Giving off a professional vibe is important in the world of business. Whether your business deals in window cleaning or website design, floristry or outside catering, these tips ought to give you some support in ensuring you are portraying the right image to potential clients.
Well-designed logo
Logos go hand in hand with a recognisable business name. Ensure that you have a clear, attractive logo, which fits with the theme of your business category and aims. Clarity is vital. If a customer has to spend five minutes looking at your logo to work out that it is a certain word spelt out in leaves, that definitely does not equate to being well-designed. There are many free logo design sites you could use, although this leaves you with the distinct possibility of someone else having a very similar logo. This can lead to obvious confusion. Have a chat to colleagues and they may be able to recommend a local designer, who could help you create something perfect for you and your business, ensuring it has a professional look to it.
Top quality website
Nowadays, a website is far more important than a poster in the local corner shop. (That doesn’t mean to say that the good old poster is redundant though – it just does not cut it on its own!) The vast majority of people will use a search engine to find a business they want to use rather than grabbing the Yellow Pages or scouring through adverts in the back of newspapers. Having a top quality website is vital to look professional. Whether you choose to do it yourself or pay to have someone do it for you, make sure it fits with your company’s ethos.
Uniform
For some businesses, a uniform is a great way of getting your branding out there and also creating a team that pulls together. Custom screen printing is a great technique for use on t-shirts, hoodies and hats, for example. Having your workforce being instantly recognisable through the use of a uniform is an excellent way of advertising your professional work.
Social media presence
Nowadays, social media is a given for any business that hopes to succeed. The younger generations turn to social media to discover everything about anything. Ensuring you have a professional approach to this is intrinsic to your success. “Don’t feed the trolls!” is a well-known saying with regard to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and the like. Many people will post deliberately inflammatory comments in the hope of getting into a heated debate or causing someone to retort in an unnecessary way. If you choose to take people’s negative comments personally and reply in the same way to them, this can be incredibly damaging for your business’ reputation. However, genuine concerns ought to be replied to, in a friendly and possibly apologetic way.
Communication
Ensure that, if you are conducting meetings in public places, you do not share confidential information or speak in a derogatory manner about customers or competitors (this should apply wherever you are meeting though!). With email communication, try to set a formal tone and use ‘Dear’ at the start, rather than ‘Hi’. Furthermore, avoid using terms of endearment, which might be nice in person, but can appear condescending when written down.
