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Image
is everything
Corporate
identity - who needs it? In this, the first in a series of articles, First
Voice has the answer - it's you!
Your business
card can reveal more than you might think about you and your company,
but what, if anything, can you do to ensure that the revelations are favourable?
According
to the text books, the corporate identity of your organisation should
summarise visually what the company stands for and the standards it sets.
But should we really believe that something as insignificant as a business
card can communicate a true sense of the firm's personality? Can a few
printed marks provide clues which betray company culture? More to the
point perhaps, would a potential client be turned off by something so
trivial?
If the answer is 'yes', then it is possible that somebody you want to
impress can form a negative view of you, and consequently your company,
without ever having met you. The wider implications of that, especially
in a competitive situation, could be very serious indeed.
Appearances lead to impressions, and impressions, especially the initial
variety, shape future opinions. Woe betide us, then, if we allow our appearances
to slip. And if you are in the business of looking for business, then
this applies both to corporate and personal appearance.
Although it may only exist as a perception, image is nevertheless the
means by which we define ourselves as individuals and as partisan groups.
Image displays what we are and, conversely, what we are not. By extension,
corporate image is that intangible 'something' with which we dress our
businesses in an attempt to win new customers, to reassure hesitant customers,
to set ourselves apart from our competitors, to inspire our work-force
and to define our place. In essence, if we can provide our business with
the right corporate image, then we can communicate company attributes
without uttering a single word.
In short we can expect to begin the selling process long before we ever
meet the prospect.
To have a corporate identity, you will need a good deal of preparation.
The process of researching, creating and using your corporate identity
will not be over in a day or two, so give it time. An effective, representative
corporate identity will require a combination of your input and ideas
with professional help from graphic designers and printers. They will
help you form an idea of which sort of images and typefaces work well
together, and how best to use colours.
August
| September 2000
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You will
also need a good understanding of the jargon terms that these professionals
will throw at you. You'll need to learn how to prepare an appropriate
brief, so that your idea of what you want to achieve (within your budget,
of course) is clearly laid out for all those involved to see.
In future articles, we will be looking at each part of the process in
detail, to give you a better understanding of how to research and create
your corporate identity, who to go to for advice and assistance, how to
keep on top of the whole project, and, finally, where and how to use your
identity once you finally have it. It's time to start your image make-over...
For the
full article, see page 24 of the August/September 2000 issue of First
Voice
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