The hidden value of a good reputation
- William Shakespeare
Do you remember the last time you hired someone to do a home repair? Or the last time you went to a disco or club? Or those less happy times when they've needed a doctor, a dentist, and even a lawyer. Think a bit about how you chose those service providers or club in question.
If you're like most people, I'm pretty sure you didn't get your data out of the yellow section. You probably went with them because they were recommended by someone in your family, a friend, or someone you trust. If so, they were hired based on their reputation.
As good as Gold.
And it is that the reputation of a business, of a person or an organization is as good as gold, but consider BMW, Televisa, Coca-Cola, Teleton, the 360 ° evaluation system that is applied in some companies to Evaluating your employees is basically a formal investigation of the reputation of your employees among their co-workers, their bosses, subordinates, customers, suppliers and anyone else who has contact with the employee. Similarly, prestigious universities regularly conduct professional and opinion polls before awarding a faculty member a lifetime spot. In essence, they create reputational profiles of their employees and base crucial promotion and compensation decisions on these profiles.
Advertisers and marketers are well aware that the reputations of some individuals can brighten some of the products they want to promote.
Some advertisements explicitly rely on the endorsement of well-known personalities such as basketball player Michael Jordan with Nike. Others use the endorsement of super models like Cindy Crawford and Naomi Campbell. This endorsement casts a halo on the product that increases sales. Psychologically, we create a bond between the product, the famous face and the company, which justifies higher prices.
What about the name?
The process of building a reputation is obviously central to the marketing of everyday products like soaps, cereals, clothing, cars, and cosmetics. Producers of consumer goods such as Unilever or Procter & Gamble, are experts in turning ordinary products into recognizable "brands" through advertising and promotion. By differentiating between products, they create what we call “Brand Equity” - a hidden value for the company that is generally not recorded on the company's balance sheets. Implicitly, then, a company's reputation represents the hidden wealth in these brand portfolios.
Understanding the convenience of reputation.
In fact, reputation is useful capital not only for individuals and products but also for the largest companies. Corporate reputation influences the products we choose to buy, the investments we make and where we save, and the job offers we accept. In part, it's because fame is an intoxicating attraction; it draws us to those who have it. That is why so many people are willing to pay a very good “varus” to eat in French restaurants, sleep in the coolest hotels, drive a BMW, wear designer clothes, bring a platinum American Express card, and live in Paris or In New York. A good reputation is a winning card. It attracts clients and investors, it makes us respectable.
Reputation is not indestructible. In fact, even among computer companies, few of us can deny having been suspicious of IBM computers after the public mishaps it had in the late 1980s. "If you want us to buy you, you better offer big discounts," was what many buyers told IBM. Not surprisingly, the bad press resulted in a decline in the company's reputation and sales, but also an impressive drop in the value of its stock on the stock market - a measure of reputational capital. In 1992 alone, the market value and IBM fell by more than 50 percent.
Reputational capital.
The point is this: a reputation is valuable because it informs us about which products to buy, which companies to work for, and which stocks to buy. At the same time, a reputation is of considerable strategic value because it draws attention to the attractive characteristics of the company and widens the options available to its managers, for example, whether to price products or services high or low, or to implement programs. of innovation.
Creating consistent images.
Reputation long ignored, this valuable intangible quality is gaining notoriety. In recent years, those of us who study corporate strategies have begun to recognize that this valuable quality could provide companies with a more enduring source of competitive advantage even more than patents and technology, the venerable names like 3M, Procter & Gamble, McKinsey. & Company, and Johnson & Johnson are literally as good as gold.
Regardless of the fact that many managers today are willing to accept that this quality has value, many still demonstrate inconsistent attention to the practices necessary to sustain corporate reputation such as:
- Design of advertising campaigns that promote the company as a whole, not just its products and brands Create ambitious programs that proclaim quality and customer service with a view to keeping the customer happy Control and maintenance systems that carefully examine activities of employees because of their potential consequences on the business reputation Demonstrate sensitivity to the environment, not only because it is socially important but because these actions carefully coupled with marketing programs increase sales Hiring internal staff and hiring public relations agencies to take care of company communication through the media. Demonstrate "corporate civility" through philanthropy, community activities, etc.
And how do we get that reputation?
The reputation of an organization must be the result of its very essence, that is, of its culture, which will ideally lead to a company identity that is congruent with that culture and will be the image that the company projects of itself to its customers. different audiences, so that it manages to convey an optimal representation of the company at a minimum cost.
Company culture
The culture of the company can be defined in different ways incorporating aspects such as: business philosophy, the dominant values in the organization, the business environment or climate, the rules that govern the work groups in the company, the rules of the game, traditions, their desire to remain and organizational behaviors.
The philosophy serves to guide the company's policy towards the different audiences with which it relates, whether internal or external. The dominant values accepted by the company can be expressed in terms of the identity of the organization.
The environment or climate is established in the company for the structure of its members' relationships with different external audiences. The rules that are developed in the work groups, all organizations have some of them, which condition it and serve to control their behavior, and which affect the entire organization, not just a group of roles within it; although many times such norms constitute an ideology that creates a true culture of the organization.
The rules of the game govern the promotion system to be accepted as a member of the business community and for professional advancement within the organization. The behaviors observed regularly in the relationship between individuals in the company constitute the last of these aspects associated with corporate culture, and among them are included the language and rituals used in the organization.
The culture of the company is specified in its style of organization and behavior that leads to a “model of basic assumptions, invented, discovered or developed by a given group as they learn to face their problems of external adaptation and internal integration, which have exerted sufficient influence to be considered valid and, consequently, be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think and feel these problems ”.
These basic assumptions are the assumptions that the members of the organization make in relation to the physical and social environments of the company and about the nature of the events that the organization faces, which are: Reality, time, space and factor human in terms of gender, activity and relationships.
The culture of the company is conditioned by the organization's environments: the external (country, industry, culture of the country where the organization is located, values of the society, etc.) and the internal (the philosophy of the company, the values norms and rules of conduct, the influence of personal beliefs of managers and employees at all levels)
Company identity
Every company needs its own identity, which allows it to be identified, differentiating it from others. This personality constitutes her specific identity, her own being.
The identity of the company is specified in two types of specific features: physical and cultural.
The cultural features are a series of behaviors articulated, conceptual marks, regulatory systems and philosophical reference, from which the company produces, thinks, feels and acts. They incorporate the deep elements of the very essence of the company's beliefs and values, features such as the ethical plan of the organization that includes moral values, and the responsibility that the company has towards its employees and the society in which it operates.
All organizational project - business must be founded on a philosophical concept which should integrate various reference axes that give rise to a comprehensive concept of corporate identity, which must be viewed from various perspectives, leading to several levels of analysis, especially an ethical level and a cultural plane.
The ethical plan incorporates the organization's own values and the conception of its social responsibility with the human environment that affects its activity. This responsibility implies deep duties towards their owners, their employees at different levels, their suppliers, their direct customers, the final buyers and consumers of their products and the community in general at different levels.
The cultural level refers to the set of beliefs and values that govern the conduct of the company, regardless of its legal form and the structure of its ownership.
The physical features incorporate the iconic elements - visual as a sign of identity, valid for identification of the company from its environment. From this perspective, the basic elements of physical identity include a brand and a logo.
They constitute the visual identity of the organization defining the stages of the development of the company's image, the necessary structure, the budget and the plan to carry out the actions that lead to fulfill the objective: unity in the communication elements of the company. company, and achieve optimal representativeness at the lowest possible cost.
To define the visual identity of the company, 8 steps must be followed:
- Through a prior market research, be it qualitative or quantitative, we will know the perception that its different target audiences have of the organization, and we will be able to define the objectives of the company in terms of its communication Identify the basic elements of the graphic identity of The company explain its attributes, and develop the previous graphics; Creation of brands and study and meeting of the elements of corporate identification; Specify identification alternatives and initial selection; Carry out a pre-test of the pre - selected alternatives and final selection of the Exploitation of the basic elements and preparation of the definitive corporate image design; Prepare the manual of applications to all the communication elements of the company; y Final application. From here naturally,communication will be applied, which constitutes the central element for the creation of the new corporate image.
As we can see, market research is basic for the correct creation and implementation of a corporate identification program. But the following basic premises should also be taken into account:
- Subjective appreciation: each person has an image of the company which is linked to the individual and therefore has certain deformations unrelated to the positive or negative qualities of the company itself, which almost never corresponds to reality. Association of ideas and response: each consumer, user or future consumer before any visual stimulus puts into play a subjective mechanism of association of ideas and this can provoke a negative, positive or indifferent response to the stimulus. It is a response conditioned in advance. Identification dynamism: it is important to take into account the evolution of the company at all its levels (technological, human, growth, new services, etc.) for the development of corporate identification.Optical similarity: The changes carried out in graphic matter must be gradual in order to maintain continuity between the ancient and modern identification base elements in a way that creates a visual synergy. Structural uniformity: it must be taken into account that the factors that make up a corporate identity and its graphic identification must maintain unity in all the basic elements of identification in such a way that they always communicate the ideas that the company wants.
Projection of that identity
Apparently we can say that if the corporate image is understood as the net result of the interaction of all the experiences, expressions, beliefs, feelings and information that the public has about a company, corporate identification is the set of signals created by said company. business.
Now it will be necessary to define the number and nature of the signals that are coincident with most of the sources of image creation, which we can group into three categories:
- Those linked to the company's products; Those that refer to distribution, and The rest of various manifestations of the company through its facilities, advertising, public relations, letters, brochures, employee uniforms, etc.
The company has significant communication problems with its environment; These problems are mainly two: a) define and identify their receptors, and b) on the other hand, differentiate groups of individuals with very similar behaviors, attitudes and desires within each group and clearly different from one group to another.
It is therefore necessary to design the communication system to be adopted, which requires establishing a set of individual communication networks with all communication partners in business activity - commercial and non-commercial -: prescribers, intermediaries, consumers, internal public, external public specific with public responsibility, including opinion leaders and groups of belonging and reference of individuals.
For the proper design of the business communication system, the following considerations must be taken into account:
- The environment is composed of individuals, generally different from each other, due to their desires, preferences, attitudes, expectations, behaviors, etc. It is not possible to establish uniform communication systems with groups that are not. It is necessary to define, identify and isolate groups of individuals as similar as possible to each other. Appropriate techniques are available for addressing and solving the different problems of business communication. Differentiated messages will be directed through different channels to ensure a certain effectiveness in communication. Communication policy in the company requires the integrated planning of all the techniques available for this purpose.
Thus, we can affirm that for the correct projection of the corporate identity we must take into account both the visual identity and the conceptual identity of the company, both capable of being designed, and assembled in a strategic plan of the company's corporate image; For this, it is necessary to define the identity of the company in the aspects:
- Visual, Conceptual, Marketing, Technical, and Economic - financial.
In order to define the mission of the organization and to be able to clarify and put in writing clearly and specifically the objectives of the company, identify its target audiences and its ideal preferences, performing an analytical positioning.
All this will lead to the development of the company's comprehensive communication strategic plan, which starts from a strategic positioning from which we will define the strategies to be followed in the media and message, developing a plan of tactical actions to be executed, finally assigning them a specific budget. to each of them according to their importance and relevance.
This plan assumes:
- The development of communication planning in a broad sense - advertising and not specifically advertising - by product / brand, in the medium term; On the other hand, the proposal of specific actions to be carried out within the campaign in question in each case (for each product / brand); and Finally, the integration of all the company's products and brands, in sequence of form, treatment and term, under the generic guarantee of the same or of the established generic brand, with a common line integrated in the plan.
This conception of communication, apparently centered on the company's products and brands, has an obvious projection to the organization as a whole.
Who do I tell ?: Identifying target audiences
All this work has a single purpose: to communicate to people that we care about what our company is and does, to create a certain reputation for us, and for that they must know who to tell what they have to say; that is, define one or more target audiences, since the perceived image of the company varies from public to public.
It is necessary to apply an appropriate methodology to the problem and conducive to its resolution, requiring the following considerations:
- There are types of recipients who have their own or independent personality that we have to consider in isolation. Regarding the communication actions at the service of the image, specific approaches are also exhibited for the definition of the target population of the same. It is possible to arrive at a complete and exhaustive list of possible recipients, although an effort must be made in each case.
Identifying your Profile
This form of identification is based on characteristics of various types, among which the socio-demographic –sex, age, region they inhabit, etc.- , socio-cultural –social class, level of studies, profession or occupation, etc.. -, socio - economic - the level of income, the patrimonial situation, the structure of spending, etc.-, the socio - political - affiliation or sympathy for one or another political party or union, its weight as a public authority, etc.- and psychologies - attitudes, personality factors, lifestyles, etc.-.
Often, these people form a heterogeneous group on which it is not advisable to direct generic actions, since they not only differ in their behavior but also, and that is very important, in the causes of it - their determining factors and criteria. Therefore, it must be considered that each individual in the population cannot represent the same level of interest for the company in relation to communication and based on the objectives established for it; Hence, it is convenient to assign a weighting coefficient to each individual in the population, corresponding to the degree of utility that said individual represents for the company whose identity is to be communicated in the service of the institutional image policy.
Identifying them by their activity
We must start from the idea that it is possible to divide the population as a whole into a limited number of groups, so that each of them can receive a perfectly differentiated mean weighting coefficient.
I am referring to the application of segmentation and typology techniques, which allow the homogenization of heterogeneous groups, in order to facilitate the strategic planning of communication and its effective results.
A type of public that is especially important for communication actions is made up of commercial audiences, that is, all those individuals who decisively contribute to obtaining the benefit of the company and, from this, to the sustainability and future development of the same..
Although the image of the company should not be confused with that of the brands that it produces and / or markets, in many cases the most important public of the company and therefore its fundamental target population, even for the purposes of the generic image of the company. The organization is made up of its consumers and buyers, together with marketing intermediaries.
The result: the image of the company
Relationship between identity and image
The identity of the company is specified in two complementary aspects that constitute two sides of the same coin: the visual, which has to do with the physical form of the business identity, and the conceptual, which refers to its own content.
From the perspective of visual identity, it is graphic design that deals with the conception, development and elaboration of the constituent elements of the identity of the company and the operational arrangement of its practical application. From the perspective of conceptual identity, it is the cultural personality of the company that responds to the content problem of said identity; cultural personality being understood as the set of basic identity traits, such as the thought or ideas by which it understands what it is and the environment in which it operates.
Principles of corporate image
An image is a set of adjectival notes spontaneously associated with a given stimulus, which has previously triggered in individuals a series of associations that form a set of knowledge, which in social psychology are called stereotypes or beliefs.
Therefore, the image of the company - like the brand image - is the set of mental representations, both affective and rational, that an individual or group of individuals associate with a company or a brand; representations that are the net result of the experiences, beliefs, attitudes, feelings and information of said group of individuals associated with the company or brand in question.
It is, therefore, a mental representation that an individual makes of a business organization - corporate image - as a reflection of the culture of the company in the perceptions of the environment.
Said representation enjoys the stability necessary for its survival, but it is also true that the image is not something static, but rather has a dynamic structure that is sensitive both to changes in the social environment in which the company is inserted and to those in which it is inserted. occur in own business strategies and competition.
Both are of capital importance when launching communication actions aimed at capitalizing, reinforcing or creating a coherent corporate image.
From such conceptual references, two important considerations can be derived, among others: a) The real existence of sources of image creation, and b) the existence of a playing field –the “multi-environment” of the company- where the organization develops its activity.
The sources of company creation are made up of a series of tangible assets that can be grouped into three broad categories:
- Which they are linked to the products of the company, both as regards tangibles (product range, presentation, physical attributes, and the intangible (perceived image of each product).The relating to the distribution of said products such as the number of points of sale in which they appear, types and main characteristics of the points of sale used, etc. The various manifestations and communications of the company, through vehicles as diverse as its partners and shareholders, the company's own organizational, financial and commercial structure, its facilities, its stationery, its staff, its public relations actions and cultural and sports patronage actions, your sales promotions, sponsorships, etc.
The “multi-environment” or playing field where the company carries out its own activity, through the sources of image creation mentioned above, is the one that gives meaning to the company itself, because talking about corporate image in a vacuum lacks everything sense of the perspective in which the study of the image is situated.
Elements that compose it
The elements that make up an image are notoriety, strength and content. The notoriety refers to the degree of knowledge - spontaneous or not individuals have a company or its products. Without notoriety, the image could not exist, however, a company can have a weak notoriety, that is, be known by a small group of individuals and still enjoy a good image. The strength of the image has to do with the speed and spontaneity with which a product, a brand or a company is associated with a stimulus related to it (or her): a close image has great strength and a distant image lacks it; which largely relates strength to notoriety. The contentof the image, refers to the characteristic notes (attributes) that are associated with the product or company under study. It is the inventory of the different aspects under which the different societies are known in a field of activity.
The image almost never emerges from a careful and in-depth study of the stimulus used by each individual before a specific company and in relation to a specific need. The image is rather the result of the experience of a group that is transmitted orally to individuals, without any type of objectivity control, that is why the image is distorted by prejudices, interest, attitudes and partial experiences, both collective as well as individual.
The study of the images of the different companies that compete in the same sector is of great importance for the adoption of business development strategies; and its positioning among the public opinion of its environment is obtained with the help of an effective communication with it.
Until a few years ago the appreciation of the image was carried out in an extremely subjective way; It was possible to examine the different aspects in a highly analytical way, but it was difficult to make a synthetic image and, above all, it was impossible to establish relative references between perceived images of the different companies that competed in the sector. The definition of an image policy encountered, in companies, a major obstacle: the cost of the actions carried out could be accurately measured - advertising campaign, public relations operation or promotion, for example - but it was much more difficult to appreciate the change or evolution of the image resulting from such actions. Today to solve such problem we have a series of methods of appreciation and synthesis of qualitative elements,as well as precise methodologies for the analysis and measurement of the relative images of a set of companies that concur in the same context.
Graphic identity - sensory.
From the graphic - sensory point of view of identity we have the following elements to consider:
- The name is the first contact of the product or the company with its target audiences, it is what identifies, distinguishes, relates and connects the organization or the product with values that are important for each of its target audiences. The ability and sensitivity to choose a good name opens doors, but it will never ensure the success of a product or company.
- The slogan, Born from the strategic positioning of the company; That is, to answer the basic questions: What distinguishes the organization / product? Why is it the best option for each of the prospects? What is the final message that the brand wants to convey to its target audiences ? Becoming the conceptual axis of an advertising campaign. Its functions include the following: Presenting the product / company, emphasizing its competitive advantage in the market, attracting the attention and, if possible, the enthusiasm of its different target audiences, closing sales by giving compelling reasons to the prospect to decide on the brand that is advertised.
- The logo is the typographic representation of the name of a company, brand or product. Generally, the set of the name and the graphic representation are thus named, so in order not to get into philosophical and transcendental rolls we will say that it is the graphic representation of the name, be it typographic, emblematic, symbolic or joint; the important thing is that it identifies and makes memorable the name of a company, brand or product it refers to. The symbolsThey are strategic elements that represent universal values that make it grow and identify with a greater number of people. For example; It is impossible to evoke the Marlboro brand without remembering her jeans as a symbol of virility and freedom; or the case of the Coca - Cola bottle, it is a symbol that evokes nostalgia among its consumers. The emblem is a graphic representation that identifies the name of a brand or company, although it is always considered part of the logo, it is optional, it turns out to be a good means to capture the attention of target audiences and increase brand awareness. For example, the Swoosh of Nike, the figure of MTV, the apple of Apple, the eye of Televisa. The icon, It is the maximum level of graphic identity to which one can aspire. It can be understood as a symbol of identity that is automatically related to the brand, and over time it becomes part of popular culture. For example, the Coca-Cola container, the “S” for superman, the barbie doll, the mushroom that produces a nuclear bomb, and so on. These are all icons, because they are deeply ingrained in the collective imagination and automatically evoke a whole set of reactions, sensations and even memories relating to them. The productIt is a tangible good that seeks to satisfy a need. Its design, as such, can be used as a symbol of identity for a brand or company. For example, Hersey's kisses with their characteristic drop-shaped silhouette, the “vocho” design that we could also consider an icon. The container, the primary function of a container is to protect the product, this is undeniable, but it is also an element of the identity of a brand. For example, the Absolut vodka container, which is an easy-to-remember symbol. The labels, in addition to providing basic information about the product, the company that produces it, where appropriate the importer data, also fulfills aesthetic and image communication functions, highlighting the attractiveness of the container and its final packaging.The packaging also has the main purpose of protecting and facilitating the mobility of the product for storage and transport; It also has a task in identifying the brand or the product. It becomes extremely important when the product is not distinctive enough; for example the French fries, sabritas by using a distinctive packaging creates a personality for your product that otherwise would not have any impact. Characters, are a powerful element since they give life to the brand, since they reinforce the message by breaking the barriers that separate the brand, product or company from the target audiences, their magic consists in that after a while they can become "role models ”- examples to follow-, which in addition to giving recognition to the brand, product or company, give it a human sense that gives confidence and brings the brand closer to people.
There are six character classes:
- Prefabricated: product of imagination, examples of these characters are Mickey Mouse, Bugs Bunny, Betty Crocker, Superman, the energizer bunny. Audiences: they are recognized figures from politics, business, society, art, culture or entertainment. They speak in their own name and represent themselves, therefore they can be spokespersons for a company, brand, institution or cause. Examples: Cindy Crawford and Michael Jordan. Institutional: they are official figures that exclusively represent the values of a company or brand. Over time they become synonymous with the brand they represent. For example Hugh Heffner from Playboy, Bill Gates with Microsoft, or Carlos Slim with Grupo CARSO and Telmex. External characters: they are public figures that support a brand, company, cause or institution but do not acquire any commitment to them, and can be varied depending on the times. They are just a reinforcement of the strategy, they are the most common. Example, any actor, model or member of the Big Brother. Animated characters, it is more a strategic characteristic linked to the target group to which it is directed. In this case the cartoon characters that are favorites among children. Examples: the bimbo bear, cheetos chettos, the quik rabbit, the toño tiger, etc. Real characters , are characters such as artists, models, singers, among others, or animals such as the Chihuahua dog from Taco Bell, Colonel Sander from KFC or Julio from the Mexican commercial.
- History, is obviously the first element to take into account when creating a corporate image, it allows creating links with the different target markets, and can contribute to the admiration of the company, brand or product, with the history of the moments difficult, happy, hard work, is where we have corporate heroes who represent the values of the brand or the company. For example, Motorola, Ford motor Company, Kodak, General electric, Microsoft, or apple. All these company that has a legendary history that supports them and serves as a guide for the future.
- Ambient, is everything that surrounds the brand. And it requires the support of a large number of professionals such as interior designers, architects, and it is what in semiotics we call proxemia, and it studies the arrangement of elements and spaces to communicate messages non-verbally. For example; disney stores, hard rock cafe, hollywood planet, Zara, Mix up, and all banks. In all of them, details such as space, lighting, cleanliness of the place and the announcements and signs used within the points of sale, order and training of the personnel are taken care of. It sounds easy but integrating all these elements to create a brand experience is not easy, it takes a lot of time and study to reflect the corporate image through these elements, but once it is achieved it is extremely profitable.
CONCEPTUAL SCHEME OF THE INDEPENDENCES BETWEEN THE PLANS OF
MARKETING AND PUBLICITY
How do I know I'm on the right track ?: Company image audit
The creation of a corporate identity and image program starts from the examination of the current situation. The study of corporate identity automatically places us in the analysis of the corporate image, understanding as such the net result of the interaction of all the experiences, expressions, beliefs, feelings and information that the public has about an organization, that is, reputation. Without forgetting that the sources that participate in the creation of said image are multiple, being able to highlight those that refer to the product, the distribution, and any of the forms of communication that the company uses.
Forms of study
The investigation of the image of the company requires to be situated in the needs of strategic communication action of the company and from there to approach a methodological process of discovery and analysis of the different aspects required, at the service of the strategic communication of the attributes to be associated to the identity of the company, institution or body in question.
This is fine for the influence of company-controlled communication on its own image. The analysis of the influences that the media exerts through spontaneous communication in shaping the corporate image is pending. It is of vital importance for the company to know the volume and value that, in relation to its own image, emanates from the media; hence the need to incorporate content analysis in the study / audit of the company's image.
And as the object of such communication content analysis, we will differentiate strictly advertising messages from those of an informative nature - editorials, expert comments, referrals, press releases, conferences, etc. - that appear in the media and exercise a not negligible influence in shaping the image of the company. Influence that, due to the prestige of the source, can counteract those derived from the structured communication of the company.
So we can say that there are two complementary approaches to consider in a content analysis:
- The content of the advertising in the strict sense, and The content of the news media, especially referring to graphic media for operational reasons of collection and handling of the corresponding materials.
Techniques
Classical, so-called qualitative research techniques have traditionally been used, especially from motivational studies, as the only element for the discovery of the image, both of the products and their competing brands in a given market, as well as of the company. Of these techniques, the following 5 should be highlighted:
- The free interview, the in-depth interview and the semi-structured one, ü free discussion meetings and ü projective techniques.
These techniques share typical characteristics such as:
- They use small groups of people that are not statistically representative of the population to be studied. It is not possible to carry out numerical analysis from their results. The design of the samples requires representing in some way the different types of individuals, whose perceptions they are interested in making. Thus, we can speak of a true typological non-statistical representativeness. For the collection of data and its interpretation, psychological and psychosocialological techniques are used., which allow a wealth of information of great utility, and this is also where their greatest weakness lies, they depend on the interpretive style of the psychologist who analyzes them, which makes them highly subjective, limiting their practical validity and requiring a later qualitative contrast, through the use of specific techniques. These techniques allow addressing and analyzing problems in great depth and entering the subconscious and unconscious level. Qualitative techniques are essential for the knowledge of deep qualitative aspects, and are applied in motivational studies, generally useful as complement of quantitative studies.
When speaking of quantitative techniques I mean those techniques for collecting and analyzing information that respond to the application of statistical sampling in its strictest sense. Among the quantitative research techniques, the survey, observation and experimental method stand out, but the one truly used in imaging studies is the statistically representative survey of the study population.
In the surveys the statistical sampling technique is used and, therefore, by means of the adequate definition of the problem, and the objectives of the study, it is possible to determine, for a given population, the best sample capable of representing said population in an investigation. The fundamental thing for the application of statistical sampling is to know who to investigate, on what aspects we have to obtain information, and from whom, in particular, we have to obtain said information sought.
It is necessary to have a realistic approach to corporate image research, to improve them, so I will highlight 5 basic aspects to achieve it:
- The need for an image strategy, which starts from the analytical positioning of the company; The viability of the identity of the company, compared with that of its competitors, which must be verified first and ensured later, where the use of diversification matrices helps to the structuring and better understanding of the phenomenon; The need to segment the target audiences for an adequate selection of the recipients of the communication, which forces the methodological differentiation in the investigation of such audiences, obtaining the matrix of identity attributes / recipients constitutes the basic support of the strategic planning of the image: The challenge of communication lies in the need to adequately plan all the procedures and communication systems of the company in its different environments or audiences;yIt is required to put the image under control to ensure that the projected identity really corresponds to the image perceived in each of the audiences selected for it.
| TRADITIONAL APPROACH ONLY QUALITATIVE TECHNIQUES
q DIRECT Verbal expression q INDIRECT Determination of perceptions
|
Today we cannot speak of realistic and operational sociological research without the use of multivariate analysis techniques for the treatment and exploitation of the results of communication. The study of the perceptual image cannot be done seriously without resorting to the possibilities of quantitative techniques with the support of multivariate methods, on the other hand, an innovation in concepts occurs, considering the three dimensions of identity.
The identity itself, the communication and the image resulting from the previous two. The applied research techniques must, therefore, take into account such conceptual differences, as a disaggregation of the phenomenon under study.
Conclusions
Reputation is of paramount importance for companies, it has a value that can even be valued, it is important that in addition to recognizing the importance of reputation, managers are willing to take actions that reinforce that reputation.
This reputation must arise from the very essence of the company, its values, its principles and its desire to remain in the market, it must derive in a company identity that is congruent and later reflected in a corporate image that express those principles and values in ways that are attractive to your different audiences.
It is therefore very important to be able to recognize and identify these target audiences, either due to their socio-political, socio-cultural, or socio-economic characteristics. Or because of their relationship with the company, commercial: prescribers, intermediaries and market. Competitors, employees, shareholders, owners and public opinion.
Since we know our company and the target audiences we intend to reach, we have everything ready to develop the corporate image of the company that will lead us to achieve an excellent reputation in our market.
This image with I said above should ideally reflect the essence of the company, in a coherent, congruent and consistent manner. It has two basic aspects: cultural features and visual identity, cultural features are the ethical and moral plan of the company; responsibility towards society and towards its employees.
The objective of the visual identity is to maintain unity and achieve maximum representativeness of the company at the lowest possible cost.
It has to do with the creation of the name, slogan, logo, symbols, emblems, icons, and other elements that represent the company in the best way.
To know how we are in the image of the company we must carry out both qualitative and quantitative market research in order to evaluate the performance of the image of the company
Download the original file
