Corporate identity services can cost a fortune. Fortunately, in the digital age, we have everything we need to DIY business management and create a corporate identity that truly resonates with our ideal clients. Here are four of the easiest ways to present your business professionally and convey a crisp corporate image without going out of your way or spending unnecessary money:
1. First Impressions Matter
The online world may be one of the first places the public interacts with your brand. Companies spend a great amount of time ensuring their website represents them effectively. Few understand the importance of ensuring that your entire identity match, both off and online. This includes your dress sense and your serviced office premises. Adhere to a dress code that reflects your brand and ensures your office is neat, well-managed, and professional.
2. Use Social Media To Reach Out
The joys of the online world allow you to spend a small fortune once-off and keep benefitting from it going forward. One example of this lies in your logo. Once you have a crisp and neat company logo, it becomes easy to send out advertising material that is on brand and professional. Often, a social media advertising campaign simply requires you to source a good image and add your logo to it – voila! You look like a professional marketer without breaking the bank. Once you have your brand colors and image established, it’s simple to put your best foot forward and frequently.
3. Earn Respect: Get Involved In Charity Work
One of the most effective ways to put your best foot forward is to sponsor a local charity. You will need to provide excellent service and put a genuine investment in order to gain visibility for your work. Not only does this option benefit your company’s brand, but it also benefits your local community. This will only cost you the time and resources you choose to invest – and you can usually negotiate a fairly decent spot in the charity’s thanks and credits. If you decide to sponsor a charity long term, you can add that to the footers of your email signature. Remember this, “One of the great ironies of life is this: He or she who serves almost always benefits more than he or she who is served” – Gordon Hinckle.
4. Work On Your Branding
Your branding is the uniform your company wears when you reach out to clients, when you present yourself in public, and when you advertise online – so make it good. Understand the power of colors and shapes when you create your logo and corporate identity. For example, red is known as an authoritative color that could indicate danger. Green, on the other hand, inspires trust. Sometimes, red is the perfect brand color for its strong and commanding stance, while green would appear too casual.
It’s a decision that requires some market research but once you have established your brand colors and your corporate identity, you will have a tool you can continue to use forever, giving your company a crisp corporate image to splash on signage, stationary, branded promotional products, online assets and so much more. “A brand registered in your name is like owning a piece of real estate that gives you dividends over time” -Anjali Chugh.
Establishing your corporate image needn’t be expensive. It’s the small considerations that create an impression – and ultimately – that’s what this is all about. You want to create a positive and professional impression on those around you and your potential clients.