Orji-Oko Uzor- Introduction
- What is corporate marketing?
- Who is a corporate marketer?
- How to carry out good corporate marketing
- Corporate marketing strategy
- Ways to help improve your corporate marketing strategies
- Difference between corporate strategy and marketing strategy?
- For what kinds of customers is corporate marketing effective?
- How is a corporate marketing campaign developed?
Introduction
Corporate Marketing: Is It The Best For My Company?
A big question that needs answer.
Well, this marketing concept has the major purpose to keep your customers satisfied, make them loyal to your product and turn them into fans of your brand.
All this is done by highlighting Your company’s unique and strong features are highlighted because of what is done.
Apple, Disney, Redbull, and Starbucks has managed to gain a lot of fans just by creating unique concepts. They always stand out in the market, all thanks to the strength of their brands that are known and recognized worldwide.
For example, when we talk about an, our mind go to a product of the highest quality, right?
Even when we don’t know exactly what the settings of the device are, we know that Apple is a big brand that has a high standard in the market. Just imagine about those huge queues that are stand whenever the company launches a new smartphone model to the public!
When our minds go to Starbucks, on the other hand, not only does the taste of its different kinds of coffee come to your mind. But the lifestyle of their frequent customers more especially.
Corporate marketing serves exactly to promote not only what customers will buy, but the company behind the product and what it represents especially.
What is corporate marketing?
Corporate marketing is the kind of marketing done by a company to promote the company as an entity, as opposed to individual products or services. Essentially, corporate marketing centers on branding and messaging of a company, from its mission statement to the language used in advertisement.
When your company’s corporate marketing is working well, it’ll keep the company working. This will attract new customers, while engaging leads, and delighting current customers at the same time.
Basically, the team of corporate marketers will decide the type of messaging tactics to use that will appeal to your target audience. Those tactics may include a corporate newsletter, blog, email campaign, ad, radio spot, direct mail campaign, or just your social media channels.
However, the major goal of corporate marketing is to improve the image of your brand. While at the same strengthening relationships with your customers so they grow into brand advocates.
To be successful in corporate marketing, your message should clearly communicate your unique value proposition. For instance, brands like Tesla have a very strong, a good recognizable brand that differentiates the company from its competitors.
Now that we understand what corporate marketing is all about. Let’s into other aspects of corporate marketing to know if it’s the best for your company.
Who is a corporate marketer?
A corporate marketer is a marketer with the sole responsibility of creating and implementing various marketing programs that will help promote the company as an entity. The basically work full time in a company with other marketers creating new concepts that will attract new customers to the brand.
They are part of the creative team in a company. Their Job responsibilities may include collaborating with advertising personnel to promote the company. Analyze the financial impact of brand creation, and work with product development team on aspects like color, packaging, or design. They equally collaborate with an company’s legal team when they deal with issues like copyright infringement. They may equally serve as a consultant to other companies looking to improve their brand as well.
Creativity is one of important skills for a corporate marketer. As they work together with other teams to design new and innovative concepts to market the products and services their company offers. In order to create effective marketing strategies, corporate marketers must use their analytical skills to understand website data and the latest trends.
How to carry out good corporate marketing
Always focus on your customers’ needs
One of the most relevant factors is to focus on the needs of your customers and potential buyers. To do so, you must understand exactly to whom you are talking.
Having a well-designed persona and place it at the center of all of your strategies is very critical to delivering exactly what your customer needs.
Moreover, you may equally send satisfaction surveys to those who have bought to evaluate their experience to be able to improve everything possible.
Think of ways to stand out from your competitors
What will make your company to be remembered and cherished is what it offers. This include an exclusive product, a particular way of communicating or a good unique design, for example.
When you are just another brand in your niche, nothing will make customers see you as distinctive.
So, always imagine of ways to stand out from your competitors. Follow and understand their strategies closely and evaluate how you will do it even better.
Link your brand to a lifestyle
Many people buy products or services from certain brands not only because of the features of the product itself. But because of the lifestyle associated with the company.
Lately have you seen a commercial of a pickup truck with a man driving along a muddy road. Maneuvering while loud rock music plays in the background?
Well, in this very case, they aren’t only selling the car, but equally an adventurous and exciting lifestyle.
In fact, to link your brand to a lifestyle will help engage customers and will help you stand out from your competitors.
Develop a unique language
The way you communicate with your customers will make all the difference in the market and it must be very standardized, and have your own style!.
Imagine the language you use when making your customers feel heard. Here, empathy is nothing short of fundamental.
Provide excellent customer service
This tip is clearly obvious, but we must reinforce the relevant of good customer service, right?
Marketing is based on always putting your customers first. Besides considering their very needs and always offering the best service, you will equally provide all the necessary support before, during and after they buy.
Corporate marketing strategy
A corporate marketing strategy explains a formula and a strategy used to grow a business. A formula explains the competitive differentiation that will increase preference for your company. In other words, why will people buy from your company? A focus explains what customers, in what geographies will your company go after, and what problems will your company solve for them.
This strategy is certainly your company’s car engine. It will drive the your business towards its long-terms goals. A business-level strategy document, defines how you will be able to attract customers to your product.
Ways to help improve your corporate marketing strategies
Alleviate pain points
One of the major ways to improve your corporate marketing strategy is to try and alleviate your customer’s pain points with your offers. When your brand is known for being very helpful in this way, it will surely turn your customers into brand advocates.
These kinds of offers will help people get to know your brand more better and convince them to use your product.
In addition, it will help establish you as a known authority in your industry, while building trust with your customers, and obtaining new leads.
Focus on your customers
At the center of strategy should always be your customers. You must understand your target customers in order to deliver what they need and communicate with them effectively.
In fact, when you don’t truly understand your customers, it’ll be difficult for you to come up with marketing strategies. Once you have an understanding of your customers, you will figure out what your goals are, whether to generate traffic or raise brand awareness.
One way to know your customers better is to send customer satisfaction surveys. This will aid you learn more about your customers and what they like and dislike about your product or service. With this very information in your hand, you’ll be able to market your product in a way that differentiates you from your competitors, which brings us to our next point.
Be unique
Your strategy should include a plan on how you will stand out among your competitors. You must understand your unique value proposition and communicate that through your message.
Know your brand
Customers like to buy from brands that align with their life style. Your corporate marketing isn’t just about selling your company as an entity, but a lifestyle as well.
Be intentional with your brand’s voice
Your brand must have a voice that’s apparent in every form of communication your company will put out. The language and words you use are very important. Speaking the same language will help people connect with your brand.
This will help them define your brand’s perspective and voice. However, having a strong brand voice will help people personify your brand. Additionally, it may help set you apart from the crowd with your own unique style.
Provide great customer service
Well, corporate marketing isn’t just about the messages your marketing department delivers. It’s about your brand identity as an entity.
And this is why your customer service shouldn’t be forgotten when thinking about your marketing strategy.
Providing excellent customer service will delight your customers, this will turn into brand advocates.
Have a social media presence
Social media is one of the major platforms you’ll use to interact with your audience. That’s why you need a strong social media presence as a part of your marketing strategy.
On social media, you will let your brand personality shine forth. There, people will truly get to know you as a brand.
Additionally, social media will help to strengthen your relationships with your customers. And understand their needs better since it’s a two-way communication.
Write a blog
Are you in search for a way to be trusted with your audience? Creating a blog is the best way to achieve it.
On a blog, you will provide free, helpful, educational content for your customers. Doing this will aid you create a brand identity that’s authoritative in your industry.
Before you start with these strategies, it’s crucial to consider whether you have the right tools.
Difference between corporate strategy and marketing strategy?
Before we analyze the differences between these two terms. It’s very crucial that we look at what link the two terms.
Your organization is made of many departments and functions. This include marketing, finance, human resources, production, IT, etc. An efficient organization will only be seen when all departments collaborate seamlessly.
Corporate strategy is equally similar. All departments will have to work together as a team in order to achieve the targets of a corporate strategy. Meaning a corporate strategy should not violate the departmental strategic goals or customer aspirations. It must be aligned with departmental strategies.
The same with marketing strategy too. For instance, your company might plan cost reduction via corporate strategy. For this reason, you cannot compromise the quality of your products by using cheap materials and unskilled labor. This will certainly hurt the marketing strategy of giving the best product to your customer. Therefore, your corporate strategy should give due relevance to existing departmental strategies in your future plans.
Both corporate strategy and marketing strategy have to come together for your entire company to succeed.
Now, let’s look at the differences.
Features of corporate strategy and marketing strategy
Timeline
- Corporate strategy: It provides long terms directions and long term planning.
- Marketing strategy: This is about day to day functions, performance and results of your company.
Broadness
- Corporate strategy: Well this covers the whole organization.
- Marketing strategy: Marketing strategy represents a single department’s function and future course of action.
Orientation
- Corporate strategy: Corporate strategy should align with its internal and external environment to reap the best from opportunities and safeguard your company from threats.
- Marketing strategy: Marketing strategy is more oriented towards functional and professional attributes.
Goal Evaluation
- Corporate strategy: In corporate strategy achievement of goals are evaluated based on overall collective perspective.
- Marketing strategy: When it comes to marketing strategy, the goals will be divided into sub-targets. So, this evaluation equally would be based on such stipulated target performance.
Evidence of success
- Corporate strategy: For corporate strategy, the evident of success will only be witnessed or observed in the long run.
- Marketing strategy: The evident of success will be witnessed in the short term. Sometimes, results will be immediate
For what kinds of customers is corporate marketing effective?
Everyone is affected by corporate marketing, to some degree. People may think that they ignore online ads, but they’ll take at least one glance at a link advertisement above their inbox. Because a keyword is intentionally correlated to a message in their inbox.
Corporate marketing infiltrates nearly every aspect of our lives, whether we’re conscious of it or not. People always tend to notice a billboard that they drive past every day on their way to work. When only there’s a distraction from traffic.
How is a corporate marketing campaign developed?
The first step to develop corporate marketing campaign is to define the objectives. Who does your company want to reach, and what types of messages appeal to this target customers? Is the goal to generate more traffic to your website to drive more online sales? Is it to make customers aware of an upcoming sponsorship?
The answers to these questions hinge on who your company’s actual customers are. Some of this information will be obtained by tracking previous sales, noting who bought certain products and in which outlets it sold best. Other research includes the “club” programs which many stores and retailers use—for that 10% off a product. You must have actually informed many corporations about your purchasing habits. Demographic data are equally collected online. Profiles on Facebook enables advertisers to offer products to customers based on specific demographics such as gender, age, marital status, geography, and religious preference.
Additionally, companies often employ outside data services to track which programs people are watching on television. They equally track such data as how often moms bought chicken breasts, as compared to how many dads bought hamburger patties.
Once you have identified an objective and who you want to reach. Then it’s time to brainstorm and think creatively. The corporate marketers may gather and throw out all their ideas, great or small for consideration. Basically one or two ideas will stand out as more appealing and doable than the others. Ideas that will meet the objectives, target the appropriate market, generate excitement, and meet budget guidelines are then implemented by you corporate marketing team.
Budget considerations are relevant. It’s great to have the ability to think up an innovative, creative and compelling commercial. But if your company has enough money for a direct email campaign, the budget must be respected. Thus, a huge part of corporate marketing is “internal marketing”. That’s convincing the corporate hierarchy to sign the new ideas and devote an adequate budget to them.