What were you taught to do after graduation in preparation for finding a job? Well, most people who have their ducks in a row have already attended job fairs and put together a healthy resume and a quality list of references. Furthermore, they are taught to dress for the job they want. By looking like you belong with a company, you place yourself ahead of the competition - it isn't hard to imagine how you'd look at work with company x every day.
Now it's time to get nitpicky, those who dress the part are still judged on minor characteristics, even if that judgment takes place on a subconscious level. How does the resume look? Is it short and to the point? Is it aesthetically pleasing and is the content relevant to what is expected of the applicant? How was eye contact, hand shake, and were the fingernails clipped (really how was the hygiene overall)? Was the applicant confident? Cocky? Did they have a sense of natural ability?
This process is by no means any different than what consumers look for in a potential company. They want an air of professionability. From the smallest start up to the largest corporation, if you don't meet the expectations of the consumer right away, you're probably not going to get their business. In other words, don't tell a potential customer not to judge a book by its cover, because they are going to whether you like it or not. That's why here at Stormfront we put forth our professionalism up front. We show tell you who we are and then we back up our claims with a comprehensive site chalk full of information, references, tools and helpful resources.
Why is it so important for businesses to have a good reputation? For the exact same reasons you would expect. People do their homework. And if anyone is interested in you they are going to check your references. They will check your portfolio, the BBB, your website, your competitors' websites, and they're going to ask around. Of course none of this is new information to most marketers, but it is these basics which elevate a company from mediocrity to excellence, and they aren't even hard to do, yet I constantly see them being overlooked.
I recently had a couple of different friends asking me for help on their startups. One company was very small in scope - local landscaping that wanted to target commercial properties. The other company wanted to target medical companies in the New England and East Coast for consulting. Obviously these two companies are very different, yet I found myself giving virtually the same advice to both. And I was astonished that they hadn't even considered some of the possibilities I was offering them.
When you enter into an interaction with a consumer you are entering the beginning stages of a business transaction. Something is being bought and something is being sold. If you want to keep their interest then you need to keep in mind what they are looking for. Often times, you can have quality products and a poor presentation, and you'll lose out on business that could have been yours to someone who looked better than you. Don't let that happen, dress the part.
Now it's time to get nitpicky, those who dress the part are still judged on minor characteristics, even if that judgment takes place on a subconscious level. How does the resume look? Is it short and to the point? Is it aesthetically pleasing and is the content relevant to what is expected of the applicant? How was eye contact, hand shake, and were the fingernails clipped (really how was the hygiene overall)? Was the applicant confident? Cocky? Did they have a sense of natural ability?
This process is by no means any different than what consumers look for in a potential company. They want an air of professionability. From the smallest start up to the largest corporation, if you don't meet the expectations of the consumer right away, you're probably not going to get their business. In other words, don't tell a potential customer not to judge a book by its cover, because they are going to whether you like it or not. That's why here at Stormfront we put forth our professionalism up front. We show tell you who we are and then we back up our claims with a comprehensive site chalk full of information, references, tools and helpful resources.
Why is it so important for businesses to have a good reputation? For the exact same reasons you would expect. People do their homework. And if anyone is interested in you they are going to check your references. They will check your portfolio, the BBB, your website, your competitors' websites, and they're going to ask around. Of course none of this is new information to most marketers, but it is these basics which elevate a company from mediocrity to excellence, and they aren't even hard to do, yet I constantly see them being overlooked.
I recently had a couple of different friends asking me for help on their startups. One company was very small in scope - local landscaping that wanted to target commercial properties. The other company wanted to target medical companies in the New England and East Coast for consulting. Obviously these two companies are very different, yet I found myself giving virtually the same advice to both. And I was astonished that they hadn't even considered some of the possibilities I was offering them.
When you enter into an interaction with a consumer you are entering the beginning stages of a business transaction. Something is being bought and something is being sold. If you want to keep their interest then you need to keep in mind what they are looking for. Often times, you can have quality products and a poor presentation, and you'll lose out on business that could have been yours to someone who looked better than you. Don't let that happen, dress the part.
Speaking of appearances, there is a lot of text to sift through on this blog at first glance. I might suggest breaking it up with different typography as well as organizing the content to be lighter on the eyes perhaps? For instance, mix up the type instead of using all "trebuchet ms" (like headers in Georgia font) and creating article "snippets" with read more links to keep the main page less "text heavy." Web typography is 50% of the site design. For me everything blends and washes together here, making it kind of blurry.
Anyways, good articles, but a lot to "consume" at first glance...which might deter folks.
My $0.02.
I completely agree. We'll work on getting some visual diversity up really soon. Thanks for the comment.
Well you've got my curiosity piqued ... what advice did you give them? Dress the part? That's not really amazingly innovative advice. I'm curious now and I want to know what you tell new business owners.