Sunday, May 13, 2007

Boost Sales By Establishing Your Business' Corporate Identity

The Importance Of Corporate Identity Have you ever wondered the first thing that comes to mind when a consumer thinks about your brand or company? Unless you haven’t worked on building a corporate image for your company, your company logo is the first thing that a consumer will remember.

Brand awareness is crucial to creating and enhancing your company’s market presence, and to maximize brand recognition. You need to apply strategies that will define the uniqueness of your company. A strong corporate identity is key to reaching your target audience. Quite simply, if they don’t know you exist, how will they buy from you?

Two of the most successful and cost effective brand awareness strategies used by businesses to give their company a distinct identity are:

· Professional Logo Design
· Corporate Identity Packages

How Corporate Identity Helps Small Businesses Establish Their Brand Most small business owners mistakenly think that creating a strong corporate identity is for big businesses only. Just because you have a small business catering to a small segment of the consumer market does not mean that you should not try different ways of expanding it. A distinctive corporate identity will help to establish your company image among suppliers, distributors, and above all, your potential customers.

Ideally, a good corporate identity package should include a business logo, a motto or company slogan, and other promotional materials such as letterhead, business cards, and envelopes. When you have your corporate identity package designed by a professional company, the graphic design artists will take care of important details such as the font to be used, icons, graphics, color and spacing of the text. Your corporate identity package will give your business the professional image it needs to win the trust of your customers.

Why You Need A Professionally Designed Logo – NOW! A professionally designed logo has several advantages:

- Help in building your corporate image: Whether you are trying to get funding for your fledgling business or additional capital for an established one, it is important that your business looks professional. A professionally designed business logo, along with other marketing collateral, will help you to build a strong, professional image for your business.

- Increase sales: Being associated with good brands is important to most customers - and the look and feel of the business can greatly influence their buying decisions, helping to boost your company’s sales.

- Establishes credibility: A well-designed logo helps to convey to your target audience that you are established and strongly committed to your business as well as your customers.

- Brand recognition: Usually people will remember a logo more readily than the name of the company itself. A logo is often synonymous with quality and trust (provided your company also has great service).

It is very important for your company to establish it’s corporate identity and brand image. Marketing works because many people become emotionally attached to brands. The key to remember is that it is not necessarily great customer service or innovative products that will bring new customers in the door. People make decisions to buy based on emotions - then they rationalize their decision. If you can remember this, then you can understand how important it is to include a professionaly designed logo and corporate identity package as part of your company’s overall marketing and branding strategy.

Author
Michelle McCray is a marketing expert, author, and entrepreneur. She’s President of Swell Creative, a marketing and graphic design firm that specializes in marketing consulting, graphic design, corporate branding, , creative ideas, and advertising for small businesses and entrepreneurs. Visit http://www.swellcreative.com for more info.
Copyright © 2007 Michelle McCray