Corporate and brand communication

Corporate communication. It sounds like jargon, right? Well, then, two guesses what you think about the term ‘brand communication’…

That’s really why we’re here today; to talk about these things in a way that you can understand, as an owner or marketing officer in a small business.

In another article we mention one of the benefits of using a Fractional CMO is that such a seasoned professional understands brand management. We also gave you advice on how to go about choosing the right corporate communication agency or consultant for your business. Let’s dig a little deeper into brand communication and how that differs from corporate communication…

The difference between corporate and brand communication

Corporate communication refers to all the messages that move along all the different channels between stakeholders of a business. It’s a broad (and yes, possibly vague) definition because there are so many parts that fit into corporate communication as a system.

Brand management is one of those parts, and brand communication is one part of that. If you’re running a brand communication campaign you’re aligning the content of your messages with your company’s position in the world: your vision, mission, values, and how those come alive through your operations.

Do you need to invest in brand communication?

To be clear: brand communication is a part of corporate communication. To outsource corporate communication doesn’t guarantee in-depth focus on brand communication unless it’s something you include in your brief or the scope of work.

Everything you do within your business should, in some way, align with your brand’s vision, mission and/or values. This means a conscious effort toward and to reflect these things. Today, brands that stand for something are the ones that build customer loyalty. This is important if you want repeat business.

Our advice is to rather prioritise your sales related campaigns if you have a total marketing budget under R30k ($2k). It takes time to build a brand; your business can close within weeks if you don’t have the revenue coming in.

Branding strategy

If you have the budget to invest in brand-building, a brand strategy is critical. There’s no point taking action if you’re not sure of what it should lead to.

Your branding strategy should:

Guide which channels you want your brand to communicate through
Inform the priority order of your stakeholders with situational context (eg. in emergencies, employees, customers, investors then media).
Align with your corporate identity
Accommodate for feedback loops across all stakeholder groups
Serve as a reference guide for anyone in your business who works on your brand communication elements.
A corporate communication specialist is qualified to create a branding strategy for you, as is a brand manager. This being said, don’t just pay exorbitant fees then struggle to understand and implement it. You have the right to ask questions, and you should, and you need to feel that your investment into this strategy returns the ability to turn your brand vision into reality, partially or wholly, over an extended period of time.

A branding strategy’s great, but what do you do with it?

Reaching the point of a completed brand strategy is all good and well but it means nothing if you don’t execute. Success can’t exist without execution. Here are some of the items that can be used to implement your brand strategy:

Brand activations
Corporate social investment
Marketing collateral
Internal marketing (eg.newsletters and desk drops or care packages)

Not all of these options work for everyone, so if someone offers you those attractive templates then note that it’s a red flag. Branding exercises require research and analysis as well as hyper-contextualised focus for YOUR business. Don’t get caught by copy-and-paste consultants.

Corporate communication and branding strategy

If you work with a corporate communication specialist, like the kind our clients enjoy through their relationships with us, you’ll be able to source a comprehensive brand strategy. It matters when you have staff, investors or a group of customers who seek you out online and want to engage with you or be part of a community where your brand, products or services are the focus.

More often than not, it’s the corporate communication officers who tie in the branding strategy’s strengths and opportunities with those presented throughout the rest of the business.

Brand positioning

This is something that your brand strategy, and consistent acts of brand communication, will help you achieve. It’s a target. It’s where you want to position your business so that the right people notice you and then feel inspired to take the right action.

Brand positioning, done right, results in your ideal customer profile (and other stakeholder groups that you identify and target through brand communication) thinking a certain way about your brand and behaving a certain way in response to it. There are so many variables involved that it’s easy to feel overwhelmed when you’re trying to figure it out.

Corporate communication and brand positioning

An experienced corporate communications practitioner is more than capable of helping you adequately position your brand and measure your progress toward your ideal state. Remember that although you keep trying, you never truly ‘arrive’ at the destination. Why? Because society is always changing, and every day more variables affect the rate and magnitude of those changes.

Whoever you appoint in charge of your brand communication should periodically provide you with insights to market trends and changes, for your business to take advantage of opportunities to improve upon brand positioning.

If you still feel lost or stuck about all things related to brand strategies, brand communication and brand positioning, it’s time to contact us with your questions.