Many new businesses start from the kitchen table or the coffee shop. However you may not want everyone to know this when you are trying to get key suppliers on board or go after your first big contract. There are lots of ways that you can project a ‘big business’ image for your new venture. Five of the easiest things you can do are:
1) Email – chances are you are going to be emailing a lot of people to introduce yourself and try and establish relationships. Emailing for your personal accounts does not look very professional but it is very easy and very cheap to purchase your own domain name and get you own business email addresses. So instead of emailing from an @yahoo or @hotmail address you can be emailing from @mycompanyname. The first step to doing this is securing the domain name for your company. You can start by doing a free domain name search on our website.
2) Website – once you have your domain name secured the next step is to get a website online. It is pretty much expected that every business will have a website these days. It does not need to be anything fancy to start with. You just need a couple of pages with basic information about what you do and who you are so that if one of your potential suppliers or clients wants to check you out they have something to look at. Obviously the more professional the site looks the higher your credibility will be so it is worth investing some time and money into this. As you add more content onto your website you should also find that it starts to generate leads and business for you in its own right.
3) Branding – Getting a logo, business cards and letterheads designed will make sure you can make a good impression when meeting people face to face or sending them letters. It shows that you are investing some time and energy into your business and doing things properly. If you have formed a limited company having proper letter headed paper will also help you to fulfil the requirement to include your company details on all of your correspondence. With business cards in particular it is best to avoid the very cheap print offers that you sometimes see. If you can it is worth spending a little extra and getting your cards printed on a heavier weight of paper. This means that they will feel ‘right’ when you hand them to someone.
4) NGN – a non-geographic telephone number such as an 0800 or 0843 number can be a handy tool for small businesses. You can have an NGN number diverted so that it rings on your normal landline or mobile number. This means you do not have to give out personal numbers to the public and makes you look more professional. With the hosted telephone solutions that are available from many suppliers you should also gain access to your number so that you can divert it to your mobile, landline, office or answer phone as and when you need it. This ensures that you always have the best chance of answering the phone when customers call.
5) Social Media – most people expect even the smallest business to have a website. Increasingly they will also expect them to be on the main social networking sites. And it is not just people, there is a lot of evidence that the major search engines are also using active social media profiles as an indicator when deciding where to rank websites. Building a social media strategy for your business can takes time but is well worth the investment.
The Company Warehouse can help to get your new business up and running by providing you with email addresses, a website, business branding and non-geographic telephone numbers. We can also help you to set up and brand your social media accounts. Our Business Consultants can tailor a package to suit your needs and budget. Give them a call on 0800 0828 727.