You hear a lot about ‘corporate identity’ and ‘corporate image’.  They sound about the same – and sound equally dull – but they are actually two different things.

And it is important to know what these terms mean.  Why?  So when some poncy git starts trying to intimidate you by using them in a meeting or a cocktail party you’ll have the upper hand.

Irony note #1: Marketing is essentially about engaging communication.  But when it comes to basic marketing terms, many people feel a strange mixture of boredom and confusion that sees them wandering off towards any beverage with 90% caffeine content.

‘Corporate identity’

Corporate identity is about how you want your business to look to your target market – i.e. those folks you call clients or customers – as well as those other folks that haven't become customers or clients yet…but you would like them to.  This is generally achieved through the following:

1. Corporate design: logos, corporate colours, uniforms, etc.
2. Corporate communication: public relations, promotional material, etc.
3. Corporate behaviour: values of your business and how those values are demonstrated/promoted

‘Corporate image’

Corporate Image is more about how the marketplace really feels about you.  That’s the scary bit.

Irony note # 2 Marketing is also about clear communication – to be engaging you need to be understood, right? So to clarify these badly titled terms further: it’s okay if you’re not a corporation.  People in small business, even solo traders, still refer to their ‘corporate identity’.  This stems from the corporate definition of ‘unity’, rather than being a corporation in the legal business sense. Interesting note: the word  ‘corporation’ is also a synonym for ‘paunch’.

My suggestion

Perhaps we should be calling corporate identity ‘Please remember me fondly’ and corporate image ‘Do you love me?’.  Much easier to remember, don’t you think?

McDonald’s – example of corporate identity (Please remember me fondly):

If you think of McDonalds you might think of the golden arches or even just the yellow and red colours used in their promotional material. In the past, you might have thought of ‘Ronald McDonald’ or ‘the unattractive and kinda scary red-haired clown’.  But the clown is being toned down the McDonald’s corporate identity.  Why? Because recent years have seen McDonalds strongly marketing to adults who aren’t attracted to food fights by four year olds and accidental urine on slippery slides.  Think of the ‘McCafe’ push: sophisticated cappuccino and bakery treats.  Very different, very swish.  In the commercial, at least.

McDonalds – example of corporate image (Do you love me?):

Customers (or potential customers) might think McDonalds is great because they trust that the food is fast, and their stores reproduce in number like bunnies.  So for a positive corporate image in this case: convenience is key. Or they might think McDonald’s is not so great because they are dubious about the company’s beef patty production or have concerns around nutrition  (and perhaps this negative corporate image is the fault of films like Fast Food Nation and Super Size Me..she inserts into the article casually).  Corporate image can be determined by the marketplace and can be changeable (sometimes depending on our see-saw of our righteousness and lethargy).

Another example of corporate identity vs. corporate image: Apple computers

Apple’s logo image of a bitten-off apple is a strong corporate identity.  You see it A LOT in movies and TV shows lit up on the back of computer screens.  Have you noticed?  That's called 'shameless product placement'.  

But I digress…okay, back to corporate identity and Apple.  More recently the ‘i’ before a word has also become a strong corporate identity: iMac, iPhone, iTunes, i'm-over-it.  How the marketplace feels about Apple has been up and down over the years.  At the moment, the corporate image is strong.  Their iIdentity strategy has been iSavvy.

While we’re on the subject of Apple Computers, if you want a laugh read this article about ‘Mac Monks’ by Charlie Brooker.  It’s all about how powerful corporate image can be.

That’s enough, I’m sure you’ve got the picture.  Anything to ask or add?  Comment below…

What has the word 'marketing' meant to you?

To some, marketing has meant vertebrae-cracking limbo dancing to the lowest common denominator in order to make sales. Or it could have been whittling down your audience to a size 1 niche and pushing a camel through the eye of a needle…in order to make sales. But to most of us, marketing has been something in between.

Marketing definition: past

In the past, marketing has been about reaching the people you think you can help and communicating your solution to them with gusto.  Sometimes it’s something they need.  Sometimes it’s something they want.  Sometimes it’s a combination of the two.

Evil marketing

Sometimes marketing is introducing something that ‘they’ didn’t know they needed or wanted.  And then, upon this fine introduction, they decide they need it or want it.  This is where a lot of people think marketing is evil.  No axis.  Just straight-up evil.  But I'd beg to differ on that one…

Remember the wheel? 

It wasn’t always around.  But the wheel seems to have caught on.  When it was invented, someone had to explain what the wheel might do.  How it might make life easier.  Who did he (or she) explain it to?  Answer: the consumerist suckers that would listen.  And look at where that got them. Everywhere…

What’s great about now

What’s great about now – and what’s changing the idea around that word 'marketing' – is the internet.  But why I think it’s great might be a bit different to why you think it’s great. You might think the internet is great because:

• You can reach people globally much, much easier
• You can save on printing costs (and save trees, very important)
• You can set up certain ‘widgets’ (that word always tickles me – see My Cartoon Thing about Harold and widgets) that enable people to comment on your information (you’re getting warm…)

Why I think the internet is great

Yes, I agree with all of the above.  But what really makes me grin like a maniac about the internet is because people are gradually learning not to start sentences with “In the aforesaid viability…”.

Yes, there are people who are still writing like they have a pitchfork poised around their nether regions.  But the internet increasingly calls for human-sounding conversations.  Sometimes these conversations can go too far in the other direction.  A wee bit too brief, or too sloppy.  And perhaps what is being said may be so intimate it's offensive – or just plain confusing.

The conversational language that the internet inspires is now feeding back into other forms of communication (e.g. printed material).  This doesn’t mean a bow tie shouldn’t appear, or poetry even.  But the possibility for The Conversation now hovers in our atmosphere like oxygen.

The essential thing to remember is this:

Communication succeeds (whether in formal attire or wearing tracksuit pants) if it connects well with the people it has been created to talk to.  And there’s one more thing….

The ‘bottom line’ in marketing

Let’s not forget the ‘bottom line’.  It’s usually a tough person in a suit that talks about the ‘bottom line’ while I think of someone's bottom (sans-underpants) sitting on a wire fence.  But the bottom line for marketing is NOT just conveying what you want to convey to those who you want to reach.

No, that’s not all.

It’s also about getting a response. You can’t have a conversation if you’re the only one doing the talking, can you?

So what did you think of this blog?  Let me know. Start the conversation.