Expert Tips For What Does Your Company Brand Stand For?

Defining your corporate identity will provide considerable benefits. This article explores the key steps and strategies that should be considered to achieve this goal.

Businesses understand how to define the products or services that they sell. Take Apple as an example. The tech brand has made a fortune by successfully positioning its products as minimal, stylish, and innovative. Even when they’re not constantly reaching these goals, customers still purchase products based on the assumptions that they have these traits.

In contrast, defining corporate identity can be a far more complex conundrum. Defining corporate identity requires a business to answer two key questions:

“Who are we, and where do we fit in the market?”

It’s not just essential to answer this question for a buying target audience. Other audiences care about this answer, too, including shareholders and employees.

Defining your corporate brand and understanding what your company stands for will provide significant benefits.

It can provide a company with the right competitive advantage. If a business understands what the brand stands for, it will know how well they are positioned against rivals. It provides purpose and direction for that business as a whole.

A corporate identity will also ensure successful levels of growth because businesses will find it easier to recruit new employees. They will understand how to attract the best recruits while ensuring that the business’s reputation as a whole is protected. 

Elements Of A Corporate Identity

Your corporate identity is formed from numerous elements such as:

• Design – This includes assets that ensure a business is unique and stands out from competitors.  
• Communication – How information is passed to different stakeholders and employees.  
• Behavior – How the business reflects the core values, brand promise, and brand philosophy.

Understanding Your Corporate Identity And What Your Brand Stands For

Various models are used to assess the corporate identity and the brand position of the company. One example is the HBR Corporate Identity Matrix. This matrix postulates that there are internal and external elements that shape the corporate identity of a business. Furthermore, some features effectively bridge these two different groups.

Theoretically, using the matrix could allow you to understand whether the business identity is clear and where improvements should be made to ensure that your identity provides the right benefits.

Internal Elements

The main eternal elements of corporate brand identity are the vision and mission of the company and the culture. This also includes the capabilities of the company or what it can bring to the table that separates them from other companies and organizations

External Elements

These elements relate to how the business wants or needs to be perceived by stakeholders outside the company. Factors such as value proposition and the positioning of the business must be considered here.

Bridging Elements

The bridging elements are some of those that we have already discussed, including:

• How the brand communicates 
• What it stands for 
• The values that underlie promises made to the customers

These concepts form the core of the brand identity, and they should be represented by simple phrases that summarise the intentions and the positioning of the business.

How Can The Matrix Help You Understand Your Brand Identity

According to HBR, the Corporate Brand Identity Matrix can be used by an individual or team to reveal whether a company’s identity is correctly integrated.

Overall, there are nine different elements within the matrix. HBR suggests that business teams can start by formulating answers to any of the questions within the matrix, including:

• What is our intended position in the market?
• What are our key offerings?
• What attitudes shape how we work and behave?

The organization claims that if companies provide concise, straightforward, authentic, and timeless answers to the questions within the matrix, they will clearly understand whether their identity is integrated effectively.

Past Successes

HBR suggests that many businesses have already found success by using the Matrix. When Volvo was decentralized in 2016, the organization was left in a difficult and somewhat risky position. The business’s identity was no longer clearly defined, so the people within organizations were unsure how to best provide strategic support to “daughter” brands of the business. This led to issues with describing the brand through both marketings as well as investor communications.

Using the matrix, HBR was able to help Volvo clarify its position, strengthen its brand identity on the market and ensure that it could communicate effectively with all the critical stakeholders of the business.

Other organizations have seen similar successes after taking a deep dive into the stance of their respective brands. For instance, Cargotech, a significant player in the cargo handling industry, was able to use the tool to effectively bring three daughter brands together with a “one company” approach.

A Starting Step

It’s important to note that using a tool like the HBR matrix is only the beginning when improving your brand position and clarifying your corporate identity. Once corporate teams understand the identity, the legitimacy must be tested often with internal surveys. If the validity is confirmed, it’s then essential to ensure that every team member understands the brand identity and is working or communicating within these new guidelines.

Taking these measures will ensure that a business succeeds in achieving cohesiveness. It will ensure that everyone within an organization represents the business in the same way with each interaction. Whether they are interacting with stakeholders, clients, or customers, the corporate identity should be upheld.

The right corporate identity can also provide authority on the market and position your business as a leader within a highly competitive industry. This is possible through the right:

• Action
• Communication  
• Design

The profound benefits of understanding and maintaining your corporate identity should now be clear, and tools such as HBRs Corporate Brand Identity Matrix can be vital to achieving these goals.

To gain a deeper understanding and expert support with the branding of your corporate enterprise, contact Agency Partner today. Our dedicated, experienced team is ready to assist you with your brand goals and help elevate your business in your respected industry.