In a world where every pronouncement can be easily fact-checked, opacity is eventually more expensive than honesty. Given Jeff Bezos’s assertion that “Your brand is what other people say about you when you’re not in the room”, why not lay it bare so that the facts can speak for themselves when you are not around to put up a defence? It’s just like a person’s true character speaks long before their words do.
Authenticity amplifies Brands more than Approval ever will
PR is not about playing to the gallery. With filters fading fast, brands must prioritise accuracy over perfection. Businesses need not inflate themselves to fit into a bogus space for approval ratings. As my late mother used to say, “The one who claims to be worth more than they are remains who they are.” Fidelity to avowed values and limitations will earn brands the trust and understanding of critical audiences. For one, it’s a sure way to resonate with Nigerian youths who are currently over the pressure to perform, trading picture-perfect aesthetics for raw and sincere self-expression. Just like it’s said in the streets: “dem nor send anybody.”
Organisations are authentic when they:
ü Do what they say they will do
ü Admit when they are wrong
ü Are generous with giving credit and acknowledgement
ü Treat everyone with respect, especially the downtrodden.
ü Remain consistent regardless of the situations.
In other words, the authenticity of brands and businesses can be seen in how they treat people who cannot help them, act when nobody is watching, respond when things go wrong, and how they handle successes, criticisms, and setbacks. Nevertheless, brands and businesses will be standing before the mirror when they pause to ponder the following posers:
Ø Can we stand by this policy if it were in public?
Ø Are we choosing the right course of action, or what is convenient?
Ø Will this strategy instill trust in our clients and internal teams?
Ø Does this decision strengthen the relationships we rely on?
Ø Are employees conversant and in consonance with the company and its operations?
To sum it all up, PR must be reflective, not deflective, to be effective. Public relations is pretty result-oriented when it mirrors what holds, rather than making up for flaws and flops!
- Ugochukwu is a storyteller, branding specialist and media trainer who welcomes feedback through nmiringwu@gmail.com