What sets your business apart from the one down the street? --or the one in the next town? -- or the one with the ad next to yours in the telephone directory? It's not just technical skills or sales ability or the size of your booth at the trade fair. It's more basic than that. You can't buy it, lease it, or rent it, but it's the single most valuable asset your business will ever own. It's your company's image.
The image customers have of your company is what you allow to be created. It's an overall public understanding of what your company stands for, what you sell, and how your products and services match people's needs. The image people form helps them decide whether to buy from you, what to buy, and whether to refer new customers to you. The image can also result in people taking their business elsewhere if you no longer fulfill their expectations. Your technical skills and sales ability alone won't move the products out the door. To successfully market yourself and your products, you must actively work to help the public form a unified, positive and powerful image of your business.
Many small business owners think creation and maintenance of a successful image requires the services of an expensive advertising or public relations agency. Not so! If you've got a little time and energy to devote to your image, and a little money to spend maintaining it, you can start creating winning public perceptions of your business today!
Here's a quick guide to get you thinking about some of the things you'll need to consider when creating a successful new image, or polishing up the time-honored image you already have:
YOUR GOALS
Analyze where your business is now, and where you want it to be down the road. How big have you grown to be? How big do you want to get? What resources will you need? How will the need for you products and services be different in two years? --five years? --ten years? Analyze your situation, set goals for yourself, and keep those goals firmly in mind. They establish boundaries for everything you do.
YOUR LOGO
Your business logo is the signature that ties together all the components of your company. It should be understandable, uncluttered, modern in appearance and offensive to no one. As your signature, it needs to appear in identical form on all your company letterhead, publications, signs, vehicles, equipment, uniforms and supplies. It should have official trademark protection, for it personalizes your business and stands for everything you represent.
YOUR WRITTEN COMMUNICATION
Every letter you send out, every brochure you place in a customer's hand, and every bill for services rendered must be perfect and in complete harmony with the professional image you establish. Shop around, then make friends with a reputable printer who will provide you with the best quality paper stock and supplies at a reasonable price. The same is true for your word processing and reproduction equipment. Buy the best quality equipment you can afford and have your office, sales and support staff trained to use it correctly. Whether you use an expensive word processor or a reliable manual typewriter, everything your office produces and sends out demonstrates the value you place on customer interaction. Use the nothing but best paper and the most understandable, easy-to-read forms, spec sheets and brochures, all imprinted with your logo. Copyright your printed ideas so they remain your property.
The author once was familiar with a small customer service business which for years had mailed out its customer account statements in envelopes, with a return-mail envelope included. New ownership took over, and in an immediate cost-cutting move replaced the statements with impersonal, computer-generated postcards mailed from another state. Customers, many of whom were elderly and had been with the firm for years, were confused and angry. Dozens of accounts were lost. Almost overnight, a minor cost-cutting move turned into an image disaster. This kind of mistake can be avoided if you pledge right from the start to never short-cut your company's written communication to save a few dollars.
YOUR SIGNS
Like your stationery and brochures, the signs that advertise your business on buildings, vehicles and equipment should be the best you can afford. Signs play an important role in image development by placing your logo in front of customers and potential customers, many of whom may not yet have a clear understanding of what you business is all about. Make sure your signs are accurate, simple, uncluttered, and firmly portray your professionalism.
Signs need to be installed on your place of business, so that the overall look of the building and grounds is one of professionalism and competency. You don't need to make a huge investment. Even a quonset hut can look better with a fresh coat of paint, some attractive shrubbery and a clean, modern sign identifying the business. All of this contributes to a successful image; none of it costs a lot.
Any service vehicles operated by your business -- and the people who drive them -- should also support your image. Clean, well-groomed employees in attractive, functional uniforms driving clean and well maintained service vehicles give your firm an image of professionalism. They command respect.
Last and certainly not least, the tools you take into the field, and the equipment you leave there, need to be of the highest quality and as attractive and functional as possible. All equipment left in a customer's home or office should have your logo and business phone number permanently affixed. Shortly after joining the staff of a small business in southern California, the author was dispatched to check on rental equipment which remained in a residence after the owners moved out. Upon arrival, he found the new owners of the home had decided the unlabelled equipment was theirs to do with as they pleased. They had torn it out in a remodeling project and carted it off to the dump. An expensive lesson was learned: permanently identify everything that belongs to or was sold by your company.
YOUR COMMUNITY OUTREACH
A most effective way to keep your company's name before the public and build on your positive image is to contribute to community affairs. Participate in charity drives. Co-sponsor civic events. Be active in community service groups. When your company supports the community, your image will get a boost that money can't buy. When you socialize with the business people in your community, you'll be networking with people who can help your business grow - as you help theirs. You can't lose.
For a new way to share your company's product and service message -- in a form that doesn't scream "adverting" -- consider starting a newsletter. No longer just an internal publication, today's newsletter tells a company's story and enhances its image for employees, customers, and industry professionals. Newsletters are easy and inexpensive to produce, and research shows the typical newsletter sent to one customer is read by at least two other people. Newsletters are great image boosters!
Contact with the news media ties in with your effort to keep your company's name before the public. Make use of the media. Get to know your local newspaper editor, radio news director and television news assignments manager. When you develop a new technology, install a new or unusual piece of equipment, or have an employee honored for workplace or community service, put out a news release. Then, don't be surprised if you get phone calls. News organizations need story ideas about business innovations, personnel, accomplishments and achievements. Often, they need experts to comment on local business in general, or your industry in specific. You're an expert -- so get involved!
SUMMARY
These are just a few, general ideas to getting you thinking about the importance of your business image. Of course, the most important thing is that you present a portrait of your business that's right for your organization, your goals, your customers and the community you serve. Allow your company to be seen as "special," providing products and services that fill a niche in the community and make you unique among all businesses of your type. Once you've done that, once you've given your customers and your community the chance to see your professionalism, your knowledge, your commitment and your positive attitude -- you will have developed that perfect image you sought.