Branding - Establishing Corporate Identity

April 10, 2012 - PRLog -- Corporate identity refers to the general or summative image that a company possesses that comes from all of the experiences clients and visitors have through every touch point projected by the company. Corporate identity, therefore, doesn't just refer to the logo of the company but to a number of other things, including the advertisements the company puts out, the stationary system the company uses, the marketing materials distributed by the company, the online reputation of the company, and even how employees of the company answer the phone when clients come calling.

All of these factors and more form the aggregate identity of your company. The overall goal of your company, at least when it comes to the establishment of corporate identity, should be that no matter how a customer or client comes across your company, he or she has the opportunity to make a positive and lasting connection.

It is well known at this point that it takes time to build up an identity, no matter what kind. Trust is not built overnight, and neither is one's good name. The logo or symbol of the company must be paired with marketing materials that have been consciously and deliberately designed so a client's thoughts, emotions, and feelings toward your company can be guided and shaped toward the identity you wish to establish in his or her mind.

The first and last element of recognition and recall when it comes to your company in the minds of consumers is the corporate identity you put forth. As a result, the importance of your corporate identity design can hardly be underemphasized. This means paying attention to company logo design, branding, and indeed, every element of your corporate image so it may be made unique, memorable, noticeable, and perhaps most importantly, symbolic of the innermost values and beliefs of your enterprise.

For decades, the "swoosh" has come to mind when people around the globe are asked for representations of athletic gear and footwear. This is the symbol of Nike, which has been used to great effect alongside their motto, the simple, believable, and understandable charge: "just do it." Decades after its inception, the Nike swoosh remains at the forefront of the collective consciousness simply because it has been so effectively disseminated to actual and aspiring athletes around the world as a symbol of their corporate identity.

This is essentially the same process that every wildly popular product icon, image, or logo has undergone in moving from an abstract symbol to a banner for unyielding consumer loyalty and exponential revenue generation. However, don't be deceived into thinking that the only elements that matter in the corporate identity development of a company is the relatability of its stationery system, symbols, or logos.

Rather, a number of other elements must play into the establishment of a successful and meaningful corporate identity, including the reputation of a company, the longevity of the company, and the reliability of the company, as well as each and every product it sells or service it offers.

The successful conceptualization and establishment of corporate identity must include the principles of recognition, memorability, or ease of recall, and market saturation. Recognition refers to the ability of the identity to be recognized in a number of on and offline media, including billboards, online ads, newspapers, and magazines. Ease of recall suggests the identity should leave impressions in the minds of the markets targeted by the company. Finally, market saturation means the word must be spread; good ideas are meaningless if they are not understood, shared, and adopted by great numbers of people. These are the elements of corporate identity establishment.

Article by http://www.logodesigncrew.com.au