CONCEPTUAL APPARATUS OF IMAGE-CREATING PROCESSES AND THEIR INFLUENCE ON ENSURING MARKET ADVANTAGES OF MARKET ENTITIES

Abstract

The environment of people's existence and the functioning of market entities in any field of economy is too dynamic: the technologies for the production of goods and the provision of services, communication technologies, methods of influencing target audiences, etc. are constantly changing. In such conditions, the corporate image becomes the reference point that helps consumers choose the best offer without fail. Based on the analysis of the theoretical provisions of the theories of communications and marketing, the approaches of domestic and foreign scientists were considered and the essence of the concepts "image" and "corporate image" were clarified. It was found that the image is mostly interpreted as emotional perception of the image of some subject in the minds of the target audiences. It was determined that the corporate image in the special literature is considered in three directions: image as a goal; image as a means of achieving organizational goals; image as an object of management. A feature of the corporate image is established, which consists in the presence of a prototype and an image inducer. Various types of image prototypes have been identified: person, company, organization, and territory. The main tasks of the corporate image are described, which provide, in addition to the formation of communications with target audiences, a significant impact on the competitiveness of the organization, as well as facilitate access to innovations and access to new market segments. The components of the modern corporate image are defined: the image of products/goods, the image of the consumer, the image of the head and staff of the organization, the visual and social image, and the business image. The ability of a positive image to provide the organization with many advantages is substantiated: psychological, marketing, market, social, and corporate. It was concluded that the image should be considered as a goal, as a tool for achieving the goals of the organization, as well as as an object of management that requires targeted efforts of all units of an enterprise. The study of the image of any enterprise should be carried out comprehensively, based on its influence on the marketing strategy of the enterprise as well as on the communication effect in particular.