A reporter from a major magazine interviewed me this past week and asked me how companies should go about building their brands as a result of assisting in disaster relief efforts.
If you are looking to get public relations and brand building value out of disaster relief efforts, don’t start there as your motivation for helping. If you start out for the public relations value, you are almost certain to come across as self-serving, shallow and publicity starved.
Help out others in times of disaster because it is in your [corporate] heart to do so. Ask yourself this question, “If our brand could assist in the recovery efforts in some way but nobody would ever know about it, what would we do?”
Next, seek ways to get as much of your assistance directly to the most critical places as efficiently as possible. Work with relief organizations with great track records of low overhead expenses or coordinating governmental agencies and find out the priorities in the recovery efforts. Target those areas with your help. If you can donate money to the efforts, that is great. If your product or service can help in some way, donating the product or service is also a great way to help.
Sure, you may be able to get some good publicity for your brand as a result of helping, but don’t make this your primary objective. Search your heart and help because it is the right thing to do. Anything else your brand enjoys as a result is gravy.
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