Description
Corporate image: what, why and how
Admin user | Iskriva
05/08/2021
The what:
Corporate image (CI) is the way the public views a company. It depends on the company’s public presentation of itself and should amount to a uniform perception in the eyes of costumers.
The why:
Businessowners invest a lot of time and effort into the products of their company. They wish that people would think about positive attributes of those products when they think about their company. And here is where CI comes in: if a company clearly communicates positive attributes of their products in their CI, people start to connect those attributes with the company more firmly. A clear CI also helps when accessing a specific market the company is targeting. If the CI of a company clearly represents their place in the market, a person, when searching for the product on that specific market, will initially think about said company and will be more likely to purchase their product. But businessowners also wish that people would recognise their products when they see them. For a person to instantly recognise the product of a company, that product must have characteristics that are strongly connected to the company in a person’s mind. If a company has clear CI, a person easily makes that connection.
The how:
Every experience a costumer has with a company is important. But some actions of the company reach more customers than others and those are the elements of CI we will focus on: vision, moto, name, logo and design. You will explore the building of CI through an example.
Firstly, you need to ask yourselves what is the vision of your company. Let’s say you have a fashion company that makes sustainable clothing. Therefore, your vision is to make sustainable clothing that is friendly to the environment, to the costumers and to the makers. From your vision you can create a moto: “Friendly to the people and the environment.” The name of your company should also reflect your vision. Let’s say you choose the name “Friendly.” However, if your company already has an established name, don’t try to change it, simply try to connect it to your vision through the moto you choose.
Secondly, you need to think about design, which includes logo, colour scheme and text font. Logo should be simple, recognisable and in line with your vision. For example, this design for your logo would represent both the environment and the people component. The colours used in it relate to sustainability, since emerald is oftentimes connected with the environment and white is easy to use in designs. Those colours won’t only be used in your logo, but will also be part of every other design aspect in your company’s presentation. Next, you must choose the fonts for your text. Use a maximum of two fonts and make sure the ones you choose work well with your design. For your fashion company there are two fonts pictured below the logo, that work well with overall design.
Now go shout about your business into the world of social media – just be careful to choose the right content.
