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Barbara Bender
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Do you remember the Canon Camera advertising campaign where Andre Agassi said “Image is everything!”? Have you ever seriously considered your business image and what is says to your customers and other business associates?
An image is the sum total of all information and experiences that a customer or prospect has with you. Every contact they have with you helps build that image, for better or for worse. Consider all the ways in which image can be communicated—through marketing, reputation, pricing, benefits delivered, differentiation, service, loyalty and chance encounters. Now consider that every encounter you have with a customer or prospect continues to build (or tear down) that image over time.
The first step in building a corporate image is to take a good, hard look at your current image. Review every aspect of your business to make sure each element is consistent with how you want customers to view you. This is the foundation of effective image building. How consistent is your message across all the ways image is communicated? Does your marketing say one thing and your actions do another?
The second step in building your corporate image is to decide what you want that image to be and list the qualities important to that image. Do you want your customers to know your business as a successful operation that provides excellent customer service? Then list the qualities you feel are important in a successful business and to provide excellent service.
The third step in building your corporate image is to compare your current image to what you want it to be. Find the areas that do not match up and determine what needs to be done to improve them.
Keep in mind that changing your image will not happen overnight. Image is built over time through the many contacts we have with our customers and prospects. Even a dramatic change in one aspect (such as a new logo or marketing campaign) will not completely convince people that a deep seeded change has taken place. They will only discover that as you consistently act in accord with the image you want to portray.
A consistent business and personal image is even more important in a small business when the business operates in the community where the owner and employees live. In many small businesses, customers tie the corporate image in with the personal image of the owner. You need to be especially careful of acting one way at work, but completely different on the tennis court.
Creating a corporate image is a lot like getting into shape. It will require time and commitment. Since it will take time to see results, get started now.
