Know-How Exchange : Branding

Corporate Identity really goes deep into your business, and covers:

Name
Slogan
Logo
Style - colour, images etc
Character - who stands up and speaks for the company (if any), or any character associated with the business.
Packaging
Advertising
Promotions
Promotional Material
Public Relations

Richard,
The inputs you have so far are very good and can serve as the “template” you seek:

What is Corporate Identity:
(from Wikipedia) A corporate identity is the physical manifestation of the brand. In general, this amounts to a logo (logotype and/or logogram) and supporting devices commonly assembled within a set of guidelines. These guidelines govern how the identity is applied and confirm approved color palettes, typefaces, page layouts and other such methods of maintaining visual continuity and brand recognition across all physical manifestations of the brand.

What elements are covered in Corporate Identity:
(from AndrewS)

• Slogan


• Logo


• Style - colour, images etc


• Character - who stands up and speaks for the company (if any), or any character associated with the business.


• Packaging


• Advertising


• Promotions


• Promotional Material


• Public Relations

What are you communicating with the corporate ID:

• What purpose does the corporation serve?


• What are the corporation’s products and services?


• What are the values of the corporation?


• What makes the corporation unique with respect to its competitors?

To what audience are you communicating?
As suneel.yadav states:

• Consumers - existing and prospects


• Employees - Existing and prospective


• Shareholders


• Regulatory Bodies


• Channel Partners

How do you establish corporate identity

• Corporate identity is complex because of the many targets, each with different needs and motivations. The first guideline is to devise your corporate identity and marketing plan for all of the targets upfront before implementing it. The reason for this is to make sure that the corporate ID is cohesive. Like branding, cohesiveness is critical to establishing it.


• Second, based on the corporate identity, guidelines for operations have to be established. These go beyond just logo, business cards, and letterhead colors. This entails how employees answer the phone, how employees are treated, how salesmen present themselves to customers. These guides don’t have to be deep; simpler is better. Just a few guides that represent the cornerstones of the corporation’s ID (see above in “What are you communicating with the corporate ID)


• Finally, consistency is critical. Again, like branding, everything that is associated with the corporate ID has to be the same time and time again to establish a lasting impression with the target audience

How do you communicate this to the target audience
Richard, treat corporate identity as “marketing the corporation.” Each of the audience members is a market segment with different needs, motivations, and media by which they are reached. For each, you need a separate marketing plan with the message customized to show how the corporation meets their segment needs and motivates them to listen to you in the way that hits them, and through a media channel that affects them.

I hope this helps!

Wayde