An engaging Company Profile is a great way to truly connect with prospective customers – and get them to buy from you. It can also help you to portray a professional image, help to establish rapport, build trust and reinforce your brand.
While it’s tempting to produce a document which looks bright and shiny, it’s more important to ensure you get the content right first. Most people will see straight through a Company Profile which is full of glossy photos and little wording – unless you’re promoting your services as a photographer or printer!
Who’s reading your Company Profile?
Think about the reader first – your Company Profile needs to make a connection with them.
- Who is our intended reader?
- How much time will they have to read our Company Profile?
Think about what they want to know and adjust your content accordingly
A lot of businesses simply prepare their Company Profile based on standard guidelines, without thinking about the needs of the reader. The contents are often based on assumptions about what prospective clients want to know, rather than facts. Before you go ahead with preparing your document, you need to ascertain exactly, “What do our prospective clients truly want to know about us?”
First timers
If you don’t already have a Company Profile, talk to your current clients, friends and/or family. Ask them what questions they have about your products or services, and what barriers they have, if any, to buying from you. This will help you decide what needs to be included in your Company Profile. Once you’ve drafted the document, give it to those people to read, then ask whether they feel they would be in a position to make a purchasing decision after reading it. Use this information to add to or edit your Company Profile.
Updating your current profile
If you already have a Company Profile, ask a few trusted clients for their honest feedback on the current document, paying attention to the feedback and questions you get when people read it. Also, think about the questions you are most frequently asked by prospective customers. These questions point to issues you’ll need to address when you update your document.
For example, if you are a company which supplies products or services to busy small business owners, who are very often extremely time-poor, your Company Profile will need to be concise and get straight to the point. You may need to consider using more bullet points and shorter, more concise paragraphs. Whereas a Company Profile for a business who supplies products or services to government or the corporate sector may need to contain much more detailed information. However, both types of documents still require a great deal of care in their preparation.
Use images
A lot of companies don’t use images in their Company Profile, and this is really a missed opportunity. If you’re profiling the business owner and/or key staff members, include a small photo of the person next to their profile. That way, the client can put a face to the name, which helps to build rapport.
You may also consider including a photo of your business premises, if appropriate.
Photos of your leading products or your recent work can also be included. The inclusion of good quality photos can help differentiate your business from your competitors.
Reinforce your brand
There’s no better place to reinforce your brand than in your Company Profile. Your Mission and Core Values Statements can be used to outline and reinforce what your business is about and confirm what you stand for.
Don’t forget to use your logo and company colours. This will ensure that all your branding is uniform and help to portray a more professional image.
The bottom line
While your Company Profile will contain a great deal of information about your organisation, if you want to win more business, it needs to be written with the reader in mind. The document must answer the questions of the reader in order to establish rapport, build trust and compel them to buy from you. A well-written Company Profile, which contains all the relevant information your potential client needs to make an informed decision will greatly assist you in winning more business.
For more Company Profile tips, check out: How to make your Company Profile stand out and 7 top tips for a winning Company Profile – from a professional on this blog.
Hi, I’m Lyndall Guinery-Smith, The Professional Writer. I have a strong background in small business management and actually enjoy writing Company Profiles (as crazy as that sounds!).
I love to write copy dedicated to attracting and engaging your customers, and improving your bottom line. I happily work with clients all round Australia. Email me to arrange an obligation-free discussion about your latest project.
