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Creating a Corporate Image
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Creating a Corporate Image
For any corporation it is very important to create a distinct image in
the market. This is known as Corporate Image which distinguishes the
corporation from its competitors and provides a picture of it to the
general public. It depicts the principles, beliefs, productivity of the
company. This image is responsible for increasing the sales of the
product and to achieve brand equity. Corporate image creation is a
strenuous and time consuming process and is carried out by experts
qualifying in perception management. Basically, the creation involves
marketing experts who used various kinds of promotion methods and
public relations. Since this image is targeted to attract the customers
it should be highly appealing. Besides the marketing experts critics
play an important role too.
The name of the corporation and its catch line should reflect its
belief like Wal-Mart, which says that it sells for less. A logo should
also be designed accordingly. Like the corporation FedEx has an arrow
incorporated in its logo which depicts its fast and efficient service.
Once the image is created by the corporation the next step is
advertising and product distribution in the market. Like if the
corporation creates luxury products, they should rope in big names in
the advertising experts and the models to be featured in these ads
should be super stars. Likewise, they should not distribute their
products to every other store; instead they should target more hi-fi
malls. Time to time, advertising and branding budget should be reviewed
to cut down on cost and to be in-sync with the technology. This also
helps in revamping the corporate image according to the fast changing
demands of the consumer.
Testimonies of news papers, magazines, and labor union can deteriorate
a well-created corporate image. Simplest of controversies can be
exaggerated by the media and spoil the name of the company.
Controversies are born by the interference of organizations related to
environment, religion, crime, politics, education and charity.
Government, too, is another powerful and influential organization by
itself.
Once the corporate image is created, it should be retained. It should
not be like here today and gone tomorrow. This image should be
reflected in all the brands and product line of the corporation. Even
if one of the products isn’t up to the mark, it will lead to confusion
among the consumers and will hit the sales of the company. Like
recently there was controversy about a particular contact lens solution
of a company. It was supposed to be infecting the users with a rare
disease. This not only affected the sales revenue of that particular
product but also made the customers think and raise question about the
authenticity of other products of that particular company.
Another company’s products had hidden non-vegetarian ingredient in a
vegetarian product. This led to the decrease of trust among the
customers. In such a case the company should either advertise itself as
a company selling non-vegetarian food or it should invest in promoting
the company as vegetarian by introducing more vegetarian products. So
the image of each individual product of the company makes up for the
complete image of the corporation. And last but not the least, the
image should be very realistic, truly representing its values and
should leave a personal touch with the consumers.
