Business Administration and Marketing

Companies must work to acquire new customers through marketing efforts aimed at generating profits for the company. To do this effectively, fundamental business and marketing decisions must be made together. read more [+]

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The Value of Corporate Branding

Corporate marketing, may not be one of the more familiar terms, but consumers are affected by this area of marketing every single day.

Essentially, corporate marketing refers to the area of marketing that pertains to creating and maintaining the image or "brand" of a corporation. Some corporate brands with which most people are familiar would be:

• Coca Cola
• Microsoft
• Wells Fargo
• BMW
• Nike

As you read each of those company names, no doubt certain images and products quickly crossed your mind. With each of those names you also likely have certain expectations and/or perceptions with regards to the products and services those highly visible and successful companies have been selling for decades. You also can probably readily picture the logo, along with its unique colors and shapes, of each of those companies. That, in a nutshell, is corporate branding, and it is the outcome of successful corporate marketing.

Corporate Identity

Corporate marketing establishes the identity of a corporation. It creates the visual identity in the minds of consumers, such as the company logo. For example, the red and white logo of Coca Cola has been around your entire lifetime. When a logo becomes that familiar, a consumer doesn’t even need to see the name, as the "brand" is recognized instantly.

A corporation's brand identity has to do with many things. These include the quality of the company's products or services, their customer service reputation, the degree of value the product or service provides, its unique features and benefits which satisfy customer needs, and the internal culture or "personality" of the company. New logos and names won't change those…those must be changed at the core of the company's organizational makeup.

Name

The company name is also a key aspect of corporate branding. Successful companies typically choose short names which are easy to pronounce and easy to remember. Nike is a perfect example of that. Short, sweet and easy to remember. Often, consumers are buying the name when they purchase a product from a company like Nike.

It is important to understand that brand identity is much more than a logo or a name, even though many people think they are synonymous. The corporate brand really represents the heart and soul of a company. Changing a logo or a name, which many companies do at one time or another, often in an attempt to change or improve their image, doesn't change the underlying identity.

Consumer Confidence, by Association

Once consumers fall in love with one product by that company, they will often buy many other products which the company also sells. They buy the name because they expect all the other things they associate with that name such as high quality and great service. So when people start buying a name, a company can make considerable profits from their name.

Corporate branding is the most successful when a favorable public image and quality products or services are combined. As a result, when people buy that brand, they expect good quality and good service because they associate that with that brand.

Corporate branding can be very powerful in terms of a company's success. That being said, a bad product by the same company can also do a lot of damage. Consistency is key when it comes to corporate marketing and branding.