How To Make Your Business Look Bigger
Posted on: 26 May 2016
A small business doesn't have to represent itself as a small business. Evoking the look and feel of a larger enterprise can be a self-fulfilling prophecy by encouraging buyers to take your company that much more seriously -- and the changes you make don't have to break the bank. Here are some strategies to help you turn a magnifying glass on your business presence.
Put Your Logo on Everything
Your brand is the face of your company, and your logo is the face of your brand -- but how often do your clients and prospects see it, and do you even have one to show them? A logo serves as an immediate shorthand signal, jogging the memory and keeping you "top of mind" on a regular basis. The more attention-grabbing and easy to remember your logo is, the more of a presence you can maintain in your customer's home or office. For instance, if every mailing you send out is enlivened by your distinctive, unique logo design, eventually the recipients will get the feeling that they're seeing you everywhere -- when in fact they're just recognizing your products and services more readily than those of your competitors. Since you're more visible, you seem "bigger."
Once you've had a relevant, colorful logo designed for your business, put it on everything that represents your company, from your website to your outgoing packages. Create custom labels on your printer, or have them created by your local print shop, and then adhere them to all your envelopes, product shipments and mailing cartons. (You might even emulate a certain major company company and include logo stickers inside the package as a cute extra feature.) Make your image a part of your clients' daily lives, and you'll seem like a giant to them.
Focus on a Smaller (but Purer) Audience
Oddly enough, one of the best ways to look bigger is to shrink your marketing focus. Getting bigger by getting smaller may not make a lot of sense until you consider the value of putting all your marketing eggs into the basket of one narrow, precise target market or "niche." Chances are that you get the majority of your revenue from particular demographic, such as someone trying to solve a specific need or seeking a provider in a specific city or region. Niche marketing is all about deciding exactly who you need to be doing business with, and then focusing on that ideal customer..
How does focusing on one particular niche market make your business look bigger? By taking your entire marketing budget and using it to inundate that lucrative little chunk of the population, you can make a much bigger splash and establish a much larger presence with the individuals who most need your products or services. A thousand custom labels festooned with your logo might not make much of an impression in a watered-down effort to appeal to everyone in the country, but they'll go a lot farther when they're saturating a single, demographically-pure crowd. The same holds true for your online marketing efforts. By optimizing your website and pay-per-click advertising with keywords that appeal to specific populations, industries or geographic areas (often encapsulated in composite creations called marketing personas), you'll get a lot more bang for your online marketing buck.
Become a Corporation
Incorporating your business makes sense for several reasons, such as protecting yourself from direct liability in case of some disastrous financial threat to the business that might otherwise wipe out your personal assets. But turning your business into its own standalone entity also makes it seem bigger. For many, simply adding "Inc." or "Corporation" next to your company's name grants it a gravity and prestige previously lacking. Your enterprise might still consist of three people working in your garage, but now it's also a separate entity that can endure for generations, raise capital with relative ease and function under the leadership of an ever-expanding team in years to come. A business that's been incorporated is seen as one that aims to grow ever larger and more prosperous.
Be aware that all corporations are not created equal. There are C corporations, S corporations and LLC (limited liability company) corporations, each with its own tax, payroll and distribution pros and cons. Ask your CPA to help you select the most intelligent incorporation strategy for your business.
From beefing up your branding efforts and targeting your niche market to altering your business's liability structure, your small business has the power to look as imposing, authentic and credible as you wish. So take these strategies under advisement -- and get ready to scale up your success!
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