One of the challenges facing a growing company is the creation of a sound corporate identity.
Picture the scenario: a company starts off very small, with a clearly defined product or service, and with a well targeted customer base. Years go by, and the company becomes very successful. It expands into new products and services.
The company’s success has led it away from its initial strategy. That’s no bad thing, necessarily. However, in order to position itself properly in the marketplace, it is necessary for the company to revisit its strategy.
Crucial to any discussion of corporate strategy is the question of identity. A company must be able to state its identity in clear and unequivocal language. The message must be the same, whether delivered by employees, management, or by customers.
It is not uncommon for companies to launch in-house projects aimed at shaping their corporate identity. Such projects would typically include management and key staff members from the relevant departments. These are good exercises, as they bring together the constituent parts of the business, and ensure a unified approach to the identity question. However, one must be careful not to focus too much inward, defining identity mainly from the perspective of the management and staff. Ultimately, what matters more is how the customer views the company. If the management and staff of a company have a different view of their business than the view held by their customers, the corporate strategy will misfire.
So, instead of asking, ‘what does my company do?’, it might be more apt to ask, ‘what do our customers actually see as our core business?’
What do your customers think that you provide? I have come across many cases where the customers’ view of the core business is completely different from that of the management and staff of the company.
Sometime ago, I worked with a company on this aspect of corporate identity. The company’s business was the provision of financial information to the financial services sector. It had launched a whole portfolio of products and services, but their main customers had seemed not to notice. This was worrying.
After some research, we discovered the problem: the customers saw the company as a traditional publisher, and not as an information provider, as it now described itself. This distinction was vital: customers came to the company when they needed to buy good, solid, reference books and journals. However, when it came to other products and services not typical of a traditional publisher, for example, webinars and software solutions, the customers seemed to have a blind spot – they just did not ‘see’ these services, however big the advertisement. They did not ‘see’ these services being offered, because they did not expect to see them being offered. The reason for this was simple: the company had started life as a traditional publisher, and, had, along the way, branched into these other services. However, it had not made a conscious effort to redefine its corporate identity, and to bring its customers along in the process.
The company thus came to realize that there was a misalignment between how it saw itself, and how it was seen by its customers. It then set itself the critical task of repositioning itself in the eyes of its customers. Its efforts have paid off very well. Its enhanced products and services are now very popular, and the company is making a name for itself as a brilliant innovator in its field. However, this could not have happened if it did not act to change the perception of its customers. Now that this company is regarded as a leading information provider, its customers expect precisely the goods and services that such a company is expected to provide. The alignment is total, and success is guaranteed.
What do your customers regard as your business? Is this the same as what you provide? Know what your customers think of your corporate identity. That is a vital task.