Corporate Branding

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Corporate Branding is Key to a Successful Business

Corporate branding is the process of establishing a name and image for your business. It is something, which should be done by every organization, and establishes a name for your product or service.

While you can have a successful business without the use of corporate branding, it is much harder to remain in the minds of customers when you do not have a brand or logo for them to associate your business with. Corporate branding begins with the designing of a relevant logo, website, business cards, letterheads, and any other promotional materials that you might need.

With these items in place and the corporate logo established, you will begin to see why corporate branding is the key to success.

Why is Corporate Branding so Important?

When you think about Nike, what comes to mind? I can guarantee that most of you just pictured a check mark in your head. This is because Nike has spent a lot of time and money to ensure that their logo and "just do it" motto have been set into the minds of consumers for years.

This is just one example of why corporate branding is so important. Without a brand image to quickly associate your business with, you are instantly out of the minds of consumers.

If you can on the other hand, provide consumers with a lasting memory of your brand, then yours will be the first business that will come to mind when they see that image or logo. It will also allow them to spread the word about your business much easier.

Sometimes people remember logos better than the names of businesses.

You Can't Do It Alone

The first thing you need to understand about corporate branding before you begin selecting a logo or other merchandise, is that you can't do it alone. Even if you could design the image, you would not be able to produce the merchandise such as business cards, letterhead, and other promotional items by yourself.

For this reason, it is important to enlist the help of professionals. Companies who provide marketing services can conduct research based on your business, and help you choose a logo, motto, and merchandise that can help you create effective corporate branding.

While you may spend a little bit of money by using one of these companies' services, it will be well worth it when your business has a successful brand, and your traffic and sales increase. While you are new to the idea of corporate branding, these professional companies have had years of experience helping businesses get their start.

Developing a Logo

The first step that a marketing service company will introduce you to, is the development of a logo. This is the most important step in corporate branding, because it creates an image that will always be associated with your business.

A logo can be serious, humorous, or just about anything else that you like. It can communicate to consumers what type of services or goods that you offer, your quality of service, or any other important information. It is essential that you choose a logo that can't be interpreted the wrong way.

http://www.open2.net/moneyandmanagement/money/brands.html (Ref 5)

In future the brand will be the most important asset of the firm."

This prediction was made in 1992 by the French brand researcher Jean Noel Kapferer.

We can trace the origins of brands as identifying devices to Greek and Roman times, when shopkeepers displayed pictures or symbols outside their shops to enable illiterate people to recognize the products they sold. This early use of 'brands' enabled producers and traders to differentiate and label their services and products through unique names and distinctive logos.

"If this business were to split up, I would be glad to take the brands, trademarks and goodwill and you could have all the bricks and mortar - and I would fare better than you."
- John Stuart, former Chairman of Quaker Oats Ltd

Brands set out values for an organisation. Brands are a major competitive asset for organisations: those with strong brands can have market values that exceed their book values by far. This was famously demonstrated by Nestlé's purchase of Rowntree for £2.55 billion in 1988 (equivalent to 22.9 times Rowntree's earnings). Even though Rowntree's tangible net assets were worth only about £300 million, the potential earnings from its brands such as KitKat, Polo and After Eight Mints made the company far more valuable to Nestlé in building its strategic position as a leading global player in the chocolate and confectionery market.

Successful brands are those that represent valuable marketing assets through the coherent blending of marketing resources. Through well conceived and effectively managed brands, organisations can build favourable reputations which enhance the confidence of buyers, clients and users. To move from a commodity to a brand, the core offering needs to be augmented with added values. These are the extra functional or emotional benefits that differentiate the organisation's brand from the core service or commodity and other competitors' brands.

An example of functional added value might be in the washing machine market, where brands compete mainly on a functional basis, the inclusion of a self-diagnosing fault chip could give one brand an added value. If the machine develops a fault, it displays a number on the panel. When the consumer rings the helpline and states the fault number, not only can an engineer be promptly scheduled but also the appropriate replacement part ordered. The added value does not just come from the visible part of the brand (fault number display) but from the invisible systems that ensure good internal co-ordination and the prompt arrival of a well trained engineer with the correct part.

An example of emotional added value might be in the credit card market where competing brands generally offer the same functional benefits of enabling cardholders, wherever they are, to buy goods and services without having to carry cash. Yet American Express worked with its advertising agency to develop a unique personality for its brands, portraying its user as a global traveller who is sophisticated, discerning, reliable, amenable and dependable. The brand's ability to make this personality statement about its user is seen by many as added value.

It is more difficult to copy a brand's emotional added values. First Direct has a unique culture because it recruits staff who believe in the importance of customer service and gives them special training. This culture gives First Direct a sustainable, emotionally based, added value relating to the way its staff deal with customers. First Direct's Chief Executive, Alan Hughes, attributed its steady increase in customers and high levels of customer satisfaction to 'totally integrated customer services', enabling staff to see a total picture of customers. First Direct's call centres also have very little scripting. Staff are encouraged to treat customers as their friends and respond to their mood.

Some useful links:

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-brand-name.htm

http://marketingdeviant.com/the-importance-of-brand/ (Ref 2)

http://www.articlesbase.com/marketing-articles/importance-of-branding-whats-in-a-name-39075.html (Ref 6)

http://www.nurseb911.com/2007/12/importance-of-brands-ii.html