People prefer not to hand over their hard-earned money to cold, overly corporate businesses.

Instead, we like to feel like we’re purchasing from businesses with a personality.

A corporate branding strategy is essentially a plan for personalizing your business and customizing every touchpoint for consumers so that it exudes personality through your brand identity and brand image.

Think about when you walk into an Apple Store.

Everything about the place screams Apple.

Even if there were no products or brand logos, you’d still know you were in an Apple store.

This recognition is not an accident but the result of carefully crafted corporate branding.

Let’s drill down and define the concept.

What Is Corporate Branding? (Top Brand Examples)

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What Is Corporate Branding?

Corporate branding means promoting your brand name and all-encompassing concept as a business to your target audience.

It’s a careful definition and execution of how you present the corporate entity to the customer.

Therefore, a company’s brand usually reflects its values and position through its image, identity, and brand messaging across all marketing materials.

The objective is to communicate the essence and spirit of your company, building its reputation while cementing your place in the industry and in the minds of consumers.

Brand managers who do this well can give their brand a competitive edge in the market.

Corporate Branding vs. Product Branding

To explore this a little further, it’s helpful to compare corporate branding to product branding.

Product branding aims to build the product’s reputation as a brand in and of itself, without necessary reference to the corporate brand.

The iPhone is a perfect example of a product brand.

We don’t say “The Apple iPhone”, we just say “iPhone”.

On the other hand, corporate branding aims to build the reputation of the company, rather than its products.

It defines the overarching position of the brand in the market and what the brand believes as an entity.