Does Your Business Have An Image Problem?
Image is so important in business, especially if you’re running a small company. When you’re going up against massive businesses with thousands of employees, it’s difficult to convince customers that you can offer the same level of service and quality of product. But you don’t need your business to actually be that big, you just need to make it appear that way. This can be difficult and there are some areas where you won’t be able to match your larger competitors. But for the most part, you can make these simple changes to improve the image of your small business and gain the trust of potential customers.
A Professional Website
When people enter your website, they start making judgments about your company right away. If you’ve got a dated website that was built on a free website builder, people will automatically assume that you’re a small company that doesn’t have any money to invest in web design. They’re also less likely to have trust in your site which is so important if you’re selling products online. People aren’t going to be willing to hand their details over to a site if they’re not confident that you have the money to pay for security software to protect them.
That’s why building a professional website is one of the most important things that you can do to improve your company image. It’s a bit of an investment but if you pay a professional web design company to build your site for you, you’ll see an increase in sales.
Build An App
As well as a good website, you should consider building an app for your business. All of the big companies that you can think of probably have their own app and you should as well. It’s a great way to give your customers another way to purchase products from you and it’s a great marketing tool as well. Consumers tend to assume that if you have a mobile app, you’re a big company, even if that isn’t true. Again, building an app is going to cost you a bit of money but you should consider it an investment in marketing.
Virtual Offices
If you’re running a home based business, your lack of office can work against you. If customers are trying to get in touch with you and they see that your phone line is just a mobile or your home number, and your address is just the home address, they might not take you seriously. You could consider moving into an office but if you’re just starting out, you’re probably not in a position to cover those overheads. But you can get the best of both worlds if you pay for a virtual office service instead. You’ll get a proper office address where people can send post that is then forwarded to you. You’ll also get a phone line to the office which will be answered and then directed through to you. When customers are contacting your business in any way, they get the impression that you’re a big company with a proper office space, even if you’re running the company from your living room.
Be Good To Your Employees
People always talk about their jobs, especially if they hate them. If you’re employing people and you aren’t treating them with respect or you’re overworking them, they’ll tell people about it. That means that anybody they speak to about the company will have a negative view of you and they’re not likely to deal with you. The power of word of mouth is often underestimated and people don’t realize just how much impact a few disgruntled employees can have.
That’s why it’s so important to treat your employees well and pay them a fair wage. As well as improving your company image, this will increase productivity in the business and help to drive sales.
Customer Reviews
Around 97 percent of consumers will look at reviews before they decide whether to pay for a product or service. If you’re not making good use of customer reviews, you’re missing a great opportunity to improve your company image. Whenever you deal with a customer, you should email them and encourage them to leave a review on your website. If you display them front and centre so potential customers can see them as soon as they enter the website. This will lend you a lot of credibility and show customers that your products are worth the money. People are so reliant on customer reviews that they’ll be suspicious of any company that doesn’t show them.
If you can sort your business image out, you’ll find it a lot easier to compete with big companies.