“The corporate image is a key asset for businesses to position themselves, capture attention, and stand out in a saturated market.”
Corporate image is defined as the perception that others have about a company , and, in extension, about its products and services. It’s about how the public sees you: what they think and feel about your business.
Therefore, corporate image is a subjective idea and is directly related to the reputation that the company has in the market among its potential clients, but also before employees, shareholders, investors, suppliers or business partners, among others.
As you can see, the difference is substantial. What I want to project to influence the public’s thinking about my business is not the same as what I actually project. You will see that, on certain occasions, the projected identity agrees with the desired image, but on other occasions this is not true.
And, although image is not the same as corporate identity, both elements are vital to building a solid and recognized brand. Therefore, they must complement each other to be effective.
Corporate image
“Corporate image is the net result of all the experiences, impressions, beliefs, feelings and knowledge that a person has about an organization,” says expert on the subject D. Bernstein in his essay Corporate image and reality (1984). Following this statement, we can say that the corporate image, that is, that initial impression or instinctive reaction that the audience has about a company, is built from a variety of different sources.