Your SME is one out of the over 41.5 million MSME businesses operating in Nigeria, according to a survey conducted by the National Bureau of Statistics and the SME Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) in 2018. These businesses contribute nearly 50% of the country’s GDP and account for over 80% of employment in the country. Like yours, SMEs are a very important part of the Nigerian economy and they serve as the backbone that fuels different economic activities.
Despite SMEs contributions to the Nigerian economy, however, some of the challenges that hinder their growth include; lack of skilled manpower, the multiplicity of taxes, high cost of doing business, inability to access capital, among others. But none is as critical as the need to grow and reach more customers and markets. While the internet and social media have provided a new channel for SMEs to reach and engage with their audience, most still lack the strategic direction and insight that Public Relations can provide
Here are four key areas where Public Relations can help you create a unique brand in the marketplace, support your communications objectives and help you build trust with your audience.
Public Relations Will Help You Create Awareness.
Effective public relations will create a spark around your brand and generate interest in your products and services. With public relations, SMEs in Nigeria can tell engaging stories to customers across traditional and new media platforms. Let us say you have a new offer that you wanted more customers to hear about, you could send out a press release to the media with details of what the offer is about and how people can take part. If the release is picked up by a media platform and shared to its 50,000 followers on Twitter, for instance, imagine how many people you would have reached with that offer in addition to your own Twitter community.
You Can Use Public Relations To Build Credibility
Leveraging public relations will not only help to promote your business, but it will also help you build a positive brand reputation while increasing brand credibility, loyalty and customer confidence in what you offer your customers or clients. Look at this as word-of-mouth on steroids; as you serve clients and continue to showcase their satisfaction through reviews or testimonials you leverage the credibility of those customers to build your own credibility and goodwill.
One way we were able to get more people to see the movie adaptation of the popular blog series “Finding Hubby” was the use of video storytelling. We identified credible media voices who had followed the series and shared video content on social media of them talking about how exciting they found the series and were looking forward to it becoming a feature film.
Public Relations Can Help You Achieve Thought Leadership
Brands that provide thought leadership are more relatable than brands that shy away from communicating their values. Public Relations provides SMEs with the opportunity to take a stand on issues they identify with and connect with customers with similar interests opinions. One SME we love is Octo5 Holdings; a real estate company whose focus is on bridging Nigeria’s housing deficit. In this regard, the company and its representatives constantly speak on issues and solutions around the housing deficit. This has helped them to be perceived not just as a brand selling properties but as one solving a larger societal challenge.
Public Relations Helps With Crisis Management
An effective public relations plan helps brands and businesses deal with crises in a humane, timely and professional manner. Bearing in mind that any crisis that is mishandled has the potential to damage your brand’s reputation, Public Relations helps you to state your position about an issue so stakeholders can see where you stand. It also helps to provide timely information so your brand is not seen as being impervious to feedback or criticism.
Think of the times an airline has delayed you and when you tweet at the handle you are ignored; chances are you would rarely ever use that airline again. But if the same airline had responded with details of why the flight was delayed and offered restitution, you would have been more likely to refer them to your friends. That is the beauty of the crisis communications side of Public Relations; how it helps you to respond to crisis and also increase your brand love.