Launching a startup is easier than ever. Operating from home means your running costs can be as little as a broadband subscription. The internet provides seamless access to e-commerce platforms. Social media allows anyone with a smartphone to run a fully-fledged marketing campaign. What’s stopping you?
Of course, the flip side of this is that never before has there been more competition. With thousands of small businesses proliferating, how do you make sure that your business rises to the top of your crowded niche?
Whether you’re getting ready to launch or you’re in need of a boost after launching a little prematurely, these tips will help you make your business seem more professional so you can compete with more established brands.
Don’t Launch too Early
There’s very little stopping you from launching your business the moment you have a product or service ready to go. So why not dive in immediately and work out the details later?
There is a good reason to hold back. That is to allow you to make the most of your launch. You only get one chance at making a first impression, and launching without key elements of your brand and operations in place would be a lost opportunity. What’s more, you may never get a chance to dot the i’s and cross the t’s once you’re open for business, and all your energy is going into serving your customer.
Of course, you can recover from a lukewarm launch by taking steps to make your business more professional after the fact. But if you want to maximise your chances, it’s best to get the creases ironed out beforehand.
Get a Beautiful Website
Your website needn’t be state-of-the-art, but it should be visually appealing to your target audience. Research has shown that many consumers base their judgments of a brand on the visual appeal of their website. Basically, if your website looks impressive, your business comes across as impressive, even without the usual markers of credibility, like hundreds of reviews, a long-standing social media presence or an impressive client list.
To get your hands on a beautiful website, you needn’t pay a web designer, at least not in the initial stages of your business, when your startup budget needs to stretch. There are relatively cost-effective host sites that allow you to create a visually appealing, intuitive, and SEO-optimised website without any coding background. Squarespace is a great example. You can choose a template that offers the functionality you need for your business, including portfolio pages or even online stores for e-commerce.
If you’re a little behind schedule on your website building, it’s worth delaying your business launch until your site is up and running, glitch-free. Whatever you do, don’t give anyone your URL while you have pages still “under construction” or links that don’t work, or (horror of all horrors) Lorem Ipsum in place of sales copy.
Get a Business Telephone
There’s nothing so unprofessional as when you phone a business and get a general ‘hello?’ that betrays that the speaker isn’t sure what the purpose of your call might be. That said, as a small business owner, you probably won’t initially carry separate mobile phones for your new business and the rest of your life. Likewise, you’re unlikely to get a separate landline for your ‘office’ (let’s be honest: you probably don’t have an office yet). Not only is it impractical to get a business phone line when you may only get a trickle of calls at first, but it’s expensive. But the fact remains: a business without a dedicated phone line does not inspire confidence in a customer.
There are ways to get around this issue. Your mobile phone provider may give you the option to add a second line, but you’re still going to have to answer the call without knowing anything about the caller or their purpose. Things can also get really confusing once you have other team members or departments within your company. To create a more professional impression, you’re better off looking into how to get a virtual switchboard. This option gets you a professional phone answering service with a handy ‘Call Whisper’ feature that tells you which department the incoming call is for, so you can answer in an appropriate manner.
Get a Professional Email Address
Getting an email address with your own domain name may seem like an unnecessary extravagance when you’re watching every penny that goes out of your startup budget. Email is email, right? And what could be so wrong with using a Gmail account if you include the business name in the mix? Aside from the fact that you’re unlikely to get the exact Gmail address you want (so with the additional numbers and characters your address could look like it belongs to a scammer) your customer is unlikely to trust your website to handle their credit card details and other personal data unless you appear to have a legit computer system. No, having a Gsuite address with your business domain is no more secure than a regular Gmail account. But, customers think it is. And that’s what the appearance of professionalism is all about.
Establish a Social Media Presence
Your social media is one area of the business that you can launch to great effect before you’re officially ‘open for business’. Social media lets you meet your potential customers where they are, and a well-conceived organic campaign could be just the thing to create a buzz ahead of your launch. Whether you drip-feed information about your product, use social media posts in a ‘count down’ as the days near, or connect with other brands who are prepared to amplify your marketing on the day of your launch (in exchange for reciprocal publicity once you’re up and running, perhaps) you’d be crazy not to take advantage of any social media channels that speak to your audience. Of course, you have to have some elements of your business nailed down before you start piping up about your product on social media. Giving careful thought to your brand values will help you develop a voice and visual aesthetic that feels authentic to your brand.
Every brand that is now a household name was once an unknown. These tips will help you shore up a little extra professionalism to get your business out there.
