Effective Image Building

Lexically, image building is “improving the brand image or public image of something or someone by good public relations, advertising, etc.” Practically, the projection or image building is presentation of someone/something to people in a particular way, especially one that gives a real and good impression to viewers. A projection is required to make an effective appearance of a reality. Consequently, the image building shapes perceptions of public about someone/something. The right projection or definite perception of entrepreneur, institution, staff, and products/services is cornerstone of an effective marketing/branding/promotion struggle. It is now business standard globally to appoint some persons for psychological-based and aesthetic-driven projection of leadership, institution, workforce, and products/services. Accordingly, the projection or image-building has become an inevitable aspect of present-day businesses, both SMEs and LSEs.

An effective business projection has three dimensions – leadership dimension, institutional dimension, and product or service dimension. At leadership level, the ultimate purpose of an image building struggle is to portray a definite leadership style. An effective leader is missionary towards business objectives/threats, visionary towards ultimate business effects, dynamic towards manifold business processes/opportunities, and supportive towards all stakeholders/followers. At institutional level, the final motive of projection is to manifest a specific organizational behavior or to achieve goodwill. Academically, “A business’s image is composed of an infinite variety of facts, events, personal histories, advertising and goals that work together to make an impression on the public.” Generally, the organizational behavior is unique combination of competition, cooperation, and innovation approach of all stakeholders towards related business environs/people. The right business projection makes institutional strengths effective and institutional weaknesses irrelevant. At product/service level, a projection gives brand name to a product or a service, as a result, the business achieves Brand Equity. An effective projection process promotes simultaneously products/services quality, institutional efficacy, and persons’ productivity/effectiveness. It adopts multiple marketing techniques, launches various advertisement campaigns, and initiates manifold networking events. The best situation is to design marketing, advertisement, and networking in a reinforcing manner for effective projection of product/service, leadership, workforce, and institution.

Leader initiates a business and shapes a definite business culture through multiple organizational development strategies, so leader is a unique image of an institution. Moreover, he/she is an iconic representation of top management of an established organization and gives lasting identification to all stakeholders of the business. A strategic/tactical approach of effective appearance is all the more important for a leader, so that an image building campaign make precise projection of leadership profile. A slightest wrong projection of leadership would be detrimental for institutional growth and development. A veteran media cell is inevitable for accurate projection of top leadership in large organizations. A wrong image may eat precious time for fixing wrong messages due to ugly projection of top leadership.

A promotion campaign is an essential aspect for right projection of someone/something. Promotion is a communication activity based on some monetary incentives in order to increase or capture the market share of the product or service. The very purpose of a promotion is to attract new customers or engage the old ones. Moreover, promotion is an element of marketing mix, as well. There are seven elements of any marketing mix, i.e., price, product, promotion, place, people, process, and positioning. The marketing elements have physical & conceptual dimensions. The combined effect of seven elements is necessary for any successful marketing effort including right projection of someone/something.