Head: Prof. Dipl. Vw. Christian Gündling

Companies that are perceived as a brand have it easier: They stand out from the competition and benefit from advantages in the market. Because a brand arouses desire, increases profits, ensures growth and creates identification. It finds and binds the right employees to the company and acquires and binds customers – in the long term.

Corporate brand strategy

Many companies offer excellent products and services, but are not able to position this offer profitably, even with the support of strategic brand management. Companies that can clearly answer the four questions “Who am I?”, “What am I?”, “Where am I?” and “Where do I want to go?” are already a brand, because they are already based on the four most important pillars of brand architecture, which are: mission, vision, identity and positioning.

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Basics of corporate brand management

Corporate brands do not come into being by chance, but are the result of a structured, controlled process. The basis for professional brand management is always a clear corporate strategy. This sets the direction for the major tasks and takes future challenges into account. From this, sub-strategies for the areas of brand, market, organization and profit can be derived, which are linked in terms of time and process to the overall strategy. This gives the company a detailed and well-founded roadmap into the future.

Implementation of the corporate brand

In order to establish the corporate brand among the individual target groups, it is recommended to operationalize the corporate brand strategy in three areas:

• External Branding
• Internal Branding
• Employer Branding

Internal Branding

The aim of internal branding is to turn the personal interaction between employees and customers into a brand experience. If the actions of employees match the customer’s perception of the brand, this has a strong positive effect on the customer’s perception of quality and satisfaction. The prerequisite for this is that employees know exactly what their employer’s corporate brand stands for and how they can live by its standards and values ​​in their daily work.

External Branding

The task of external branding is to translate the brand identity into marketing instruments. The aim here is to develop messages that match the company’s brand strategy and values ​​and to plan and coordinate the corresponding marketing and communication measures. These must be transported to the target and dialogue groups via relevant channels and media. This creates an unmistakable image of the company to the outside world.

Employer Branding

Employer branding falls under external branding in some aspects, and internal branding in others, but is of such strategic importance in itself that it should be controlled and managed separately. Employer branding is the positioning of the company on the market as an attractive employer. Especially in times of a shortage of skilled workers, it is particularly important to retain good employees and to find suitable specialists. To do this, it is important to work out what makes the company an employer. With a precise definition of the target group, the right strategy and communication measures that are as differentiated as they are coordinated, the company ensures that its employer promise matches reality.