In the previous part of Art of Communication, I have tried to sort out the very concept of communication from several different aspects and I hope that it has given you new insights into how communication and influence as a means can be used to reach the market you want.
Having that knowledge and understanding is essential from my point of view if you want to be successful in communicating in and outside your business.
Further on, I want to shed light on how to apply communication from different aspects to create a clear picture of the company's profile and, by extension, its visual identity.
When Groveflow works with our customers, we go through all these concepts because their function and the way they can all be used is important. Several studies have shown that by integrating design and working with this at all levels of the company increases the chances of success. Despite this knowledge, I am surprised that so many companies I meet consider design to be a luxury and not a necessity.
That is why I am raising this question for you readers; which I think you can answer shortly:
What is the significance of the design in your business or company?
The company's position.
Positioning is an important aspect of the company's marketing that affects the customer relationship both directly and indirectly. From a marketing point of view, it is often said that it is important for the company to take a favorable position. When running a company, it is often of great importance that either the company, its products or its constituent individuals are perceived in a certain way.
What is the most important point about how the company will be perceived is how their products and services as well as staff interact and act. There are two factors that must be considered in order for consumers' image of the company and its products and services to be perceived as good. It is either that the products are good, durable, good, beautiful, fast, clear, interesting, or it is what is promised and how consumers perceive the company, the products, and the services. However, it is not enough with what you yourself manage to convey for the image, it also largely depends on external circumstances. In many cases, these external circumstances are more important than the company's own demonstrated ability to market itself and the products. It is therefore important to familiarize yourself with how to value and actively work with issues that include the company's positioning in the market.
How Profile, Identity and Image are connected
In this literature, we will use a classic way of working with how to position your company using the concepts of profile, identity, image, and vision.
This is something that is usually my first question to the companies Groveflow starts working with.
What is your profile?
What identity do you have?
What is Company Image?
What corporate vision do you have?
Surprisingly often, most companies have difficulties giving a consistent picture of their own goals, which often is the reason why they need help to be clearer.
Working with the company's positioning means that you must take several important policy issues into consideration and finally decisions. It is in these considerations that within the group that ultimately makes the decisions, one must agree on how the above concepts should interact and on their interrelationships.
These concepts concern both the present and the future.
Profile, what you want to be perceived as.
Identity, what the company really is.
Image, what the company is perceived as.
Vision, where you want to go in the future.
When you look at the concepts in this way, you clearly see that the first three concepts Profile, Identity and Image are strongly interconnected. It is often said that the profiling work is the basis for the company's identity, which in turn creates the company's image.
The connection between the company's profile, identity, and image
We will go through the different parts: profile, identity and image and examine them more closely separately and then see how they are connected and how to work strategically to achieve the best possible results.
Two sides of positioning
There are two main approaches to working with the positioning of the company and its products and services, respectively. You can either work through an objective or structural approach where it is important to be able to assess important characteristics of the company or products.
A classic way of working with the company's positioning is to be able to place the company's products in a matrix where, for example, price is weighed against quality.
Imagine that you have now placed your products where you think they are suitable for this division with quality and price. You can now easily see that your best-selling product is "better than most, cheaper than the best". This means that the product is not the best on the market, but it is significantly cheaper than the best and it is significantly better than the cheapest (and worst).
Create a position.
This work is largely about putting the company in a certain position by deciding who you want to be. In the work of describing the new identity, one must also consider who the potential competitors of the future will be and how they position themselves in the market and how we will differentiate ourselves from them. Shall we give the impression of being exclusive, or simple, traditional, or trendy, cheap or expensive. One must also take a closer look and be able to describe what the new identity will have consequences for the company, in terms of finances and personnel.
How is your company positioned?
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