For any corporation, it is very important to create a distinct image in the market. This is known as a Corporate Image, which distinguishes the corporation from its competitors and provides a picture of it to the general public. It depicts the principles, beliefs and productivity of the company. This image is responsible for increasing the sales of the product and to achieve brand equity.

Corporate image creation is a strenuous and time consuming process and is carried out by experts qualifying in perception management. Basically, the creation involves marketing experts, who used various kinds of promotion methods and public relations. Since this image is targeted to attract the customers, it should be highly appealing. Besides the marketing experts critics play an important role too.

The name of the corporation and its catch line should reflect its belief, like Wal-Mart which says that it sells for less. A logo should also be designed accordingly. FedEx has an arrow incorporated into its logo, which depicts its fast and efficient service. Once the image is created by the corporation, the next step is advertising and product distribution in the market. If the corporation creates luxury products, they should rope in other big names in the advertising field and the models to be featured in these ads, should be super stars.

Likewise, electronics giants should not distribute their products to every other store. They should instead target more hi-fi malls and specialist stores. Branding budgets should be reviewed regularly, to cut down on costs and to be in-sync with the technology. This also helps in revamping the corporate image, according to the fast changing demands of the consumer. 

Testimonies of newspapers, magazines, and labor unions can deteriorate a well created corporate image. Simplest of controversies can be exaggerated by the media and spoil the name of the company. Controversies are born by the interference of organizations related to environment, religion, crime, politics, education and charity. Government, too, is another powerful and influential organization.

Once the corporate image is created, it should be retained. It should not be here today and gone tomorrow. This image should be reflected in all the brands and product lines of the corporation. Even if one of the products isn’t up to scratch, it will lead to confusion among the consumers and will affect the sales of the company.

Recently there was some controversy about a particular contact lens solution, from a certain supplier. It was supposed to have been infecting the users with a rare disease. This not only affected the sales revenue of that particular product, but also made the customers think twice and raised question about the authenticity of some other products.

Another company’s products had hidden non-vegetarian ingredients in a certain vegetarian product. This led to a decrease in trust, among the customers. In such a case the company should either advertise itself as a company selling non-vegetarian foods, or it should invest in promoting the company as vegetarian, by introducing more vegetarian products.

So, the images of each individual product, of those companies, were affected, resulting in a decrease in sales and further suspicion of the brand names. The image of a company, its brand and its logo should be of impeccable reputation, truly representing its values, to the customers.

So, you can see the importance of creating a good reputation with a corporate image. This is as important in an online business, as it is for a regular offline business. You need to have your customers trust.

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Derek Robson is a South African Internet marketer. He has a vision of empowering all fellow South Africans and other non U.S folk, to have equal opportunity and success on the internet, by finding solutions to the many obstacles facing them. He is a syndicated article writer. He and his wife Sally, have started a string of sites, resources, courses and articles, as part of Dersalsites. For daily postings and articles, on Internet marketing, South African online business, list building, affiliate marketing, article marketing, blogging, seo, the law of attraction, rugby and other general topics, visit Derek at: http://dersalsites.com/southafricanbusiness/  

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