Businesses and organizations use various techniques like image editing, desktop publishing, multimedia editing and website design to publicize their ideas, products, and services. They develop a consistent corporate identity including a logo, colors, fonts and other branding elements to make the organization easily recognizable. Different types of documents like business cards, letterheads, flyers and brochures are produced using the corporate identity to promote the business. Maintaining a positive corporate image is important for businesses to compete effectively and be perceived favorably by customers, shareholders and the public.

1. MARY ANN O. SEDAN
Reporter
BSED 1B

2.  Businesses and organizations use computers and software
applications to publicize ideas / products / people / etc.
The techniques used are the same as those described in the
Communicating Ideas page of this site:
 Image editing
 Desktop publishing
 Multimedia editing
 Website design
However the type of document produced for businesses and
organizations is often quite different to the sort that you might
create at home...

3. Corporate Identity
 Businesses and organizations usually develop a
corporate 'identity' - an image that they use for all
documents, websites, etc.
A corporate identity might consist of:
 A logo to be used on documents, e-mails, website,
etc.
 Set of colors / themes
 Set of fonts to be used for all documents
 A jingle (short tune) for TV / radio advertising
 A mascot / character to represent the organization
 Every communication the business or organization
has with the public, or with other organizations, will
use the corporate identity. This makes the
organization or business very recognizable.

4. Business Cards
 Business cards are used by people who want to give
their contact details to someone else.
 A business card has a person's name, telephone
number, e-mail address, etc. pre-printed on it so
nothing needs to be written down.
 Business cards use the logo / font / colour / style of
the corporate identity so that the person receiving
the card recognizes it immediately.

5. Letterheads
 A letterhead is a header / footer used for
printed documents such as letters.
Letterheads usually contain details such as the
organization's name, address, telephone
number, website, etc.
 Often organizations will order boxes of paper
with the letterhead pre-printed on it. This
paper can then be used in printers, or for
hand-written letters.
 Letterheads use the logo / font / color / style
of the corporate identity so that the person
receiving the document recognizes it
immediately.

6. Flyers
 A flyer is a small, single sheet, printed document
used to advertise an event, a product or an idea.
 Flyers are often handed out to the public to raise
awareness of the event / product / idea.
 Information such as date, time, location, contact
details, etc. are placed on the flyer for people to
refer to later.
 Flyers use the logo / font / color / style of the
corporate identity so that the person receiving the
document recognizes it immediately.

7. Brochures
 Printed brochures are designed and produced to give
details of an organization / product / event.
 Brochures normally consist of several pages,
combining text, images and other graphical elements.
Glossy card may be used for brochure covers to give a
more 'quality' feel.
 Brochures use the logo / font / color / style of the
corporate identity so that the person receiving the
document recognizes it immediately.

8.  We often have ideas or information that we wish to
communicate with others, either personally, or as part of
our work.
 Examples of personal communication: You may want to
tell your friends about a party that you are having, or you
may want to let others know how about the impact of
climate change.
 Examples of business communication: In business, you
may want to tell the world about a new product that your
company has just created (this is called marketing), or
you have information that you need to pass on to all of the
employees in the business.
 In all of these examples, IT can be used to help pass on
the message.

9. Producing and Editing Pictures
 The production of graphics and pictures has
been revolutionized by the use of IT. Image
editors such as PhotoShop allow computer
users to easily manipulate images in many
ways:
 Crop (cut off bits that you don't want)
 Resize
 Distort (e.g. bend, twist, stretch, etc.)
 Alter color (e.g. brighten, make black &
white, etc.)
 Add effects (e.g. shadows, glow, texture)
 Add graphics (e.g. lines, circles, borders,
etc.)
 Add text
 Etc.

10. Producing and Editing Pictures
 It used to be the case that to produce images and graphics for
posters or magazine, would take highly trained artists many hours.
 Photos would be taken using old film cameras, the pictures would be
printed onto paper. Effects could be applied during the printing by
using clever darkroom techniques, but this took a lot of skill.
 After printing the photos could then be edited by actually
cutting/pasting with glue and scissors, or by adding lines, color, etc.
using paint, etc.
There was no 'undo'!
Today, with image editors like PhotoShop, anyone can produce and
edit images. A user at home can do in seconds what would have taken
a professional editor many hours to do.
 The tiny colored dots that make up a digital image are called pixels.
You make have heard this term in connection with digital cameras. A
typical camera takes a 12 megapixel image, which means the image
is made up of 12 million tiny dots!

11. Desktop Publishing
 Desktop Publishing (DTP) is a system of software and
hardware that allows a user to create and print documents
such as:
 books
 posters
 flyers
 magazine
 newspapers
 etc...
 DTP software is WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get -
meaning that the document looks the same on the screen
as it will when it's printed).
Document layout is produced using 'frames' - areas of the
page that can contain text or images.

12. Website Design
A website is a collection of web 'pages' that provide a mixtures of content:
•Text
•Images
•Animations
•Video
•Audio
•Hyperlinks (to jump to other content)
Websites are a fantastic way to communicate with people since websites can be accessed by
literally millions of people.
However in some ways websites are not as good as printed documents for reaching people.
Fore example, to view websites:
•You need an Internet connection (not always available, and it can be expensive)
•You need a computer (expensive)
•You need some training to know how to use a computer (you don't need training to use
paper!)
The World Wide Web has transformed information communication. For many people, most of
the information that they consume each day comes via the Web, rather than as printed
documents.
Websites use many of the techniques that printed documents have used for hundreds of years:
headings, columns of text, etc.
The original Web when it was invented back in 1991 was a very different place to today. At that
time webpages were very basic with just text and a few pictures. (The Internet then was far too
slow to stream video or audio.)

13. Multimedia Design
'Multimedia' refers to documents /
software applications that contain a mixture of:
 text
 images
 animations
 video
 audio
 Multimedia applications are commonly used for
training / education. Compared to learning from a
textbook, multimedia applications allow students to see
animations, videos, etc. This can bring a subject to life
and make it much easier to learn.

14. Creating Music
 In the same way the it is now very easy to create
printed documents using IT, it has also become easier to
create and edit music with the help of computers.
 To produce a musical score (sheets of written notes),
you no longer need to write every note down by hand.
You can use a WYSIWYG editor to write the music on the
computer, edit it, print copies, etc.

15. Publicity for Business Key
Concepts & Steps
Before you begin:
Tie your publicity
strategy to goals
that you’ve
identified in your
annual marketing
plan.

16. Create a publicity strategy
 Don’t just “shotgun” press releases when you need to
drum up some attention. Plan your publicity strategy as
you would any marketing campaign:
 Develop a calendar that ties story ideas to key events
and spreads your storytelling out over the year.
 List events that may offer good speaking opportunities.
 Identify publications, reporters and bloggers who cover
subjects that are relevant for your company.
 Create traditional and online press materials to give
reporters support materials for their stories.
 Know the audience for each story and carefully target
your media.

17. Develop newsworthy story ideas
 Every day, journalists are bombarded with press releases
touting new product releases, business alliances,
research discoveries, etc. But journalists don’t just make
announcements — they need to tell compelling stories
that their readers will find interesting and useful. A trade
journal may run one-paragraph blurbs about new
products, but to get headlines, photos, interviews and
pages, you need to develop real stories.
 Like movies, good news stories are often about conflict.
An endless stream of positive information is boring.
Instead, develop stories with substance: Good vs Evil,
Nature vs Nurture,

18. Why Publicity is Important …
 The downside to publicity is that it can be expensive at times.
However, you don’t have to go broke to integrate a little PR into your
business. There are plenty of useful ways to get free publicity, and
many won’t cost you an arm-and-a-leg either.
Here are a few:
 Press Releases
 Article writing or guest posting on blogs
 Just Saying “YES!” to The Media: If you are approached by any media
outlet, open your mind, set aside your fears, and rise to the challenge.
 Have a Contest: Contests are ideal for gaining public attention and
most, especially those created on social media, don’t have huge price
tags. They also can have a far reach, and are valuable for spreading
the word about your business or your message.
 Ever heard the old saying, “if you don’t toot your own horn…?” The
number rule of publicity and promotion is to learn how to “toot your
own horn” and contribute a message that has value to others.

19. CORPORATE IMAGE
 Corporate image, or reputation, describes the manner in which a
company, its activities, and its products or services are perceived by
outsiders. In a competitive business climate, many businesses actively
work to create and communicate a positive image to their customers,
shareholders, the financial community, and the general public. A
company that mismanages or ignores its image is likely to encounter a
variety of problems. "Reputation problems grow like weeds in a
garden," Davis Young wrote in his book Building Your Company's Good
Name. "Direct and indirect costs escalate geometrically."
o In businesses of all sizes, it is vital that
managers recognize the importance of
creating and maintaining a strong image,
and that they also make employees aware
of it. Corporate image begins within the
offices of a company's managers. It
should be based on the development of
good company policies, rather than on
controlling the damage caused by bad
company policies.

20. IMPORTANCE OF CORPORATE
IMAGE
 Several factors have contributed to the increasing
importance of corporate image in recent years. For
example, the business climate in the United States has
become one of environmental complexity and change. This
has forced many business enterprises to significantly alter
their strategies to better compete and survive. The
acceleration of product life cycles is another vital
dimension of the turbulent business environment.
 Globalization has been still another catalyst in the rise of
corporate image programs, as companies have sought ways
to spread their reputations to distant markets. A related
factor is that as a corporation expands its operations
internationally, or even domestically, through acquisitions,
there is a danger that its geographically dispersed business
units will project dissimilar or contrary images to the
detriment of corporate synergy.

21. IMPORTANCE OF CORPORATE
IMAGE
 A final factor stimulating the current interest in
corporate image is society's growing expectation that
corporations be socially responsible. Many of today's
consumers consider the environmental and social image
of firms in making their purchasing decisions. Some
companies have recognized this reality and reaped
tremendous benefits by conducting themselves in a
socially and environmentally responsible manner. Some
of these companies act out of genuine altruism, while
others act out of a simple recognition of the business
benefits of such behavior.

22. THEORY OF CORPORATE
IMAGE
 In the process of managing corporate image, the
fundamental variables are: corporate identity, corporate
communication, corporate image, and feedback.
 Corporate identity is the reality of the corporation—the
unique, individual personality of the company that
differentiates it from other companies.
 Corporate communication is the aggregate of sources,
messages, and media by which the corporation conveys
its uniqueness or brand to its various audiences.
 Corporate image is in the eye of the beholder—the
impression of the overall corporation held by its several
audiences.

23.  CORPORATE IDENTITY
 Corporate identity—the reality and uniqueness of the organization—may
be broken down into four component parts: corporate strategy, corporate
culture, organizational design, and operations. Strategy is the overall plan
that determines the company's product/market scope and the policies and
programs it chooses to compete in its chosen markets. Corporate culture is
the shared values and beliefs that the organization's members hold in
common as they relate to each other, their jobs, and the organization. It
defines what the firm's personnel believe is important and unimportant,
and explains to a large degree why the organization behaves the way it
does.
 CORPORATE IMAGE
 Corporate image is the reputation of the firm with the various
audiences that are important to it. These groups that have a stake in
the company are known as stakeholders. Stakeholders are affected by
the actions of the company and, in turn, their actions can affect the
company. Consequently, its image in the eyes of its stakeholders is
important to the company. The principal stakeholders with which most
large corporations must be concerned are: customers, distributors and
retailers, financial institutions and analysts, shareholders, government
regulatory agencies, social action organizations, the general public,
and employees.

24.  CORPORATECOMMUNICATION
 Corporate communication provides the link between corporate identity and
corporate image. It should be defined in the broadest possible sense,
because companies communicate identities in many different ways.
Communication can include almost anything the company does, from the way
telephones are answered to the involvement of company employees in
community affairs. Some of the principal sources of corporate communication
include company and product names and logos, formal statements (mission
statements, credos, codes of ethics, annual reports, advertising copy, and
company slogans), and behavior during important events.
 FEEDBACK
 Feedback is essential to the management of corporate image. Business
owners and managers need accurate information on how they and their
company are perceived if they are to make sound decisions. Ideally, feedback
should be continuous. As a practical matter, continuous feedback can be
elicited from salespeople, clients, employees, and other local business
owners. Based on such input, modifications may be made in the company's
communication methods or, if warranted, a formal study of the corporate
image may be initiated.