Institutional marketing is the strategy responsible for the set of communication actions of a company towards its public.
The objective of this strategy is to build and strengthen the image of the brand in the market. And not only in relation to the quality and guidelines of the offer of products and services, but also in relation to the social and cultural values of the company.
Institutional marketing actions must communicate to the public, in an attractive way and seeking to take care of the relationship with it, the set of information that constitutes its mission, vision and values.
If you want to understand in depth what is institutional marketing and its relationship with the . In this post you can discover how to implement strategies and be inspired by successful examples, you’ve come to the right place! Notice:
Let’s go there?
What is Institutional Marketing?
We can say that institutional marketing includes all marketing actions and strategies that aim to strengthen the image of a brand or business before the public.
In other words, unlike commercial marketing, this strategy is not directly related to the . The idea is to communicate the essence of the brand: why it exists, its mission, what it believes in and how it can benefit people’s lives.
This strengthening of the company’s image is carried out in two stages: social marketing and cultural marketing. Let’s see more about each of them.
Social marketing?
Yes! The concentrates the efforts dedicated to promote a position of value to your business. That is why it will be more related to the support of a social cause that has to do with what the brand represents and wants to reinforce with the public.
It is common to see this type of strategy in third sector advertising, as in the case of NGOs or government campaigns, but nothing prevents your company from also using social marketing to encourage a certain behavior.
For example, this is what the Belgian beer brand has been doing Stella Artois together with Water.org. with the development of campaigns aimed at transporting water to regions with a lack of it.
And Cultural Marketing?
This area of marketing aims to relate the brand with cultural activities usually. The most common strategies for this are the sponsorship of music festivals, movies, museums, plays, fashion events, etc.
In this sense, these occasions can also be used to carry out collaborative marketing actions at the events, such as the creation of an interactive stand, the distribution of product samples and other promotional actions.
When institutional marketing relates the brand to both its social and cultural projects, it helps to build a highly positive image of the business in the public’s mind.
Do not confuse institutional marketing and endomarketing
Many people confuse institutional marketing and endomarketing, since both have the intention of taking care of the brand. This mistake is quite common even among professionals in the area.
To avoid such cases, remember that the has as purpose optimize internal relationships Inside the company. In addition, the endomarketing strategy is responsibility of the Human Resources sector.
RR H H. It seeks to identify the needs of the collaborators, the problems of the organizational climate and the causes of the low engagement of the employees, if any.
Based on this information, the team establishes a series of actions that result in a more efficient production line with less turnover.
The institutional marketing focuses primarily on improving facing the public, since it is up to the marketing specialists to outline their strategies.
Although the promotional actions for collaborators, the commemorative dates of the company and the internal campaigns will not fail to contribute to the construction of a positive image of the business.
Do not forget that for a brand to consolidate in the market, all its gears must work together. So you also have to think about the people who make things happen.
And, ultimately, although institutional marketing and endomarketing strategies are different, they are also can walk together.
An example of this are the actions that encourage employees to evaluate the company on platforms such as.
On websites like this one, employees can express their opinions about the organizational climate, salaries and other aspects of the company they work for. But evaluations go beyond this, as they help show you the culture and values of the brands to the market, as well as to other professionals.
Why invest in Institutional Marketing
By valuing the brand based on its social role, institutional marketing strengthens the relationship between it and its public.
But at times like this, when the world is experiencing strong economic convulsions, with the market in a process of reorganization, companies tend to focus their strategies on sales conversion above all else.
However, such action can be counterproductive if we think of today’s consumer, who expects from companies not only promotions and competitive prices, but also a position in relation to current collective problems.
With easier access to information, thanks to the Internet and social networks, consumers are much more selective in their purchases.
As confirmed by the survey conducted by Edelman, 2 out of 3 people disapprove of how companies communicate their products.
More demanding, these new consumers do not expect a brand to just satisfy their needs, but also transmit confidence and share their same values.
How to better communicate and engage with customers
Now that you understand a little better the concept and objectives of institutional marketing, we will give you some tips to develop a successful strategy.
It is important to highlight that all actions must be designed to improve the relationship between the institution and clients.
1. Map your brand personality
This consists of transform your brand into what is known as .
To do this, define the personality of your business and do your best so that these characteristics remain the same, regardless of market variations. We call this factor essence.
The essence of a brand must be strong and stable, as the characteristics that define the character of a person. In addition to conveying more confidence, this will make it easier for consumers to identify with it.
An example of a company that has built a strong brand through socially responsible actions is the Spanish supermarket company Mercadona.
Founded in 1977, it began as a small butcher shop, then a small supermarket, and grew to become the large company it is today.
To stand out as one of the Spanish companies with the best social prestige, Mercadona carries out actions such as its Good Neighbor Policy, which consists of unloading merchandise without disturbing the rest of the residents of its supermarkets, supports organic food producers, carries out donations to various NGOs and invests heavily in recycling strategies, energy saving and respect for the environment at its points of sale.
2. Define your value proposition
After you build that item, it’s time to think about the value proposition that translates that personality into a business model, which will be decisive in bringing the brand closer to customers.
The value proposition or positioning, contrary to the essence, may vary according to the market situation, always adapting to the changes that occur in the public’s forms of consumption.
Uniting all the characteristics that define the essence of a brand, positioning is the way of persuade the publicbased on the values of the company, to choose your products instead of the competitor’s.
All this will allow the consumer to think of your brand not only as a commodity, but as a life experience to be gained.
3. Stand out from the competition
Another important tip is and how they communicate their products. From here, you’ll have an idea of how to build an even stronger relationship with your audience.
It is important to think about innovative strategiesin marketing actions that the competition has not yet carried out, which is necessary, of course, to attract the attention of consumers.
Your brand should not only compete in terms of price and product quality. communication is also a cornerstone.
Apple is perhaps one of the best examples of this. Known worldwide for the quality and reliability of its products, the technology company began to explore these features in its advertising campaigns.
4. Identify your target audience accurately
Sometimes it can even seem that all the possibilities to communicate a product are already exhausted. But for marketing this doesn’t work, there will always be a new way to build and promote a brand.
But before taking any action, it is essential to understand the following: who are you communicating with? Or rather, who are you? ?
For those who are not familiar with the term, we explain it now: buyer persona is the name given to the construction of a fictional character that summarizes the main characteristics of your ideal client.
From the market studies carried out for your company, for example, you will be able to develop a model figure that represents the qualities and habits of your clients, with characteristics such as age, profession, interests and pains.
This will make it easier to build an image of your company that is more representative for your audience and that is easily differentiated from the others.
5. Incorporate institutional marketing actions in your campaigns
Finally, another strategy to apply consists of incorporate institutional marketing actions in the campaigns that you have already been developing.
Of course, it will not be easy for smaller and little-known brands to create structures that are close to those used by large companies.
However, it is possible to do it little by little. You can, for example, insert an “About us” section on your website, where you talk about the values of your business to customers.
Another option is to create or social media posts that show the people behind your products.
Thus, by developing the habit of including institutional marketing in all dissemination actions, it will be easier for your business. communicate your personality and value to the public.
For example, another brand that stands out for its initiatives associated with concepts such as the search for quality of life in the company, business ethics, community involvement and responsible consumption is the Mexican beer company Cuauhtemoc Moctezuma (which today belongs to ), a brand that always seeks to convey its principles in most campaigns.
Here is one of their…
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