Building Authentic Brands: Successful Strategies for Today's Digital Landscape

Ever wondered what truly makes a brand successful in today's crowded marketplace? Alexandria "Alex" Hammond, principal of Brand News, cuts through the noise with powerful clarity on what matters most when establishing and protecting your brand identity.

Hammond reveals to host Peter Woolfolk the two deceptively simple questions every organization must answer before launching any marketing initiative: "Who are you?" and "Why should people care?" These foundational queries serve as guideposts for authentic brand development that resonates with target audiences. She emphasizes the importance of going where your audience already exists rather than expecting them to come to you – a customer-centric approach that fundamentally shifts how brands should think about their presence across platforms.

The conversation delves into practical strategies for integrated marketing, where public relations, social media, and digital content work in harmony rather than silos. Hammond shares valuable insights on content creation, explaining how earned media coverage gains exponential value when strategically repurposed across owned channels. With audiences' shrinking attention spans, she stresses the importance of front-loading compelling information – you typically have just 30 seconds to capture interest before losing your audience.

Perhaps most valuable is Hammond's expertise in brand protection through crisis communications. She advocates for having crisis plans and teams established before issues arise, noting that it's not the crisis itself that defines brand perception, but how an organization responds and recovers. This requires strategic thinking, clear communication channels, and experienced professionals who understand the nuances of reputation management.

Whether you're a startup defining your identity or an established organization looking to strengthen your brand presence, Hammond's practical wisdom offers a roadmap for authentic connection with audiences. Remember her parting advice: brand building is "definitely a marathon, not a sprint." Give yourself time to develop messaging, refine strategies, and build meaningful relationships with your audience. Your brand's story matters – what are you doing to tell it effectively?

Information on NEW podcast website.

Chapters

• 1:08 Introduction to PR Review Podcast
• 2:13 Meeting Alex Hammond: Branding Specialist
• 4:04 Two Essential Brand Questions
• 7:26 Understanding Your Audience
• 13:10 Integrated Marketing Approach
• 19:32 Content Creation and Repurposing
• 23:48 Crisis Communications Strategy
• 32:18 Final Branding Advice

Transcript

Announcer: 0:37

Welcome. This is the Public Relations Review podcast, a worldwide award-winning podcast. Our experienced guests cover a wealth of current useful topics, including adapting to technological advancements, digital and AI matters, misinformation, media relations, fake news, crisis communications and much, much more. And, of course, your feedback is always welcome. Now here is your host and producer, peter Woolfolk.

Peter Woolfolk: 1:10

Welcome to our listeners all across America and around the world Now. Apple has ranked this podcast among the top 1% of podcasts worldwide and ListenScore ranks the podcast as one of the top 10% most popularly monitored shows out of the 3.5 plus million podcasts globally. So thank you to all of our guests and listeners for your continued support and if you enjoy the show, please leave a review. Now question to my listeners. In public relations, we know that branding is the practice of using public relations strategies to shape, promote and protect a brand's identity, reputation and image among its key audiences. What are some of the important factors in developing a brand strategy and why does that matter?

Peter Woolfolk: 1:58

My guest today specializes in strategic public relations and branding services. Now, as the principal of her firm, she focuses on innovative strategies to assist clients in enhancing their brand visibility and reputation. In addition, brand News is a content creator and manages clients' online reputation. So joining me today from Mount Laurel, new Jersey, is Alexandria. We'll just call her Alex, for today, Alex Hammond. She is the principal of Brand News and she is here to share her experiences and offer some guidance in these areas.

Alex Hammond: 2:36

peter. I'm so happy to be here and thank you for having me, and I'm looking forward to speaking with you further today.

Peter Woolfolk: 2:42

Well, let's talk about brands. When you meet or have a new client, how do you go about establishing what their brand should be or should look like? What do you do with them?

Alex Hammond: 2:52

So, actually, when I have a client that approaches me and is looking forward and you know, there's always various services that we offer. So I'm an agency that offers, obviously, public relations, like you mentioned, and branding services, online reputation management, which often leads to, like social media, digital marketing, website things like that. So oftentimes, when individuals or organizations, they come to me and say, you know, hey, I want to do X, Y and Z, I want to do public relations and I want to do I want my website to be better All of those questions, anytime, it doesn't matter who you are, what you are, what you've done, how long you've been in the game, whether you're a startup or if you've been around for a long period of time I always say there's two questions that you absolutely need to ask yourself before you even figure out what your actual next steps are. So I always say one, who are you? And two, why should people care?

Alex Hammond: 3:43

If you can kind of start there from the ground, from ground zero, and being able to answer those two questions, I think we have a really good starting point, really good starting point, and I think that's super helpful because a lot of times what happens is that companies don't really know who their brand is, or individuals don't really know what their brand is and they don't really know which direction to go.

Alex Hammond: 4:03

So I love being able to kind of work with these people and say like, okay, this is great, you know, this is. It's a blank canvas, is kind of how I look at it. It's not a bad thing at all, but I love being able to kind of sit down and start from the beginning just to make sure that we're all on the same page as far as what your brand is. So before we even get to the services part of being like, okay, great, we're going to start promoting you I like to again just kind of walk through that process in the beginning and kind of do some exercises to make sure that you, as that person, as that company, you know exactly who your brand is and what your brand is.

Peter Woolfolk: 4:38

So what sort of things are you looking for from them? When you say what is your brand, what sort of information do you need to hear what services they offer, how long they've been in business, what their philosophy is? Just what sort of information are you trying to extract from them?

Alex Hammond: 4:54

Absolutely so, peter. Usually I'm looking for clarity, so I'm not looking for anything that's too metal Like. Again, I love being able to sit down and work through that process with them. But, like you said, there are things that I am looking for, there's questions that I am asking. So, absolutely, what is your mission statement? What is your vision statement? What are you looking to do? Who's your customer? Who's your audience? What do you see pie in the sky? Who are your competitors? Who do you see yourself lined up against?

Alex Hammond: 5:23

Again, whether you're a startup, whether you're an individual, whether you are a large company, all of these questions are pretty much the same. Because, again, it's like a brand is a brand and everyone has it. Whether you're an individual or whether you have a thousand employees, everyone has a brand. So, again, it's really just getting to the nitty gritty, getting to the bottom and just being like let's answer these basic questions and making sure that you have that identified, and it's fine if you don't. But again, we have to work through that process.

Alex Hammond: 5:52

So, again, getting your brand and understanding who you are and what you want to do, I think that's always a really good starting point before you even decide. I mean like, well, I want to go on, I want to be on social media and I want to be on TikTok, and it's like, okay, well, does your brand lend itself to TikTok? Like, what are you doing that you feel like your brand would be successful here? So all these questions that we're kind of extracting, like you said, just to help these companies and help these people get to where they want to be, because, end of the day, it's like you want to make sure, you want to set everybody up, set everyone up for success. So, again, identifying this from the beginning, the very first thing that, before we do, you know, is helpful for the long haul.

Peter Woolfolk: 6:34

Okay, so now that you've collected this information, how do you go about, uh assembling it to develop what that brand should be, what it should look like, uh how it's going to be presented from there? What do you do once you get all this information?

Alex Hammond: 6:49

so one of the things I always I also like to say is, in short, like, go to where your audience and go to where your customer is right. So if you know and you understand that your audience is a traditional audience so when I say traditional, it's the fact is that maybe it's a little, they're a little bit of an older demographic, so okay, then you know and you know. Going back to my point of like, well, is your customer, is your audience on TikTok? Okay, so, doing some kind of subjects like where is your audience? Is, you know, skews a little older, is your audience on TikTok? So maybe that doesn't lend yourself to that platform? Okay, so, like figuring out it's again, it's kind of like stepping back, because all the worst thing that you can do is spread yourself too thin as a brand, okay, so, again, it's kind of identifying those one or two or even three things that you do really, really well and again, understanding who your audience is and again, understanding who your customer is, because those are also two different things, and just ensuring that you know. Okay, this is where they are, I'm going to go to them. Don't be, don't have an ego that you think that they're just automatically going to come to you, okay?

Alex Hammond: 7:55

So I always say that what's easier? And, Peter, you tell me, is it easier for one person and when I say one person, let's say one brand to there's a hundred people sitting over there in the corner. Is it easier for you to go to them, right, like one person, one brand, to go and walk over to that corner to meet them, or is it easier to be like like, tell 100 people to come over to you? You tell me what's easiest, right? So I always try to like just kind of like simplify things a lot of times, because, again, it's like you know if and you can understand this if if we had everyone who understood how we think, as marketers, as brands, specialists, as publicists, you know, whatever kind of your, your background is, you know then we wouldn't have jobs and we wouldn't be able to do what we do and you know to love it so much.

Alex Hammond: 8:41

So I always say it's, it sounds simple, right? But oftentimes you know they don't understand that. So I always like making sure that it's it's, it's simplified. Let's just make it really, really simple for them and be like here's your audience, here's your customer, let's just go to them and we know how to reach them and figuring out again like what platforms um what mediums you know is going to is conducive for that well, no, I certainly agree with you, because obviously there's some variation there, because if you've got something that's open to the general public, for instance, uh, I don't know, a grocery store for instance, or something like that then I mean they can be just about anywhere almost anywhere.

Peter Woolfolk: 9:19

I mean nothing for kids, because obviously kids aren't going to go there on their own, but that gives you a lot, much larger targets to reach out in terms of platforms and other things like that to get information out.

Alex Hammond: 9:33

Exactly, yeah, and that's what, and that's what I say too. You know, again, it's one of the things like it's. I don't want to say that what we do is is simple and it does kind of take a special kind of person. You know, people like you and I, you can kind of just there's just something in our brains that you know, just like that switches, that switches, you know where. It's just kind of like being able to think and be thinking strategically. And I know, especially like considering your audience, right, they think they, they think like us and oftentimes like my.

Alex Hammond: 10:03

My favorite thing is being able to talk to a, you know, to a brand, a potential brand or a client who understands actually what we do. And I'm not saying when I say understand, there's a difference. I'm not saying that they know how to do, but they recognize and they realize the importance of what we do. So they understand. Like when we're asking these simple questions from the beginning, when we're first talking to them, when we're first vetting them, when we're first vetting their clients, and we're asking these questions albeit they sound silly, but truthfully it's so helpful and I love like I always send my clients an onboarding sheet when I first start working with them. It's like great contract signed, here's an onboarding document. It is a pain in the butt but once you kind of go through it, it's long when you kind of answer these questions, like I said, but it's going to set all of us up for success and it ensures that we're all on the same page as far as what we want to do and how we all ensures that we're all on the same page as far as what we want to do and how we all like what we all will be like, what we deem success, you know.

Alex Hammond: 10:59

So I think doing things like that and being like okay, like going back to what I said in the beginning, it's like mission statement do you have a mission statement? Do you have a vision statement? Do you have a boilerplate? You know what's your slogan? That's fine if you don't, you know, but making sure that, because sometimes again, it'll kind of trigger things with you know your client saying like oh wow, you know I don't have that. Oh wow, we actually that's great, that's something I didn't think about, we need to think about, and it's like yeah, that's what we're here for. You know, we kind of think the big picture, but we also, you know, get to the small stuff.

Peter Woolfolk: 11:28

That is super important, that seems unimportant but is actually really, really important for us, you know, as marketers, to do our jobs Well. As I listen to you, I mean you're absolutely right about collecting all that information to help develop, basically, who they are and the image that they want to present. Then I guess the next step you know you want to get to is, once you have the shape and who we are and those sort of things, you have to begin to promote them. So what sort of avenues do you use to promote? And again, I'm sure that's going to depend upon what they do and who the audience is.

Alex Hammond: 12:06

So I will say, one of the things I always I tell clients is like I truly believe in an integrated approach. So whether you're coming to my agency and you're just like I want public relations and that's fine. You're like we have a social media specialist or we have a digital specialist and I'm like that's great because we're still going to be working together, I find it very, very important that you can't work in a silo, anything that we do. So I always like to think of an agency as an extension of an organization, right? So sometimes where if there's resources are limited or they're like hey, we, you know, we're in a little bit of a pinch, we need some.

Alex Hammond: 12:45

So all of those things, I again like to think of an agency as an extension, and I've and I've been lucky enough that I've worked in house and I've worked agency side and obviously now having my own agency. But, with that being said, I always say I'll just use, for instance, if a client comes to me or a potential client comes to me for PR services, and I'm like Great. So typically, what I do and we all know, and that's a whole different conversation is what does public relations, what does media relations? What does that look like for this particular client.

Alex Hammond: 13:13

So, if we're going to go again the traditional route. You know, if it's something where you want to be in you know op-eds, you want to be a thought leader, you want to see yourself on, you know television, doing expert interviews, if you want to see yourself in print or digital edition doing interviews, all of that. So I will work with the client again, identifying one what their, what their niche is again, what their industry is, making sure that it's you know. Hey, again, I always say this the pie in the sky. Where do you see yourself? How would you deem yourself? The successful media campaign. Doing all of that can ensure you know, and working with the client on different pitch angles, topics, staying relevant.

Alex Hammond: 13:51

This is the one thing about you know, again, what we do. It's always about staying a step ahead, and not only a step ahead of like the client, but staying a step ahead of their competition and knowing what they're like, what the competition is doing, because I think that's super important. And oftentimes, again, like you know what we do, there isn't really sometimes a clock in, clock out, especially if you want to be really, really good at it. But you know I'm lucky and I'm blessed that I enjoy what I do. So that's something that I kind of thrive. I thrive on, but, with that being said, now say, for instance, peter, where we have a successful media campaign and I think, a lot of times where it's like, well, it doesn't just end there, so what are we doing? Because I always, again I go back to if the tree falls in the forest and nobody here like, did it really happen? You know or?

Alex Hammond: 14:33

did it. So if we did all of this great work in the media, whether we're on TV, whether we're on print, but what if our again, now we go back, did our audience see it? Did our potential customers see it? So, working with our uh, you know, the digital or social team, just be like, hey, here's this really great piece that ran how are we repurposing this? So, working with them, it's like are we sending out? Do you have a digital newsletter? Do you have a website? What's your linkedin page? What's your instagram page? Is this on your face, like making sure that everyone sees it on every potential platform? And you're repurposing it, like you know, because I think it's important, you know, because that's the thing is like being able to do a media and pr campaign of re-earned media that shows credibility. So this is just another piece and it's another piece of content which is important for social media and for digital. You need content, right to put up.

Alex Hammond: 15:22

So here's a piece of content right here. So now we're repurposing this really great media piece for content. Maybe you're also doing sponsored posts, you know, putting a few dollars behind it so more people outside of your audience catch it. So it's like things like that, being able just to kind of work with them, also important. One of the things that I love working with clients is doing kind of similar to what we're doing right now.

Alex Hammond: 15:43

Like plenty of people were in a space where it's podcast, people love doing podcasts, people love talking, people love having their own personal platform and, especially since media traditional media is changing, you know, now it's kind of like you got to create your own news and you got to create your own newsroom type thing. So I think, working with that, creating videos, videos again another piece of content. So it's like, okay, we have all this, this rolodex of videos that we all put together. So now that we have these videos, what are we doing with it and how are people seeing it, you know? So where is it going? Is it going on your youtube again? Is it going on your website? Here's content. It's like, wow, we actually have four or five pieces of content now for our, for our social media platforms. That's five pieces that we don't have to think about anymore because we did it. You know, like things like that.

Alex Hammond: 16:30

So I love again sitting down and just being able to to figure out. It's not again, it's not hard, but again it's just figuring out like where your, what your platform is. You know, linkedin. I always say and we all know it's a little bit more buttoned up. So some content, that video content that you're going to do for LinkedIn, isn't really going to perform as well maybe on Instagram. So it's also again realizing certain things aren't a copy paste and I think brands also need to. They need to do that. Again, it goes back to what I said if there's one person over here, a hundred people over there, what's easy? So just knowing and recognizing that as well, that what you do on LinkedIn may not do well on Instagram, may not do well on Twitter, slash X may not also do well on on Facebook.

Peter Woolfolk: 17:18

Let me let me just add something in there right quick, a couple of things that you mentioned thought leadership and videos. Yeah, thought leadership can be tricky sometimes because people maybe see themselves as a thought leader. But you know what have you done? You know thought you done. Thought leaders, they have to be respected, they have to have done something and at certain levels, whether it's some good ideas, some projects you've put together, public speaking, accomplishments, that you have, those kinds of things Just to say you want to be one because it sounds like it's a good idea is not enough. Thought leaders, the people you know they can see through those kinds of things. You know, do you write editorials for your local newspaper? Do you write articles? Are you a public speaker? What do? First of all, what do people think of you as a person If you don't have those kinds of credentials?

Peter Woolfolk: 18:05

and personality, then that's not going to work very well. The other side of videos I mean, I've had to repurpose videos as well and you know you have to look very, very carefully at what it is. I did some work for the airport. We did an introductory production, an in-house video for them that ran, I don't think, maybe about 15 minutes or maybe 10 minutes. But then they called us up a few weeks later on and said look, we were going to this event and we want you to squeeze this thing down to five minutes. Oh, my heavens, you know, because it's just part of a presentation.

Peter Woolfolk: 18:37

Well, you know we've got to decide. Well, let's sit down and talk about what it is you want people to see, and then we have to rewrite a new script for the thing you, and then we have to rewrite a new script for the thing, you know all those other kinds of things. So people have to understand all those things that go into it, and that is the complexities of it. But how do you go about constructing the thing so it's a viable piece to transmit who you are in a reasonable, likable way.

Alex Hammond: 19:01

Right, yeah, I mean, peter, those are all great thoughts and it's funny because any anytime if I'm with a client and I'm shooting just a really quick piece of content for them to go on their platform, so one of the things we can, all you know what's the one thing we would say, like what's your elevator pitch? You know, and I always say, and you know, like we're joking before we started recording, but kind of similar to that, where it it's like think of a press release and people are familiar with the press release and the format of it. If people still do press releases, it's typically the most important information is at the beginning, right, and at the end, it tends to kind of not as important.

Alex Hammond: 19:37

It's a little bit more fluff, but you got to think about it. With the times that we're in with people like we scan, we're much rather watch videos. Even when we watch videos, how how much are we watching? I'm I'm guilty personally of if I someone sends me a video, you know, or a meme on on instagram, I chances are, if it's, if it's a video, I won't watch it, you know, because it's like, oh, how long is this video?

Alex Hammond: 20:02

That's literally what I asked myself, so exactly to what you were just saying, where it's you know, if you're at a presentation and you're just you know, and they say, hey, we've got a pivot, you only have about five minutes or you only have two minutes. So being able to think about it's like if I okay, if I have two minutes, knowing that I probably need to capture these people in 30 seconds, otherwise I'm going to lose them, making sure that what you're saying from the beginning, those first 30 seconds, is really, really compelling absolutely you don't lose them, absolutely okay so I, I and I think, like I said that, I think that that's something that can be true, like said true for for again, all of our platforms.

Alex Hammond: 20:42

Whether it's a press release, whether it's a video on instagram that you're posting, if you're, it's a long form video, anything that you do, I always say like shorter is better, and that's oftentimes where it's, you know, you don't, when you're, when you do what we do, oftentimes, like we don't, we can't really do fluff. Think about news. You know the, the editors and writers who don't have time to read. So we've got to make sure, in the first couple, you know, couple of sentences of the email, that it's actually something that's going to be beneficial for them. Um, and understanding their time is important. That, like, we want them to write about it, but we know that we don't, you know, often have a capital audience, um, you know whether it's a good relationship or not. So we got to, we got to get people quick.

Peter Woolfolk: 21:20

We, we, we, as consumers and as an audience, we don't have a long attention span and you know, I, I'm I'm speaking from personal experience, from being on both sides you know how well, let me say, and I agree with you about the length of it the also the other thing that has to be considered too is the complexity of the issue, and maybe you might not run across a lot of those, but somehow, and there are some issues that can be complex, so it might take a little bit longer than five minutes to completely understand it, because right what's worse than is either.

Peter Woolfolk: 21:52

You know, you didn't say enough, so they still don't understand it or maybe a little bit longer, so at least they get a grasp of what it is and exactly so forth, yeah, and then also like to your point.

Alex Hammond: 22:04

But that's why it's important to have always a good call to action, right? So I think it doesn't matter, like again, if you, if you don't have much time, you're like OK, what, what is, what are the do at the end of this? So again, whether you're in front of people and you let them know, you're like, hey, this is who I am, this is what I do. This is why it's beneficial for you Knowing that you're. But it's like what do I want them to do? Do I want them at the end of this, if I'm at a conference, do I want them at this end of the conference to come up to me asking for more information? I feel like that's even more important than anything you kind of have in the middle, because if you can't really get your point out in the middle, at least you're like okay, well, just call me, call me later, email me later, we can talk about it. You know further. So I always say like, who your intro is and maybe who the end part your call to action.

Peter Woolfolk: 22:57

Well, you know, that makes me think of another thing too, and that is maybe looking in a different direction, and that is protecting one's brand. You know, that there needs to be some specific actions taken, depending upon what the issue is and how do we go about protecting this brand from disinformation that's incorrect or perception that's incorrect.

Alex Hammond: 23:17

Yeah, and I always think so. I've done a good amount of work in crisis communications. It's not my favorite part, but I think it is very much a necessary skill that I truly think all publicists and marketers should have some sort of concept of what crisis communications is. I think where companies get in trouble, peter, is that they don't actually have anyone, whether on their team or someone on retainer, that has crisis, has a crisis communications background, that is able to kind of step in instantly because what's the worst is like. A lot of times, what happens with companies is that here's a crisis and it's like oh, we need to find someone. That should not be your next step your next step is oh, we too late crisis, let's, let's, let's activate.

Alex Hammond: 24:08

You know like it should be, like let's. You already have your crisis come team, whether it's ceo, whoever your your c-suite is, whoever your hr, what you know, whatever the issue is, but you have, like your next step should be activate. We have a crisis meet in the boardroom 30 minutes, you know whatever 15, 30 minutes, and let's go. It should should not be like we have a crisis, we need to interview and hire people to do this, like because that now it's getting bigger and bigger, you know, but I think people need to understand and also, like, when you have some sort of crisis situation, it's not so much the what the crisis is, it's pretty much how you respond, it's how your brand responds and how they recover, and that's a good I would say a good judge of how good of a like overall strategy that you have as a brand. Because, again, it's not really like you know things happen, but it's really just how you're going to recover and that's truly what the crisis teams should be in charge of and really what they should be managing.

Alex Hammond: 25:06

Not so much the crisis that happened, but what are we doing in a week and what are we doing in a couple weeks to kind of just bury that?

Peter Woolfolk: 25:13

Well, you know that crisis communication is an important issue for me as well. I mean, I've been in some real heavy-duty ones and I've seen people who are sort of thrashing around at them. But the first thing you need to do is have a team and you need to have a plan. That's in place already, and you're right, somebody should have some sort of skills at handling these kinds of things, because I was just talking to someone the other day.

Peter Woolfolk: 25:40

When you compare, I was looking at the thing. One is what was it? Cracker Barrel was one. And the other was the Seafood Place. They were two different things. I mean, they were both crises, but the Seafood Place I forget the name of it right now. But anyway, they sort of say well, look at us, we were kind of silly, that was fun, we were going to fix this. Sorry folks, it happened, we won't let that happen again.

Peter Woolfolk: 26:07

It's our fault. We should have been prepared, because we know our food is that good and we were surprised it attracted so many people. Blah, blah, blah, blah, whereas Cracker Barrel kept trying to defend what they did, even though the wheels kept coming off.

Peter Woolfolk: 26:21

And one of the things about these guys specifically. When you've got a group like that that you're going to change something that an audience is exposed to, you need to begin to take. Ask the audience what do you think about this idea? Yeah, before you get out there in the front and do it because I mean they caught hell the ladies on national television trying to explain how we're going to fix this, and it still didn't work but peter, but that's exactly what I'm saying, like why in the beginning, you got to take inventory of who your audience is?

Alex Hammond: 26:50

right you know. So I think exactly to what your point was about. Hey, let's do, let's do a little test before we decide that we were just going to roll this out. I I mean, based off of that, you're like who I? It doesn't sound like they did, because it sounds like, if they did, I don't think they could have had. They would have had the response I don't think they did either that they have really don't, yeah.

Alex Hammond: 27:13

So I I would say again, it's knowing who your audience is and making sure, like it's okay to ask, because there's plenty of times I've worked on campaigns where we've asked like, hey, this is what we, what we deem, and that's what happens, this is what we deem internally. That's important. But then sometimes you know, what do they say? Perception isn't always reality, right? So that's why it's important making sure that you're always connected with your audience and just whoever that is and your customer, asking them what about this, do you think this? Like asking them just certain questions about your brand and how they feel, and that gives you a really, really good perspective on your next steps anytime you start doing a campaign.

Alex Hammond: 27:54

Like I said, I've been part of campaigns where we did, we've done surveys, we've sent it out to you know, thousands of people in different regions and we're just like, oh, interesting, okay, that's that's. We didn't think that was, you know, important to you. We thought this could be important to you. So it's very eyeopening and that's good because, again, end of the day, it's your brand, like it's your brand, but this is the, this is what keeps people coming back, you know, and understanding and still having that connection with your brand and they feel and they feel a part of it too, when they feel like they've had a say in it.

Peter Woolfolk: 28:26

Let me also add that too, because you're right that organizations should have a communications plan and someone to oversee that plan, to develop. And, as a matter of fact, I just had a guy on here not long ago and basically that's what he does. His job is crisis communications.

Peter Woolfolk: 28:47

But, the point here simply is that you need to have someone on staff that has some idea of what they're doing hopefully some experience. If you're going to need to call outside people, call somebody from the outside that has some experience. I would have concerns is that you tell me that you sat in a hotel ballroom for a couple hours and you have a certificate in crisis communications. I don't think I'd be very comfortable with that. Right, because this is way beyond what it is we're asking you to do.

Alex Hammond: 29:15

Yeah, you need someone who has been in the trenches when it comes to crisis communications, where it's kind of like you know, I mean I tell people all the time, you know. I think it was recently and someone asked me. They're like, why do you? I can't believe you do this, and I'm like talking about like PR, and I was like I know, because it's crazy. And I was like you know, 20 years ago when I started doing this, you know, I lost my like sanity pill, right, because the fact that we're here today, 20 years later, that I've been in, it's just like.

Alex Hammond: 29:45

But there's something about it, you know. There's something like being in it, being able to problem solve, being able to think, you know, to be always ahead of the game. You know, when someone comes to you and say like, well, what about blah, blah, blah? And you're like, oh, you know what? I actually already thought about that. I thought about that and I also thought about this and being able just to always just be you know and think about any sort of repercussions good, bad, indifferent, whatever it is and any sort of outcome. So I always think you know anyone who works in public relations and crisis comes, you know you got to be. You got to be slightly off, you know again, speaking from experience, but again it's like it's being able to kind of again when you, when you're able to solve something, when you have a happy client when the crisis happened, but nobody cares anymore, things like that where it's like, okay, this is good. This is why I've done it for as long as I did.

Peter Woolfolk: 30:36

Well, Alex, we're sort of running up against close to the end of our time here. Do you have any closing words for our audience about branding?

Alex Hammond: 30:47

Yes, I do. And, Peter, I want to thank you again for giving me the platform to speak with you today. It was, you know, truly an awesome experience, one of the things I would absolutely leave any brand who is unsure about, kind of like, what their next steps are. You know and I go back to the first thing, you know what you asked, like what do I do when I'm approached? And again, it's being able to ask those two questions who you are and why should people care?

Alex Hammond: 31:14

And I think, sitting down and really just like kind of taking that look, being self-aware about who you are and where you are, where you were yesterday, where you are today and where you're going. I think those are super important things. Before you, you decide, you know, hey, I'm ready to bring someone in to take, you know, take your brand to the next level. I think everyone has a story to tell. I think that's super important. It doesn't matter if you think it's silly, it's just kind of working through those little, those little kinks from the beginning and being able just to kind of put your head down and identify. You know what it is, that story that you want to tell, and fine tuning it and fine tuning your message. You know, I think, like I said, it's so it can do so. So much wonder, so so much great, you know, for promoting your brand and getting yourself out there. And you know, nothing is instant, nothing happens overnight, so it is really much like it is a slow, it is definitely a marathon, it's definitely not a sprint.

Alex Hammond: 32:10

So, knowing, knowing today, like you know, if someone hears this, you know whenever they do, and they say like, oh, great, I'm going to start tomorrow and on Thursday, you know we're talking today, on a Tuesday, but you know and say like, great, on Thursday, everyone's going to know it's like no, it's going to take some time, especially if you haven't, you know, stepped foot in this world before. So I always say patience is a virtue, don't? You know? People need time. People need time to develop their message and to fine tune and to figure out where things should be. So I always say like, please be patient with your marketers, with your publicists, with your brand specialists. They trust me, they know time. You know nobody likes to work as fast or quickly as people do in our field, in our industry. But knowing that you know time, definitely we love it on our side. So with that I'll leave it.

Peter Woolfolk: 32:58

Well, I really have enjoyed talking to you today and I think that our audience will gain a lot from the experience that you've exposed them to and information that you've delivered to them. And let me say, if you have enjoyed the program, we certainly would like to get a review from you and please, let me once again say thanks to Alex Hammond. She is the principal of Brand News Public Relations, so let me again let your friends know that you've been listening to the Public Relations Review and tune in for our next edition. Have a great day.

Speaker 4: 33:34

This podcast is produced by Communication Strategies, an award-winning public relations and public affairs firm headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee. Thank you for joining us.