Corporate Branding and Identity Basics

Developing a corporate branding plan lets you put your business' best face forward
By A Antonow Corporate branding and identity creation is the process by which a business distinguishes itself from competitors. It involves developing a unique corporate image through marketing, advertising and public relations. While companies once focused only on advertising, now many businesses recognize that they must present an image or “public face” that customers find appealing. Just as you try to present your best face when dealing with customers, your company's branding must create a positive, and lasting, first impression.

Without a corporate branding strategy, your company will haphazardly develop its reputation. Implementing a solid branding strategy ensures that your company will put forth the image that is most beneficial for your business. The right branding strategy will be congruent with your company’s mission and objectives. If you want to take control of your business’s reputation and identity, consider:

1. Understanding the basics of branding so you can develop an action plan you can actually put to work each day.

2. Working with company naming services or branding services to develop new angles and niches for your business.

3. Hiring a brand management company to monitor your branding success and to alert you to any problems that threaten your company reputation.

Learn the corporate branding and identity basics to understand your options

Many companies fail to take advantage of corporate branding solutions because branding and identity seem so nebulous and abstract that business owners aren't sure where to start. Branding is not abstract at all. It simply involves researching your current company image, developing a unique niche or need that your company can fill and then re-educating customers so they can see what your company can offer.
Try:  Epiphany Marketing has a step-by-step guide that walks you through the process of developing a corporate image. The company even offers a free one-hour branding workshop to those who sign up online. John Williams has written an informative guide to corporate branding and identity basics. It's a good resource for learning how branding can work for you.

Hire corporate branding companies for professional branding results

Developing a great corporate identity, or branding yourself, is challenging, especially if the concept is new to you. Hiring branding professionals allows you to learn more about branding and to enjoy a well-developed and thorough branding plan. Many companies can even implement your plan for you, so you can focus on running your business while someone else takes care of building your company's reputation.
Try:  BrandSolutions offers a number of services, including branding consultations, brand research and brand implementation. Brand Identity Guru offers services to businesses in need of developing their own branding strategy.

Find company identity management solutions to deal with potential problems

Even if you do everything right and develop a great brand name, how can you be sure that the brand is not destroyed by an unhappy customer or disgruntled employee? Brand management--sometimes called identity management or reputation management--is an umbrella term for services that monitor how your brand appears online or in print, which allow you to respond quickly when an attack on your company name takes place.
Try:  SERM International offers a number of reputation management and brand crisis services, including online brand management and social media reputation management. DONE! Reputation Management offers public relations relationship management, brand reputation and online reputation management, among other services.

• If you have not developed corporate branding solutions or a branding plan for your business, don't think your business has avoided developing a corporate identity. Your company has a reputation, whether you know it or not. That reputation may be based on a few customers' interactions with your employees or encounters with your products. Branding allows you to take control of your company identification and broadcast it in your terms.