Customers search your website, your social media presence and any online reviews. While it's true that building trust is something that happens with every interaction, creating a professional brand can help you do that before your customers even talk to you. Your logo is the face of your business. Spend time refining your logo. Use logos from companies you use. Place their logos and names on your website, even if they're just companies you buy from. In addition to informing your customers about the products that go into making the services and experience they receive from you, you're also legitimizing your own brand by association. See if it drives business. I've written and been mentioned in articles for numerous online industry publications, and I highlight the articles I've written on our company press pages so that they're easy to find. Every step you take to build trust creates the perception of a professional brand.
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It’s no secret that customers like to research their options before choosing a service. Today, that happens online in about five minutes. Customers search your website, your social media presence and any online reviews. They want to see if you’re doing a good job. More importantly, they want to know if they can trust you.
While it’s true that building trust is something that happens with every interaction, creating a professional brand can help you do that before your customers even talk to you. Developing a trustworthy brand is about more than just having a domain name and a hosting platform. (You should have those already!)
I’ve spent years developing professional brands for clients and myself and discovered core strategies to build trust and stand out from the competition during the process. Branding takes time, effort and investment, but it pays off in earned revenue and business growth.
Here are seven ways to start building your professional brand right now:
1. Hire design professionals.
Your logo is the face of your business. Because logo design affects the color scheme of your website, get this done first by hiring a freelancer or a company that specializes in logo design. I’ve used 99designs and LogoBee and have had excellent results. Spend time refining your logo. I request changes and provide input until the logo is perfect. The process typically takes 10 days.
After your logo is ready, hire a web designer to build your website. I prefer to use agencies or freelancers on platforms like Upwork.com. A freelancer platform acts as an intermediary between you and your designers, and you have the opportunity to review your experience after completion.
Instead of using free stock photos, purchase high-quality images from sites like iStock to make your pages stand out. Don’t forget to include images of yourself and team on the site. Hire a professional photographer for executive head shots. I suggest posting a project on Thumbtack.com and have local photographers bid for the job. Use those photos on your website and social media so that consumers can put a face to your brand.
Spend the money. It’s worth it.
Related: 11 Ways to Boost Your Sales Performance
2. Get a professional phone system.
Two employees operated my first ecommerce business — my father and me — but you wouldn’t have known that if you had called us. One of the first steps I took to change the perception of my business was to purchase a toll-free phone number through RingCentral for $25 a month.
When customers called the number, an automated system greeted them with, “Thanks for calling Wholesale Janitorial Supply!” and presented them with options to contact our sales, billing, tracking and service departments.
No matter what department they chose, the call went to the same place. I was the one answering all the lines!…
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