Making A Small Business Look Big

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A lot of consumers tend to trust bigger companies over smaller ones. We assume that bigger companies are better – that they have more experience, more resources and more success. Even if this isn’t true and a lot of small companies are just as capable, the idea that size matters has become ingrained into us.

Of course, keeping a company small can have its advantages – it gives you more control and less costs to cover. If you don’t want to physically grow your small home-based one-person company into a large empire just to compete with the bigger brands, there is another way to gain consumer trust and that is to make your small business look big on the surface. Here are just a few different ways in which you can make a small company appear big.

Build a professional website

Whilst you can build a website for free using the likes of Wordpress, such custom-built websites tend to have a template feel and they can be a giveaway that your company is small and operating on a budget. Getting your website professionally designed from scratch could help to elevate your image and make people who are discovering you online believe that you’re a bigger company. Professional web design doesn’t always have to be expensive – cost often comes down to complexity and you may find that you’re able to design a simple but professional looking website for cheap with the help of a website developer.

Improve your search engine rankings

Appearing high up on the rankings of Google and Bing can also make people believe that you’re a large and successful company. You can improve your rankings by investing in some SEO (search engine optimisation). Your best means of doing this is to hire an SEO company – whilst there’s not certainty in improving your rankings, an SEO company can give you the best chance of being successful rather than attempting to DIY it. You can shop around for quotes from the best SEO services using comparison guides such as this one from Clutch -https://clutch.co/uk/seo-firms.

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Build a social media following

A strong social media following can also convince consumers that you’re a big company. When setting up Facebook and Twitter pages, you should always invite everyone you know to like your pages – this can quickly give you a boost of followers that will make you appear bigger. Ensuring that every customer you work with follows you on social media can also help to build your following. Try to resist buying followers – not only is this dishonest, but it can be damaging to your social media marketing effectiveness in the long run. On top of encouraging followers, try to encourage interaction from your followers with competitions, polls and humorous posts.

Encourage reviews and testimonials

Lots of reviews and testimonials can also make consumers believe that you’re a large company. You can gather reviews and testimonials by asking every customer you work with to leave feedback. As with buying followers, try to avoid faking reviews – this behaviour is actually illegal, and the likes of Trip Advisor are starting to fine companies for doing it. Instead focus on curating on honest positive reviews.   

Outsource a phone answering service

Consumers may soon guess that you are a small one-person company if it’s always you that answers the phone. Outsourcing a phone answering company can make your company appear bigger by giving the impression that you have receptionist staff working for you. There can be other advantages to outsourcing a phone answering service too such as ensuring that the phone is always answered even when you are preoccupied (a lot of these services operate 24 hours) as well as freeing up time spent answering phone calls, allowing you to get on with core tasks.

Use a virtual address

Your postal address can also be an indicator to consumers as to how small your company is. One way to get around this could be to pay for a virtual address. Companies such as Your Virtual Office -yourvirtualofficelondon.co.ukoffer the opportunity to outsource a prime location address. All your mail will be posted to this address and then redirected to your actual mailing address. Another advantage of this is that you don’t have to give away your home address to clients if you’re based from home, protecting your personal privacy and allowing you to keep your business and home life separate.

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Invest in vehicle branding

If you often meet clients in your car, it could also be worth investing in some vehicle branding. This shows people that you’re committed to your brand and can make your company look bigger as a result (consumers will believe that you have your own separate company vehicle – even if in fact you do also use it for personal use). Vinyl wrapping is the most common form of applying vehicle branding and is suitable for leased cars in the fact that it isn’t permanent. Companies like PW Pro -http://pwpro.co.uk can offer this service.

Consider branded uniforms

Branded uniforms can also be worth investing in to make your small company look big. This may not be necessary if you work from home and rarely meet customers face-to-face, however if you work in a handyman trade and are constantly meeting people in person it could be worthwhile. For more formally dressed jobs, you can still use small branded details such as a branded name badge to help give this impression.

Use an email signature

When communicating with clients via email, it could also be worth adding a professional email signature. This gives consumers the impression that you’re emailing from a company and not just a personal address. You should also consider your address itself – john@[your company name].com can look more official than john@gmail.com.