Corporate Branding. Why is it so important to a business?

Corporate branding holds an important place in marketing, for both small and large companies.

A successful corporate brand is defined by the company’s mission, values, and objectives. The purpose of adopting a corporate brand is to have a unique and consistent look and feel across every medium.

This is conveyed visually (through the logo, website, product packaging etc.), through tone of voice (the language used in internal and external communications) and through customer service. In essence, every piece of communication from the company, and the company’s every behaviour, help build an identity.

Corporate identities can present businesses with a number of excellent marketing opportunities, so we’ve explored some of these below.

Shapes Customers’ Opinions & Fosters Loyalty

A solid corporate identity is also a solid bridge connecting businesses with potential customers and partners. It builds up customers’ conscious and subconscious opinions of the company as a whole.

Establishing your company’s characteristics and emphasizing its strengths helps increase the chances of winning customer hearts and loyalties.

Creates Brand Awareness

The consistent visual expression of a brand creates awareness among customers, shareholders, and employees. Every positive aspect of a brand’s image will be etched on people’s minds, and used later to recognise a specific brand in a sea of competitors.

Customers will be able to associate positive brand experiences with the company’s visual identity. The company’s unique logo and its positive interactions with customers will become unified in people’s minds, and it will make the brand more memorable.

Avoids Misrepresentation

Having an established identity leaves no room for vagueness or inconsistency in a brand’s personality. It conveys that the company has done everything in its power to project and live the best identity possible.

With that in mind, the company’s employees are absolutely crucial in nourishing a successful corporate image. Your team needs to know exactly how to represent the company in every interaction with the outside world. A team that knows your brand values inside out will be ready to spot mistakes and avoid any misrepresentation problems.

Inspires Confidence

One thing that all successful corporate identities have in common is the ability to convey a high level of professionalism to consumers, industry peers and investors. This effectively generates credibility within the company’s sector.

Depending on the scenario, corporate identities can also be big investments, which indicates strong commitment and communicates that your business is in the industry for the long-term.

Provides ROI

When there’s an excellent corporate identity supporting an equally great service or product, the result is a well-oiled machine with great business prospects. Brand credibility lays the necessary foundation for a company to expand into new markets and increase its profits.

Moreover, a report by McKinsey & Company shows that strong brands surpassed weak brands by 20 per cent in the year 2012. Other studies show similar findings: according to CoreBrand’s Corporate Branding Index®, the corporate brand accounts for between five and seven percent of market capitalization.

Conclusion

Strong corporate branding needs to start at the workplace with your employees. It’s not just about the external side of the business, it’s about everything you say and do, so creating the ideal company culture is the first step. A company’s brand identity won’t mean anything unless it’s backed up by great customer experience.

Corporate brands come in various forms, and they all give detailed context to a company, along with a more sophisticated place in the market. Adopting a brand image means you’re in full control to say what your company is about, leaving nothing to chance.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]