3 Ways to Make Your Startup Seem Like an Established Business

People often choose to spend their money with well-established businesses, because—right or wrong—they assume those businesses have staying power and the ability to serve them better. That means startups must work hard to build credibility, and as the founder, it’s often in your best interest to make your new company appear more established.

Luckily, there are simple ways to do that. Here are three:

1. Brand like you’ve been around forever

Just because your business is new doesn’t mean you have to act like it. Even if you embrace new technologies or business practices that your “old-school” competitors don’t, you can still take steps that give your business the polish of an established brand.

“The most cost-effective and underrated marketing strategy any new business can use is branding,” says Heidi Cohen, chief marketing officer of Actionable Marketing Guide, which helps brands and businesses profitably meet their audiences’ needs and wants. Here are some easy, low-cost branding steps Cohen recommends:

• Get a logo. Once you have a name, create a logo around it. This can be put on your website, social media accounts, marketing materials, business cards and “swag” you give customers or employees—and anywhere else customers might see your business. A logo exudes your status as “official” and here to stay. You might consider using a low-cost logo creation site such as 99designs.
• Put your company name in your email address. Instead of relying on, say, a Gmail address, include your website domain name in the email address, such as firstname@yourcompany.com.

2. Consider your online reputation

Research shows that most people rely on online customer reviews when choosing which businesses to spend their money with—whether on Google, Yelp, Facebook or another review site. New businesses generally have few or no reviews compared to established businesses.

That means it’s more important than ever to get your earliest customers to leave (hopefully flattering) online reviews. You can simply ask your first customers to leave reviews and make it easy for them by, for example, emailing them a direct link to your Google My Business reviews page or your Facebook page.

3. Use technology that provides a robust and fulfilling customer experience

Technology plays a crucial role in most businesses’ customer experience, and thankfully small companies today can affordably access many of the same types of technologies and features that much larger companies use.

Your business phone service is a prime example. Business phone services such as Spectrum Business Voice offer many advanced features that traditionally only larger companies could afford. Here are a few phone features that can make your business look more established:

• Auto attendant. You can create a general greeting for all callers with business information (such as your hours of operation), as well as providing a menu of extension options—so they reach the right person or department quickly. Not only does this feature make your company look larger and more professional, but it also saves you money by reducing the need for a physical receptionist.

• Call hunting. This feature greatly increases the odds that callers reach a live person by quickly and unnoticeably routing calls through several numbers based on a preset priority list until the call is answered by someone (or picked up by voicemail). This also means if you’re traveling or it’s after business hours, your customers can still find you.

• 3-way calling and seamless call transfer. You can easily have calls with multiple people, as well as the ability to transfer calls to the right team member’s phone as needed.

Likewise, you can use online scheduling tools, electronic documentation software, marketing automation and other relatively inexpensive tools that give your business a larger, more experienced image.

At the end of the day, acting more established will only help you engender more trust and, ultimately, loyalty among your customers.

CALL TO ACTION:

Spectrum Business Voice offers plans with more than 35 advanced business calling features starting at just $19.99 a month. To learn more, contact us at 855-299-9353.