What Are the Different Types of Corporate Branding Strategy?

A corporate branding strategy is a process that companies use to make consumers more aware of their products. In most cases, the strategy has a design that will promote one company’s products or services over other companies' goods. Types of branding strategies include product, product line, product range and overall corporate branding. A company usually has some flexibility when selecting a branding strategy. In some cases, more than one strategy might apply, depending on company size and the scope of products in the marketplace.

Product branding strategy typically places more emphasis on a single product than the entire company. This process often starts with a product that has a special name and particular use for consumption. Essentially, this corporate branding strategy looks to place a special value on the identity or positioning of the product. A downside is that the company might lose awareness of the corporate name compared with its products, so consumers know the product but not the business.

A slightly different strategy is a product line branding. Companies might have multiple products under a single product line, with each item having a slightly different attribute. This strategy is to promote all of the products instead of a single product. A product line branding strategy also allows for a company to achieve an economy of scale in terms of advertising. The money spent on this branding strategy boosts multiple products in terms of overall consumer awareness.

Product range branding is similar to product line branding but has specific differences. Where a product line corporate branding strategy is more vertical in nature, product range branding is more horizontal — instead of promoting different products under the same brand, the products are more similar. For example, an appliance manufacturer might produce several types of washing machines. Though the washing machines are slightly different in features and names, product range branding allows the company to market each one successfully. Again, the economies of scale come into play with this branding method.

The final corporate branding strategy involves the promotion of the company itself above its products. In many ways, this is the preferable method because it places the company’s name first rather than the actual product names. Consumers then become more aware of the company that builds, markets or repairs certain product types, creating a higher profile for the business. This branding strategy is more common in service industries. Companies in service industries typically do not sell a product that consumers can see or touch, making the name of the company more important.