Corporate Branding
Corporate branding doesn't communicate what the company does. It communicates why that company, as an institution as a whole, deserves to outlive any single product it launches or retires.
“A customer buys your product. An investor, a talent, and a partner buy your whole company. Those are two different decisions requiring two different brands.”
Otto GTM ObservatoryAn audience broader than customers
Corporate branding addresses an audience broader than just a product's target customer: investors evaluating the company for a funding round, candidates evaluating whether to work there, partners evaluating whether to ally strategically. Each of these stakeholders evaluates the company as a whole, not the single product line.
This requires institutional communication distinct from product communication, able to tell the company's trajectory, financial solidity, and culture independent of the success or failure of a single line.
Anti-patterns
Common mistake: flattening corporate branding onto the main product's communication, letting investors and candidates have an idea of the company limited to a single business line.
Second mistake: not separating corporate reputation from that of a single struggling product, allowing a product problem to damage the perception of the entire company in the eyes of investors or partners not involved in that specific line.
Practical Application
A company with three distinct product lines communicates only through the main product's brand, and when that line experiences a market slowdown, investor perception of the entire company suffers, impacting valuation in a subsequent round. By explicitly separating corporate and product communication, a comparable company keeps investor confidence stable despite the slowdown of a single line.