Certification Branding: What is Certification Branding and How to Start in 5 Steps

WRITTEN BY: Marijana Staneković, Director of Marinorm doo and Owner of the Certification Brand ISF© International-Standard-Forum.

The emergence of certificates and awards in Croatia has experienced an upward trend over the last 15 years and is currently in a lull. The reason for this is the poor perception of „various certificates“ in the public and, in a way, the devaluation of the primary purpose of certification.

The very concept of a certificate, by definition, represents merit based on application and successfully completed education, testing, and implementation of specific knowledge, skills, and procedures by individuals and organizations with a positive end result. Certification requires investments and resources to successfully meet all the criteria of the standard under which the organization wishes to certify or must certify under certain conditions, or an individual who successfully meets a specific testing.

An award, on the other hand, represents merit based solely on application or without application, at the invitation whose sole purpose is merely the analysis of certain already achieved indicators that were required by the application. Thus, obtaining awards does not require any additional effort, time, or resources. Awards are most often free and are granted based on already achieved results.

The fundamental difference, as mentioned, between certificates and awards lies in the innovations or advancements that organizations and individuals further invest in to obtain certificates. This is precisely the moment to start certification branding because every innovation and advancement and thus acquired excellence should be celebrated.

Certification branding represents to the interested public all the values that individuals and organizations have earned through merit to achieve a specific result. This result can be compliance for quality to meet the needs and demands of customers, concern for the environment and sustainable impact, ensuring the security of information, products, health, and respect for employees, the best provided services/products, etc.

Why should organizations and individuals certify their own values at all? The other day, in a conversation with a renowned polyclinic for aesthetic surgery, they mentioned on the topic of certificates: „Whether a client will correct her nose or implant silicone does not depend on the certificates we possess but on the name of the doctor performing the procedure.“

When a person representing quality is the only one who is also their own brand and everything depends solely on them because they do everything themselves, then the risk for the business is very high. We are all aware of this who work for ourselves. But when a system stands behind someone’s name, and that system is certified, then that system is a brand (regardless of whether it originated from someone’s name) and as such is resistant to all the risks we are facing these days. Organizations certify to prove stability and permanence, which means that one day when one of us decides to correct their nose or implant silicone, we can trust that everything will be as it should because the entire team, or the entire system, is certified and branded and as such is reliable.

Of course, the basis of every branding is of a marketing nature, but what is particularly emphasized is that certification branding depends on the holders of certificates, individuals and organizations, and the segment that wants to be particularly highlighted through certification because it represents special value for the organization and individual, society, customers, etc.

How to successfully launch certification branding in 5 steps

Application

To make the right decision about the type of certificate that will be most beneficial to you or out of obligation to a partner or client, it is necessary to thoroughly assess all the benefits that certification brings and all the conditions required by certification. As I mentioned in the introduction, the certification process requires investment of certain resources with the aim of achieving benefits. Merely financial payment for certification services does not guarantee the achievement of benefits. In my opinion, this is the main reason that has led to the poor perception of certification recently. Certification is a concept that insists on development; stagnation is simply not an option.

Implementation

The criteria that the standard makes available within a specific certification process represent the norm that the organization or individual must successfully meet. Depending on the certification standard itself, the criteria vary, while in some segments they may overlap. The method of implementing criteria and requirements depends on the context of the organization or individual performance and is not determined by the standard itself, while the result is what is verified during the assessment.

Assessment

The assessment process is carried out by an independent certification body, or authorized persons who have confirmed authorization from the certification body for the verification of standard criteria. The assessment process is actually a conversation or written verification, depending on whether it is a physical person wanting to certify a specific skill or an organization wanting to certify a product, service, individual process, or the entire system.

Certification

Certification represents obtaining a certificate after a detailed analysis of verified results during the assessment. Thus, the certificate represents a real merit for the special effort invested. What is extremely important to our certification body Marinorm ISF© is the recognition of excellent business practices in the organizations we certify. Business excellence is high on the list of our business goals that we provide and recognize in organizations with which we begin the application process. Achieving business excellence is not simple nor is it acquired overnight.

Organizations that have achieved a level of excellence know that the path to that phase was long and costly, but the result is excellent in the end, which is evident in all segments of business. How has certification helped them in this? Simply by the fact that standards and certificates obligate to determine the standardization of activities and procedures, resulting in an excellent organization. There is no improvisation, chaos, and omissions and mistakes are minimized. This is called excellence. And business excellence is achieved by excellent people whose activities and skills are the result of many certified trainings.

Certification Branding

The certificate has been obtained. And here certification branding just begins. I mentioned that the acquired certificates must be presented to the wide interested public. Why? Because we have satisfied internal requirements through previous phases and now it is necessary to turn the acquired certificates into a brand. Why brand? Because every investment in a business sense that organizations or individuals make must be returned. Everything is a market and brands arise because of the market, so certification branding exists because of the market to gain customer trust and provide cooperation. Certification branding is active promotion of business excellence that was the subject of certification, and the certificate is just a formal confirmation of that acquired excellence.

In the upcoming articles, I will detail all types of certification brands and provide you with the main benefits and descriptions of how to use them.

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