The corporate identity of a company is a large and extremely important part of building a brand of a new company or renovating an old one.
Through the corporate image, we can achieve the strategic goals of the company, hunt for additional potential customers and clients, help ourselves with positioning and establish the desired communication with our customers.
In this blog post, we will introduce you to what a corporate image actually is, how we use it, what it contains, why we choose it, and what the acquisitions of a corporate graphic image are. All this and much more below.
Let’s define what a company’s CGP is
A company’s CGP, or corporate identity, is a planned visual communication that unites all visual materials under a “single roof”. So the corporate image is simply the look of your company (business cards, logo, website layout, clothing, etc.).
However, since the corporate image is a tool for achieving the desired strategic goals of your company, it makes sense to analyze it and look at the various functions of it.
Communication
The corporate image primarily serves as a visual communication with your customers or users. When planning, the goals we want to achieve and the target group we want to address are defined.
The target audience is simply our ideal customers. These are the users who are most likely to use, buy, or need your services. Each target group has specific characteristics, so they are worth defining.
Once we put forward a thesis of who these people might be, we can design visual elements that will connect with them.
The corporate image must be designed in such a way that the target groups understand it and connect with them. We want to evoke some feeling through which we will attract their attention.
The method of communication is defined in the strategy step.
Corporate identity strategy
Of course, being just visually appealing is far from enough. For a successfully formed corporate image, we need to set some performance goals through which we can measure in the future whether the cost of creating a corporate image was justified.
Therefore, we need to define what we want to achieve before we start designing. Strategic goals can be: to invite a sense of belonging, to stand out from the competition, to present the nature of the product / service, to instill a touch of trust in the user’s mind before contact, etc. There may be too many goals to list.
Branding
Branding is a very common term that everyone defines from their shoes.
Advertisers will say that branding is a series of impressions and tracking to users, designers will say that it is connected to the world of visual communication while strategists will say that branding is happening in the mind of the user.
All this is true. Branding is a collection and crossroads of several areas that work hand in hand. Our view of this is that the brand is what users think of the brand.
So, if we plan the corporate image well enough, the people who come in contact with the brand will get the feeling we deliberately wanted to challenge.
"With a well-planned corporate identity, the company achieves strategic goals easier and faster!"
What does a corporate identity (CGP) contain?
The basic elements of CGP (corporate identity) are the colors with which the company is presented, the font (typography), the graphics of which are specific to the brand and the type of photographs used by the company. Of course, all these elements are also conditioned by the method of communication that the company has chosen.Materials that fall under the corporate image:
- Company / brand logo,
- business card,
- letter sheets (invoice, offer, address …),
- envelopes,
- stamps and
- e-mail signature (electronic signature),
- business folders,
- designations.
Digital materials:
- Website, online store, landing page or online business card,
- social media headlines and profile pictures,
- marketing emails.
Promotional materials:
- Banners,
- flyers,
- posters and jumbo posters,
- billboards,
- clothing, etc.
These are the most basic materials a company needs for business. Of course, each additional element is adjusted according to the wishes of each company.
For more extensive, however, companies like to design promotional materials such as pens, embroidered or printed clothing, umbrellas, business maps , jumbo posters , leaflets, web banners, etc.
But who needs CGP companies?
The corporate identity is suitable for companies (both small and large) that want to achieve higher business goals, increase market share and visibility, or accelerate the tunnel to an existing or new market.
However, this does not mean that micro-enterprises, bloggers, associations and organizations are excluded.
A corporate graphic image is also suitable for them, which helps them to become more recognizable and visible online.
However, the corporate image is not for everyone!
Corporate identity is an extremely powerful tool but it is not always the best solution. It is worth having a goal in mind. For more traffic, better marketing choice, more sales can be achieved by optimizing purchasing processes or introducing new re-marketing or other systems.
As already mentioned, appearance means nothing if there are no results 🙂
“Micro, small or large for everyone, the overall graphic image is visible! «
How to start creating a corporate identity?
You can start the CGP of your company yourself or we can help you create it (if you would like to contact us, you can do it at this link ).
In the first step, it is necessary to know what is the reason for this step. What is the goal and what would you like to achieve with the corporate image. Professional looks and seriousness can be achieved many times with good performance. Consider a strategic goal.
The next step is the contractor. With the contractor, you will walk through the process of getting to know each other (goals, companies, target groups, competitors, etc.).
The last step is design and testing.
If you are going to design on your own, read a couple of questions that will help you with design.
- What is the company / brand strategy?
- Is there a special story behind your company / brand that is worth highlighting?
- What do you want to communicate to your customers?
- Who is your strong competition and why are you better than them?
If you answered all the questions, great! Try to write them down on a piece of paper and stick to them when making them and follow these guidelines.
