Your company bio is one of the most important pieces of advertising you can do, especially in this age of Internet marketing. A bio must accomplish several goals. It must be active and engaging, while performing the difficult task of making prospective clients feel like they know your business in a matter of a few concise sentences.

Following are some tips to help you write an effective company bio:

1. Who is reading it? It is not just homeowners and clients that will read your company bio. Depending on your business, you may want to target possible investors. Your bio should also stand out to local media outlets who may be looking to profile unique local businesses (i.e., free advertising!). You bio should be engaging to a wide spectrum of readers.
2. Useful information that is easily understood. A slew of industry jargon may be fascinating to other contractors, but they are your competition. Instead try to provide useful information, explaining what your company does and how you do it better than the rest, in layman’s terms that anyone can understand. Be clear and concise, if there is any confusion about what exactly you do, readers will most likely move on to some other company’s website.
3. Personality. In addition to describing what, exactly, your company does, try to convey an idea of the company’s personality or culture. That is, exemplify company traits such as community involvement, your mission, values, etc. A focus on the human side of your company will help readers relate and grab their attention.
4. Stand Out. Let the reader know what your company does that makes you different from the competition, including what you do and, more importantly perhaps, how you do it. This could include any awards or honors your company may have received. Also include aspects of your unique company history, such as the company’s rank-and-file beginnings or family legacy.

Your company bio may be the most important piece of literature you ever write, so be sure to take your time and do it up right. Pass it around to employees, family, friends, repeatedly asking the question: “Would you choose my business based on this profile?” Don’t be afraid to check out the competition and look for things that you do — or ways in which you do the same jobs — that is different and stands alone in your community.

Tags: about your company, advertising, bio, copy, customers, history, information, literature, marketing, testimonial

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 28th, 2009 at 4:15 pm and is filed under Marketing Tools. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.