If the pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that humans have an innate need for connection with others. We need to feel part of something more than just ourselves, and that extends into the way consumers and businesses make purchases. When you boil it down, the phrase “people buy from people” rings true in B2C and B2B sales alike. That makes corporate branding, which is about building a relationship between your customers and your company, so important.
This blog post will teach you about corporate branding and the ways that promotional products can help strengthen your relationships with current and prospective customers.
What is a corporate branding?
Corporate branding is your logo and so, SO much more. Corporate branding goes beyond visuals to incorporate your strategy, a bit of psychology, and creative messaging and visuals to engage your customers. In corporate branding, you focus on the overall business or company branding rather than messaging that’s specific to certain products or services your business offers.
Corporate branding is an important piece of your marketing mix as people don’t simply buy the products or services they are looking for, they buy into the brands that are selling them and what they stand for. By spending time on corporate branding, you can establish and grow a healthy relationship with your customers that builds brand loyalty (and repeat business).
While corporate branding is not synonymous with product branding, the two should be used together—each should lift the other up. Corporate branding creates belief in your company, giving your customers a reason to trust you and to buy your products or services.
How does corporate branding work?
Corporate branding is essentially umbrella branding for your entire company and all the brands, products and services you offer. It is also referred to as family branding and uses the equity of the company or primary brand to sell a variety of related products or services. In the case of new product launches, leaning into the reputation of the master brand can be especially helpful in earning trust with customers.
Corporate branding has a wide target audience and crosses many sectors, whereas product marketing has a much narrower audience. Corporate branding is something that grows over time and is meant to be a long-term investment. On the other hand, services or products benefit from a short-term campaign.
Sponsorships are an example of corporate branding because they clearly show what your values are. Other tactics that could support corporate branding efforts include videos, radio and TV commercials, social media/digital ads and blog posts. No matter what tactics you use, when you roll out corporate branding, it’s important to be consistent with the use of your brand’s logo, messaging, image, style and voice in all marketing materials.
Corporate branding examples
When thinking of big brands, Apple is one that repeatedly comes to mind for their world-class marketing. Apple’s corporate branding can clearly be seen in their overarching commercials with no specific products highlighted. They make the consumers the heroes of the stories in their ads, aided by their Apple technology, and create strong brand equity in doing so, making you believe certain things about the entire brand that carries through each of its products.
Use branded promo items to strengthen your corporate branding
Building a corporate brand involves telling your story and developing a relationship with your customers and potential customers. A key piece of this is brand marketing, which, when done well, piques interest and gets your customers interested in you and your values.
Promotional products are a key extension of your corporate branding as they can help you increase brand awareness and impressions, as well as showcase your values and build on the storytelling you’ve been doing through other channels.
When you select your promotional products, make sure you ask yourself this question:
“Do I want my brand represented with a _______. Is that who we are?”
For example, fidget spinners may be popular, but how does it tie back to your values or brand personality. If you have a fun, lighthearted brand, that may make sense for you. If your brand is focused on sustainability, perhaps a seed paper name badge would be a better fit.
While it can take time to build, corporate branding can help propel your organization into the future and help you weather challenging marketing conditions by leaning into your brand values. Hard-working promo pieces can help strengthen your branding efforts—start a chat with a MARCO Promos team member to find a promo item that can help you build your corporate brand.
