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10 PR tactics to grow your brand awareness

Business20-May-2024

Brand awareness is the key to success for any business, and if nurtured correctly, can secure sales in a competitive marketplace and ensure returning customers. Emily Dawson of EKD Consultants discusses how you can use PR to elevate your brand.

A bridal brand should offer a complete 360 experience, from the advertising to the promotion leading up to the point of sale and customer aftercare provided post sales.

Brand awareness is key to success for any business, and that’s where PR comes in. PR can elevate your entire brand through creating news, from its backstory and purpose to the unique selling points and reasons why a consumer should choose you, with elements including influence, choice of bridal gown designs and price point.

Emily’s Top Ten Tactics:

1.) Plan Ahead – Elevate your brand through planning. A good PR plan has all the ingredients you need including a clear PR strategy to achieve your business objectives. A good PR Plan will influence and change perceptions in addition to driving engagement and growing sales.
2.) Be newsworthy – Start with an insight. Investing in newsworthy research will ensure your brand stands out whilst providing insight and understanding into your customer base. Research can also be affordable marketing tool. A good example of a research-led news story is from the wedding-planning company The Knot, who established the yearly awareness day: “National Wedding Planning Day on March 1” to promote the season of wedding planning for those newly engaged. According to their survey, almost 40% of all proposals occur between November and February, so in creating this awareness day, it provided inspiration for newly engaged couples to start planning their wedding. This also landed news coverage across national and bridal media, ensuring a reason for the brand to be featured whilst providing the solution for customers, a company which could plan your big day!
3.) Put your purpose on a pedestal – Powerful storytelling is at the heart of human interactions. With a retail brand, communicating a purpose and offering is important to operate productively and build relationships. Every brand has a backstory, a seed of inspiration and a purpose, but are you telling your brand story in a bold and captivating way, aligning to its core values and key messages in all of your communications to customers? Would they know from your logo what your brand stands for. Make sure your purpose is part of your everyday brand values.
4.) Be the face of your brand – So many bridal boutique owners take a back seat in being the face of their brand, either socially or through PR and media interviews. However, this can often come across as disingenuous and does not provide the personal warmth to form a relationship to the brand that customers are likely to remember. So very often the owners are the best at selling and upselling through their own unique experience and years of handling customers so don’t be shy to take the spotlight.

5.) Slay your social – Your social media platforms are your strongest point of sale and essentially the front window to your brand. Through social media, you can showcase your best dresses in addition to the overall boutique experience. A good social planner or calendar of assets is how most big brands ensure there is a steady drumbeat of new events, announcements for trunk shows, or VIP packages available to drive sales incentives. Organising these key activities can co-ordinate with your sales plans to help you meet your objectives and targets.
6.) Garner popular trends – Bridal boutiques can follow the relevant trends as set by their customers’ interest and take note of any research or yearly reports to piggy-back on. Pinterest released its annual wedding report for 2024, revealing the trends it expects to see. This year, people are looking to add a sprinkle of extra magic to their big days, as searches for ‘fantasy wedding dresses’, ‘elven wedding dresses’, and ‘Nordic wedding dresses’ have all shot up. In 2024, weddings are set to be a whole lot brighter, as ‘Jewel tone weddings’ of shades of plum, ruby and turquoise are rising in popularity, alongside ‘emerald green wedding themes’.
7.) Credible Values – Credibility and integrity are important attributes to have as a brand. An example of a brand which exudes credibility in the bridal industry is Browns Brides, which leverages its heritage in offering a high-class service from start to finish, with attention to detail and designer dresses from across the globe.
8.) Collaborate – Partnerships with bridal brands or fashion and beauty influencers can help immeasurably. Influencer collaborations can be beneficial for brand engagement if executed correctly and your brand values match and align. Think outside the box by partnering with a complimentary company that elevates your bridal brand like a florist, event management company or accessory brand.
9.) The Power of a Celebrity – This is a proven formula to put your brand on the map. Any expenditure in this area will certainly provide a return on investment. However, it’s important to align with the right talent or figure who shares the same brand values as your own. Social media platforms have opened up the world of celebrity, so keep an eye on your local stars becoming engaged and reach out to offer a unique partnership opportunity.
10.) Be brave, be bold and step out of your comfort zone – the bridal landscape has evolved so much over the last ten years. In order to stay relevant, retailers need to make bolder moves and not be afraid to be seen and heard. Does your logo need refreshing? Do you need higher quality photography and videography for your website? Or do you need to refurbish your boutique and relaunch a luxury experience for VIP bookings. Whatever you do to enhance your customer experience, PR can champion this and help reach your business objectives whilst position your brand front and centre for customers.

If you want to know how to elevate your bridal brand or discuss how PR can increase your customer base, you can book a consultation with Emily by emailing: emily@ekdconsultancycomms.co.uk

E K D Consultants was founded by Emily Dawson, who saw the opportunity to combine best in class campaign delivery and leading expertise through a consultancy based business. The London-based consultancy offers a range of services through a team of highly skilled consultants and contractors, who collectively provide over 20+years of experience across a diverse portfolio of clients.