PART 1: 8 BENEFITS OF A STRONG CORPORATE IDENTITY

Marketing Strategies

What’s in a name? Hope. A second chance...this remains one of Shakespeare’s famous questions of all time. In the world of corporate communications we understand that a name is worth much more. Ask Kenya Airways, Safaricom, Bidco, Apple etc. So, yes, there is so much more in a name!

Albeit, a name in itself is not the end-game. But, accompanied with a vision and mission statement, organizational culture, logos, colour, typefaces, house styles and organizational behaviour (OB); cumulatively, we have the corporate identity.

In our religious pursuit of this corporate identity business, we need to hit the ground running. Because, we know that a corporate identity will either make or break a corporation. And since we want to be successful on this endeavour, we will indeed hit the ground running.

With this in mind, it is key to work on a strong corporate identity from the outset. Anything worth doing is worth doing well, right? Well, it depends. Although this statement leaves no room for error, personally I believe in making mistakes, not intentionally though. Over the years, mistakes have given me the ability to learn and make improvements. In this case; as much as we try to build a strong corporate identity-allowing ourselves some room to make an error is not such a bad thing.

A strong corporate identity brings along with it 8 benefits. These are;

Recognition;

The market is laden with corporations. This is with the promise of more mushrooming daily. A strong corporate identity makes it possible for your target audience to identify your business. There is no better, joy, than when your target audience knows your name, corporate colours, slogans and advertisements running in the various media.

Recognition is good for business. It better positions the company in the market giving it a better advantage against competitors. We live in times when consumers, want to know who they are dealing with and who they are buying services or products from.

Customer Relations;

Once your target audience has recognised you, a relationship has been established. Depending on the corporations unique selling proposition (USP) the customer will find themselves in business with the corporation. Since, people want to deal with corporations that are known, and you have made the effort to be known-the relationship is further cultivated.

At this point the customers feels comfortable in the known than the unknown. They feel they can trust the corporation, with not only their money but with their needs. And the sure guarantee of having someone to complain to if their needs are not being met.

Product/Service Support;

Corporations exist to provide services or products aimed at meeting the demands of a particular market. Through package design, the corporate identity (logo and name) are embedded in the end product to help push the product and service in the market.

Imagine taking a stroll in a shopping mall; and you stumble upon a two bathing soaps. One branded Geisha and one on a blank package and half the price of Geisha. The tendency to opt for Geisha despite being expensive are high-because you are sure of the corporation providing the product.

In an era, where marketing is taking centre stage-events are sweeping the floor trying to connecting with the masses. Thus making it the best avenue to reach out to loyal customers and target potential customers.

… (More in our next blog post)