The image is of great importance for any company or institution, it has such value that in recent times capital has been given preponderance, to the point that corporate communication advice has begun to be taken into account among the investments made by the company.
Reputation must arise from the very essence of the company, its values, its principles and its desire to remain and / or service, it must be consistent so that it is attractive to its different audiences.
By virtue of this, it is essential that an identity and image audit be carried out every so often, in order to evaluate what message is being given both inside and outside. The image must reflect the essence, the DNA, the fiber that moves the institution to give results.
This has to do not only with the logo, isotype and all the elements that make up the brand. It has two basic aspects: cultural features and visual identity. Cultural traits are the moral purpose of the company; responsibility towards society and towards its people (employees).
Identity has to safeguard the whole and achieve the greatest presence. It has to do with the creation of the name, the slogan, the logo, the emblems, the use of icons and other elements.
To know how it is in the image, audits must be carried out using both qualitative and quantitative research techniques, in order to evaluate the performance of the company's image both inside and outside of it.
Every company or institution should have identity manuals, as recommended by Gregorio Montesinos, communication advisor, since these are important and vital to develop a series of guidelines and regulations that allow decisions to be made after the audit, knowing with full control what must be changed and what must remain.
This audit also allows us to know if you are moving away from the consumer and the target audience, then, the joint evaluation of the use of the manuals can give a concrete idea of whether or not it is evolving with the public and with the movement of time, Well, if you don't evolve, you won't have the same positioning.
For a brand to work, the first thing it has to take into account is that it has to stand out from its competition, it has to be kept in everyone's head, both external actors or target audience, and those that make up the company, Well, if they do not "believe the story", there will always be a product misnamed "yellow cap", as recommended by Desiree Bañuls, specialist in corporate image.
To carry out an audit, different investigative techniques can be used, as already said, qualitative and quantitative techniques are recommended, a procedure suggested by the communicational consultancy Montse García on her blog is described below.
First phase: The audit. Analysis
- The internal image - self-image, the image from within. Company culture. Employees and internal climate. Responsibility towards employees. External outsourcing. Historical evolution of the company Visual image. Name, slogan, logo, symbols, emblems, icons, and other elements that represent the company in the best way Evaluation of visual identity in work and communication elements Public Image, the image from outside. Evaluation of the public image (image in the media and in public opinion, responsibility towards society) Commercial image. Product value, customer service and the value of brands. Definition of the current Target. Study the need to segment the target audience for an adequate selection of the recipients of the communication.
Second Phase: Unification of the Brand-Execution
- Implementation of a basic Corporate Identity Manual, if applicable. Internal communication (Intranet, Internal communications, Newsletters, Welcome manual). Websites, blogs, Social media, among others. Personalization of communication. Press. Need to properly plan all communication channels to reach different environments or audiences.
Third Phase: Quality Control and Monitoring
Make sure that the projected identity really corresponds to the perceived image.
From this, actions will be taken to strengthen and / or correct the way in which the corporate image of the institution and / or company is being managed.
Inquiries
- Communicational Maturity and Planning. Fuguet Communication and Change. 2015.To be or not to be. Capriotti Raúl. 1997 Internal Communications Thermometer. Fuguet Communication and Change. 2015 Capriotti, Paul. The Company Image. Strategy for integrated communicationhttps: //montsemarketing.wordpress.com/2010/08/03/%C2%BFque-es-la-auditoria-de-imagen/https: //mouriz.wordpress.com/category/auditoria-de -imagen-corporate / http: //www.villafane.com/files/pdf/Mapa_contenidos.pdfhttps: //www.youtube.com/watch? v = f6RnwCyBlO8https: //www.youtube.com/watch? v = i3TZGqw3OE
