Your business is unique. Whether in design, retail, manufacturing, education, or consumer goods, you want to stand out from the competition.
Do your physical locations communicate and align with what your company stands for? Or does your company brand identity fade into the distance and dissipate like fog?
If you want your company to survive and not be another Blockbuster or Pan Am, you need to market yourself and communicate with your audience – across ALL touchpoints, including your headquarters and other physical locations.
Evoking emotions and consistent messaging make your company memorable, give a competitive advantage, build trust, and generate loyalty, leading to sustainability and growth.
Identify the target audiences for your brand identity
Who needs to receive your brand messages? In a physical space, your target audience falls into three categories: employees, visitors/customers, and company executives.
- Employees are the heart of the organization. Invent ways to inspire them to work efficiently and effectively.Brand colors and images connect staff with the products they create and the services they provide. By transforming your physical environment to entice them to come to the office, your employees can socialize, work together, build relationships, and communicate better. Renovating the dining areas, lounge spaces, production areas, and office cubicles to reinforce your company brand instills pride and boosts morale.
The result: Your employees work from home for fear of missing out and losing their sense of belonging.
- When entering your building, visitors and customers get a first impression of your company. How is the parking area, and what does the lobby look like? Can visitors immediately tell they have come to your company, or is it devoid of information and signage? Will your lobby and interior spaces help attract the top talent needed to grow your company? How inspired would you be walking down a dark gray corridor to a dingy small meeting room for a job interview?
You might also be bringing clientele or investors through your building. Will your customers be ready to purchase your products if the environment is depressing and there’s no physical connection to your brand image? Does the non-descript atmosphere have your investors second-guessing your company’s abilities to thrive?
- Executives and management need the physical space to represent the company brand to help keep the business thriving. There’s a big difference between the appearance of a doctor’s office and a high-tech startup. You would expect the doctor’s office to be sophisticated with a wooden desk, dim lighting and comfortable seating. In contrast, a tech startup might have reused and recycled furniture, bright lighting, corrugated metal walls and a neon sign with the company logo.
As an executive in the company, what image do you want to create in your physical environment that will help reinforce your brand?
Budgeting for your brand image
Whether it’s employees, visitors and customers or executives entering your physical space, you’ll need a budget to transform your environment to help your business thrive. The amount of money you spend depends on the options that you choose.
You could start with something low-budget, like a monitor on the wall that can display current company content. It’s a cheap solution without any printing that communicates your company image. Add a few chairs and a reception desk to your lobby that relate to your brand image. You might also use vinyl graphics or paint the walls in brand colors.
Renovating the interior space with brand-related furniture, installing digital signage in prominent locations and promoting designs with company products can all be done at different price points.
With a higher budget, you may be designing a building for your company. Kean University wanted to show innovation and be a gateway for the future. The design of the building is an architectural expression of what the university is aspiring to become. This brand image will inspire students to enroll, instill assurance in the professors and reinforce the purpose of the university to the executives and investors.
Trust is built with brand consistency across all touchpoints. Your physical spaces should align with the images and messaging on your company website and other digital platforms.
Use brand identity to help your business thrive
You’ve created unique products and services and need a way to communicate your message. Whether your audience is your customers, employees or corporate executives, consistency is essential to promoting your brand. In both the digital and physical space, reinforcing your brand identity will inspire trust and loyalty to make your company thrive.
Communicating your brand image in your physical locations can be done at many levels based on your budget. Choose the one that is right for you to give your company a competitive edge to advance into the future.
If you would like to discuss which options are best to elevate your company’s brand image, schedule a 30-minute Complimentary Consultation.
