You know that the market is saturated and also very competitive. Therefore, it is very important to work on corporate branding and differentiate yourself from the competition. But what is corporate branding and how can it help your company? In this article we are going to see the reasons why branding should be part of your marketing strategy from today.
But first…
What do we mean by corporate branding?
Branding or corporate image requires work and patience because it is about building, growing, expanding and strengthening a brand in the market. It also consists of compiling necessary processes and actions from the ideation and creation of the brand to its valorization.
What types of differentiation elements are relevant for your audience? Well, the characteristics that respond to the values, capacity and personality of the company, whether they are tangible or not.
That is why it is very important to define well the corporate branding strategy, in order to provide the brand with its own personality and differentiate it from the rest.
A company that takes care of its brand at all times and transmits a corporate identity according to its values, is a company that is coherent with itself and with the public its addresses.
Advantages of corporate branding in your company
Corporate branding is for any type of company, whether it offers a product or a service, in any sector.
Your brand will be rememered by the audience. The corporate image of a company helps to remember the brand in the minds of consumers. Therefore, it is necessary to establish communication and interaction links with your consumers if you want to achieve their loyalty and, above all, their recommendation. Getting the consumer to recognize and choose our brand over the competition is a job that is achieved through the excellent ability to implement a good corporate branding.
Differentiation from the competition. By having a defined brand identity, we will be able to differentiate ourselves much better from the competition and stand out from it because we will express our values, our mission and intention very well instead of launching actions without any kind of branding strategy.
Influence on the purchase decision. As we mentioned in one of the previous points, the recommendation of a satisfied customer to another person who may become a customer is fundamental. Nowadays, opinions are one of our best showcases and taking care of our customers will win us future customers who come recommended by someone like them.
Greater customer loyalty. By working on corporate branding, we manage to turn customers into brand ambassadors and, as we mentioned before, they will recommend and attract other customers.
More stability, sustainability and profitability. By having an established and coherent branding, we will be stronger against possible attacks from the competition.
Today’s brand challenges
We live in a changing society and companies must be proactive to change, not reactive. However, the processes and means of purchase are evolving and increasingly the cell phone has a greater presence than the computer. With these types of consumer trends, companies have to be aware of them and respond to them, using the channels used by their audience. In addition, users are more informed and have information at their disposal with which they can contrast and compare in order to select the product or service of the brand which they feel best identified with.
Not everything is a challenge, there are also big opportunities
An opportunity to develop new ideas and to improve. If we listen to our target audience and know what they are looking for and need, we will be able to develop effective strategies. These strategies will have a lower chance of mistakes and attract, generate and develop stronger links.
Steps for defining your strategic plan
Before defining a corporate branding strategy, we must be very clear about what the company does, how it differs from the competition, what its differential value is, what product or service we offer and what our target audience is.
We will analyze our identity, culture, values, SWOT (weaknesses, threats, strengths and opportunities), market and current situation, needs, aspirations and what our customers are like, both current and potential.
With this type of information, we can establish a strategy before defining where and how we want to go and how we will optimize this based on the response of our customers.
Having established the brand image, everything that surrounds the company must be aligned with its value proposition, such as people, products, physical and virtual environment and communications. Every element that makes up the company, must live by this brand image and work while integrating the values and objectives of the company so that they are clear, coherent and reflecting the defined perception.
As we commented throughout the article, working on branding must be a constant and long-term task.
What elements should be worked on in branding?
Internal elements of the company, visual aspects of the brand such as style, logo, packaging, office material, whether an offline or online campaign is carried out and business cards, among others.
A good content strategy helps to establish a solid and coherent brand image that provides value to our users. For example, let’s say we have a blog in which we work on content that is relevant to our users, that offers them useful and quality information. This will ensure that by targeting a segmented audience and providing them with the information or entertainment that they are looking for, we will increase the likelihood that they will be convinced and establish a long-term relationship, becoming brand ambassadors, as we mentioned before.
Branding will improve our web positioning, the authority of our company and will help us to become a reference in our sector.
Communication and active listening with our public is fundamental because it is a great opportunity to offer them the best possible user experience and establish relationships with them.
The channels we use to communicate with our audience, such as our website, social networks and/or email, must be consistent with our brand image and also have a good usability, be well structured, avoid excessive information and distractions to avoid leaks when buying in our online store, among others.
In conclusion, we have seen that the work of establishing a brand image must be constant, long-term and always maintaining consistency in everything we do. It is very important that everything we do and say as a company, will influence and will be what defines us and helps build the perception that users have of our brand.
