What is Corporate Branding?

To stand out from the competition, your business needs a compelling brand. Your company’s brand helps define its purpose and values in a meaningful way. By taking the time to build an effective brand, you can reach your loyal customers personally and attract brand new customers to your business.

Corporate branding is a powerful strategy that you can use to take your business to the next level. Here’s what you need to know about developing a strong brand and how you can use it to expand your customer base. 

What Is Corporate Branding and Why Does it Matter?

Corporate branding is the act of placing your brand at the forefront of all of your advertising efforts. This branding strategy also plays a key role in communication to stakeholders. Corporate branding is at the very heart of your company, making it one of your most invaluable tools for growing your business.

Building an effective brand is important for several reasons. First, your brand embodies your company’s unique attitude and spirit. This allows consumers to form an emotional connection to your company, which increases your chances of gaining more loyal customers. Also, the more compelling your brand is, the more people will identify with it. As a result, they’ll be more likely to turn to your products or services the next time they need the specific items you sell.

Corporate branding is also vital to surpassing your competitors. If you build a brand that successfully grabs people’s attention, they’ll be more likely to think of your business first. This gives you an edge over similar companies in the same market.

How To Develop a Strong Corporate Brand

Now that you know how corporate branding can nourish your company’s success, it’s time to put it into action.

Perform A Brand Audit

First, you need to perform a brand audit. A brand audit allows you to identify any existing problems with your company’s brand. When evaluating your current brand, be sure to pay careful attention to the following elements:

• Core message
• Visual identity
• Print collateral
• Website quality

Take note of what you want to change as you go along. It’s also a good idea to identify which elements don’t require any changes because this will give you an idea of what you should continue doing. Your brand is your reputation; we offer a free brand audit. We can help your brands in all states, from good to bad, and stages of the corporate life-cycle evaluate your situation, clarify messaging, align culture, unify teams, and grow revenue.

Ask Yourself the Tough Questions 

Once you’ve completed your audit, ask yourself a few critical questions about your brand. A good place to start is by identifying the who, what, and why of your brand. Who is your brand, and how do you want your customers to perceive it? What does your brand do for others? Finally, what is the main purpose, or the “why,” of your brand? The answer to this last question is critical, as it gives customers a reason to trust your products or services.

Ensure Your Brand Will Hold Up 

To ensure that your corporate brand holds up over time, you need to back it up with strong principles and guidelines. Make a list of core guidelines for your brand and make sure they accurately represent your company and what it stands for. These principles are the backbone of your business, so keep them at the forefront of your mind as you build your brand.

Examples of Corporate Branding

When developing your corporate brand, it can be hard to start entirely from scratch. Fortunately, there’s no need to go through the process all on your own. Referring to past examples of success is one of the best ways to find the inspiration you need. We’ve even rounded up some examples for you so that you can get started with creating your own brand.

Coca-Cola

One of the most ubiquitous examples of corporate branding is Coca-Cola. There are few logos more immediately recognizable than the Coca-Cola logo. From the classic font to the eye-popping red and white ensemble, this brand instantly jumps out at you to the point where you can’t ignore it. The distinctiveness of the Coca-Cola brand makes it a quintessential example of corporate branding success. Whether or not you’re a fan of the beverage, you can’t help but stop and pay attention—which is ultimately what you want your own customers to do.

Keep these characteristics in mind when forming a corporate brand for your own company. By paying careful attention to what other companies are doing, you can learn from them and use what you gleaned from bolstering your own brand. At the same time, you can determine what mistakes to avoid by crafting your own brand so that you can reach your customers on a deeper level.

UPS

UPS is another well-known corporate brand that has left its mark on the American consciousness. Like Coca-Cola’s logo, most consumers can identify the UPS logo with nothing more than a single glance. However, one of the most meaningful qualities of the UPS brand is its simplicity. Although its logo only consists of three lowercase letters, it cuts through the noise with its clean, sleek design.

Keep these characteristics in mind when forming a corporate brand for your own company. By paying careful attention to what other companies are doing, you can learn from them and use what you gleaned from bolstering your own brand. At the same time, you can determine what mistakes to avoid by crafting your own brand so that you can reach your customers on a deeper level.

When executed correctly, corporate branding can help strengthen your business and expand your target audience in numerous ways. Propr Design can help you build the right strategies for your brand. With a bit and a bit of inspiration, our process helps our clients be better leaders and more confidently prepared for the growth and results we deliver.