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Making Your Business More Professional in 5 Easy Steps

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article |Make your business more professional|Making Your Business More Professional in 5 Easy StepsMaking your business more professional helps you attain new customers. Without customers, there is no business. So here are some tips for managing your image and staying on top of it.

Keep the Office Clean and Tidy

Appearance is pretty everything. You need to provide a solid and reliable service, of course. But people will judge you on how your company presents itself. And one of the main things that sets a successful business apart from a poor one is pride in the office. So the first step is to hire professional cleaning services to keep your offices immaculate. Especially if your business depends on client visits. But there’s also a health and safety aspect when it comes to treating your employees with respect. They shouldn’t have to work in filthy or dangerous conditions.

Establish Web Presence

You probably already have a website. But a website is essentially a digital business card if it isn’t used right. Sure, you can provide specific details of your service. But you need to make a website work for you. The first step is to register with Google My Business. This provides local SEO to search engines, and you will show up in Google Maps. Next, you can use more SEO to get internet traffic by attaching a blog and optimizing your site. Finally, it’s crucial that you register a domain using your business name, buy a business email and redesign a poor site.

Look More Professional with Branding

Branding is crucial for any business and is far more than simple advertising. Branding is a way to connect with customers through corporate identity and instant recognition. With solid branding, you can become synonymous with a specific product. The same way you think of Jacuzzi when talking about hot tubs or Hoover with vacuum cleaners. You can set aside money for branding as part of your 5 to 10% marketing rule. But don’t be stingy with the funding. A reputable digital marketing company will need a good amount of cash for a solid campaign.


Invest in Customer and Client Care

You have no business without customers. Yet you might lack good customer service. This is a shame because this is one of the first things a customer notices. And they will simply not do business with you. If you find you can’t keep customers, then review your customer service policy. You can begin by making your website easy to use, providing at least an email address and phone number, and always responding to queries. Additionally, you can advance features to a website such as outsourced telephone answering and AI or manned Live Chat software.

Take Care of Yourself

Finally, but no less critical, you need to look after your health, hygiene, and wellbeing. As the owner, you might be the face of your company. Therefore, you are recognizable. So people will engage with you. However, while customers will engage, no one will want continued business with someone who can’t be bothered to shave or fix their hair, shower or bathe, or even look them in the eye. Any of these can be affected by mental health issues like stress and anxiety. So you must address issues like these first before becoming a recognizable or public figure.

Summary

It’s essential that you make your business more professional these days. You can easily keep the office clean and tidy, hire a marketing agency for branding and look after your wellbeing.

Leadership Inspirations – Socially Responsible Leader Branding

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StrategyDriven Marketing and Sales Quote
 
“Transforming a brand into a socially responsible leader doesn’t happen overnight by simply writing new marketing and advertising strategies. It takes effort to identify a vision that your customers will find will find credible and aligned with their values.”

Simon Mainwaring
Social Media Expert and Advertising Creative Director for Mashable

Take Your Business To The Next Level By Building It Into A Brand

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Take Your Business To The Next Level By Building It Into A BrandPhoto courtesy of The Blue Diamond Gallery

You may have your own business, but do you have a brand?

Branding is an important step forward for businesses. A strong brand name can make you stand out. Building a brand is important to develop a reputation. It can also help you branch out to other business endeavours.

For example, think of some of the brands you know. Levis are known for producing high-quality jeans and other casual wear. Virgin are known for their worldwide operations in a number of industries, from travel to banking.

Here are some of the most important steps to building your business into a brand.

Register Your Brand

Before doing anything else, you will want to decide on a brand name and legally protect it. This involves registering your brand name as a trademark. The two most important aspects to registering your brand name as a trademark are making sure it is available and recognizable.

You don’t want to build your business up under one name just to find out it is already taken by another business. Before building your brand up, check your brand name is available and sets you apart from other companies.

Also make it recognizable. A punchy name that people will remember is more appropriate. Nike may not have had the same success if they called themselves ‘Athletic Gear For You’.

Next, Secure Your Trademark by registering your brand name. Be sure to check your brand name availability and protect your trademark.

Use Clever Marketing

Now you have your brand name, you need to market it. Using ad campaigns can get your name out there, let customers know what you offer and start to build a reputation for yourself.

The most widely known companies use advertising just to push their brand name, as they are already known for their products. For example, think of how prominent the Coca-Cola Christmas Adverts are.

Television advertising isn’t the only way to go. Many companies now turn to internet marketing to get their name out there. Try getting your brand name onto blogs related to your field. Even just getting on social media can be a good way to create a following around your brand.

Marketing is the best way to build a buzz around your brand, so make sure to use it.

Keep Customers Happy

Customers associate brand names with the quality of products and services they provide. Therefore, it is important to make sure your brand name has a positive connotation for customers.

Make sure you practise good customer service. If a customer has a complaint, do what you can to resolve the issue in a way that will make them appreciate your brand. Sometimes refunds and free goodies can pay off, as bad customer reviews can hurt your brand image.

You should also find ways to interact with customers. Social media brings you closer to customers, and can also allow you to respond to queries. You can also post competitions and offers to get customers excited and draw more in.

Overall, you want a strong, recognizable brand name that is known for quality products and good customer service. Make use of these tips and start building your brand.

Standing Out In Business – The Era of the Brand

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Standing out in the marketplace has become increasingly challenging in a world of sensory overload. Because of this challenge, a familiar and trusted brand still has the ability to cut through the clutter. Organizations will need to look deep inside themselves to find those unique characteristics which differentiate them from the competition and leverage these differentiators to become the preferred choice of customers and prospects.

From over two decades of experience, we have identified eight primary factors which contribute to standing out from the competition when it comes to marketing. We’ve distilled what we’ve learned into The 8 Fundamentals we define below. Ideally this information will help you to shine a light on shortcomings or challenges in your marketing strategy and offer suggestions and solutions for you to Stand Out from the competition, Take Off in a direction that’s true to who you are and where you want to be, and, finally, to Stay On Course to reach your goals.

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About the Authors

Lorrie Brignac LeeWinnie Brignac HartWinnie Brignac Hart and Lorrie Brignac Lee of TwinEngine bring 25+ years of marketing experience to leveraging their twin talents to help companies translate traditional marketing channels into forward-thinking solutions. They have built a reputation as inspired, award-winning designers and savvy interpreters of business brand and personality. Their most recent book collaboration, Stand Out: Tools To Master The 8 Fundamentals Of Standing Out In Business, is available on Amazon.com.

For more information visit TwinEngine.com.