1. A brand is an intangible but critical component of what a company stands for.

While a
consumer generally does not have a relationship with a product or a service, a consumer
can have a relationship with a brand. A brand represents a set of promises. It implies
trust, consistency, and a defined set of expectations. The strongest brands in the world
own a positioning in the consumer's mind that is unique to that brand and can universally
be articulated by almost everyone. When you think of the brand 3M, innovation comes to
mind. When you hear the brand Hallmark, caring comes to mind. When you hear the
brand FedEx, guaranteed delivery comes to mind.

2. A brand differentiates products and services that appear similar in features and attributes,
and possibly even benefits. Is Tide that much better than Surf? Is Starbucks that much
better than Caribou Coffee? Is Sony that much better than JVC? Probably not.

3. Even if Starbucks is the most expensive of the three, consumer behaviours and choices
are often driven by their perception of the brand and belief in a brand-based experience
that is differentiated solely by recognition of the brand. A person may choose Starbucks
not because they provide the best service, best coffee, or best-baked goods but because
they are a recognised brand that has associated feelings, cognitions, and sensations. 

4. This buying behaviour and decision-making process can be conscious or unconscious,

but it is always based in trust that the brand will deliver on the consumer’s expectations
for it.

5. Brand loyalists don’t purchase a substitute brand if their preferred brand isn’t available.
They’ll travel to multiple stores in search of their preferred brand and are more likely to
forgo making a purchase if their brand cannot be found than they are to purchase a
substitute.

6. Emotional Involvement. The consumer’s perception is that the brand fulfils some kind of
physical need or emotional want in such a unique way that some kind of emotion is
evoked during the purchase process and while using the brand.

7. It’s that emotional connection to a brand that separates brand repurchases from brand
loyalty. How do you feel about your favourite brand of toothpaste? If it’s not available
will you just purchase another brand without concern or will you visit another store to
find your preferred brand? Do you feel like you might get a cavity if you don’t use your
regular toothpaste?

8. Your answers to those questions tell you whether or not you’re loyal to your toothpaste
brand. If toothpaste brands don’t matter to you, think about your favourite brand and
how you’d feel if it wasn’t available. Those emotions will help you understand just how
loyal you are to the brand.
Social Media

1. Companies can promote products and services, provide support, and create an online
community of brand fans through social media such as social networking sites, blogs,
microblogging, online games, social bookmarking, news sites, and many. Also, social
media allows consumers to share information with their peers about the brands of
products and Conversations between colleagues make the company provide an effective
way to increase brand awareness, increase brand recognition, and are easy to
remember, and can increase brand loyalty. Thus, it can be said that social media helps
companies to build brand loyalty through networking, conversations, and building
communities.
Why You Need Corporate Branding

It is critical to keep one thing in mind: Your company will have a brand, whether you take
steps to design and implement one or not. That’s because a brand is in large part how the
world sees your company. Your customers, leads and prospects, as well as your vendors and
competitors all form an opinion of who you are, what you do and how well you do it. They
will all form perceptions of your brand’s values, personality and reputation.

In that sense, a corporate brand is much more than simply a collection of fonts, images and
taglines. Rather a brand will inevitably develop, even in a vacuum, over the course of the
corporation’s lifetime. Given that a brand will inevitably exist, it makes more sense for a
company to take the lead to affirmatively create its brand. This helps the company ensure
that the brand accurately reflects its history, values, personality and mission

Advantages of Corporate Branding

Corporate branding is an essential part of an organization’s communication strategy. A

firm’s financial performance is determined by both the company’s business activities as well
as its communication efforts, which in turn determine the corporate reputation

1. It provides a competitive advantage to the company whilst selling its products and
services in the market as the consumers are well aware of the company due to its strong
corporate identity and brand name.

2. It helps the company to tap and enter new markets and locations on the domestic and
international level as the corporate entity has already created repute for itself with the
corporate branding efforts.

3. It makes the marketing and promotional efforts easier as with the Corporate Branding
well in place, the consumers have the factor of trust towards the product and service
offerings by the company.

4. There is an increased awareness about the company and its offerings with the
consumers identifying the logo, mascots, color shades, tagline, and other brand
elements having the top-of-the-mind recall about all the expressions of the brand.

Examples of Corporate Branding

1) Apple

The technology giant famous for offering gadgets ranging from mobile phones, tablets,
laptops, computer systems, televisions, and more is not only renowned in the USA but has
made an impact all over the globe with the products that are high on quality, class, and
technology. Its brand logo is quite creative and catchy and as its target audience is niche and
the luxury segment, the design elements are minimalistic in nature with solid color tones
having a classy finesse. Even its print, digital, and television advertisements follow the same
design route with the clear visibility of the logo.

The products of the company can be identified even from the far sight owing to the strong
measures taken by the company to build the Corporate Branding.

2) Nike

The popular sports brand is quite a hit number with not only the sports personalities and
celebrities around the world but also with the common man as well. Its mission statement
reads, “To bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world. “ The co-founder
once said in its speech, “If you have a body, you are an athlete.” Making it very clear to the
entire world that the brand is just not confined to the sportsmen’s but also to everyone
having a zeal for sports and fitness.

Its logo encompasses of a single right tick with the slogan ‘Just Do It’ is quite sporty and
direct in nature ensuring quick registration and a strong recall factor. The company has
made a strong corporate base by sponsoring various sports and related events.

3) Coca-Cola

We all know that sodas are not very good for our health and vitality but the beverage major
Coca-Cola is one of the most loved and profitable brands across the world since more than
hundred years now. Right from mineral water, fruit drinks, aerated drinks, energy drinks to
zero-calorie drinks; it has something or the other in store for everyone with the cola drink
being the most famous amongst the target audience. Its slogan is ‘Taste the Feeling’ as it
harps on the fact that drinking coco cola gives the feeling of freshness with the renewed
vigor and vitality. It keeps on hiring celebrities from the various walks of life as its brand
ambassadors to have an emotional connection with the target audience that is majorly
young generation under the age bracket of 15 to 35 years.

The term and concept of Corporate Branding are much more than the catchy logo and
aesthetic design templates and harps on every expression of the brand such as customer
service levels and unique selling propositions that can be quality, affordability, delivery
timelines, and other depending on the fundamentals and objectives of the organization.

Social Media Platforms

If your small business isn't on social media, you could be missing out on significant value,
including new customers, insights into your brand, and audience and engagement
opportunities with customers and competitors alike. Plus, social media can be a highly cost-
effective way of reaching your customers in a personalized way.

Your best bet, when it comes to social media platform, is to choose the platform that’s the
best fit for your brand.
Not every social media platform is a good fit for every business, so you should invest your
time and skills in the platforms where you're most likely to reach and engage with your
target audience. Each platform has a mission, purpose and unique audience.

This includes evaluating the platforms to see if your customer base is there, whether or not
they’re engaging with brands, and if the platform fits the personality of your brand.

For instance, if your brand seeks to appeal mainly to millennial women, Instagram should be
one of your top choices. This platform tends to attract more women than men, and more
people under the age of 25 than other platforms.

Alternatively, if you’re a B2B brand, you’re going to find more success on LinkedIn, which is
a platform that appeals primarily to professionals and brands looking to connect with other
professionals.

Impact of Social Media on Corporate Brands

Today companies cannot neglect that online tools are becoming an increasingly powerful
tool in managing the corporate brand.

An online communication mix contains all corporate messages distributed through online
channels, such as advertising, press releases, and product information. Since users rely more
heavily on information available online and use social media more frequently to access
information, the stake of civil society in social media seems evident

1. Embeddedness Relationship

These relationships are likely to be “strong, intricate, and trusting, resulting in consumers
feeling more like insiders than outsiders. Such feelings of embeddedness may occur through
the use of “company-sponsored forums”, the interaction with other company stakeholders
through “on- and offline communities”, and the involvement of consumers into the
corporate decision making process.

The ability to interact induces consumers to engage in positive word-of-mouth and fosters
the creation of an intimate relationship between organization and customer, i.e. causing
feelings of embeddedness. Because social media channels are highly interactive, they serve
as an ideal candidate for a platform that promotes such consumer identification.

2. Credibility

Electronic word-of mouth, in turn, is more credible if found on an interactive website, where
consumers exchange information and opinions. Therefore, information about or from a
company published through social media channels is more credible than company
controlled messages.

Corporate communication messages appearing on social media channels are more credible
than messages appearing on traditional online channels.
 3. User Interaction

Especially product related information is often complemented with user ratings to give
potential customers a more complete picture of the marketplace. On Apple’s online store,
for instance, customers can review and rate any item on sale; the ‘magic mouse’ has been
rated
1812 times and has an average of four stars.

User interaction clearly plays an important role when companies communicate through social
media channels. Consequently, not only the consumers’ reaction to the corporate message but
also their response to other consumers’ opinion needs to be taken into account when
determining the influence of social media on corporate brands.

Conclusion

A well-thought-out plan is not enough if it is not implemented the same way.

That is why you need to create visually attractive content so that even before the customer
reads what’s written, they should be impressed by what they see. It could just be a graphically
designed social media post, a video, or even a professionally or creatively clicked an image
of your product.