One of the main problems with creating a great company image lies in the issue of point of view. You see, most entrepreneurs (as is only natural) see their business from their own point of view and have a hard time trying to see it from a viewpoint of an outsider. Your own values, aesthetic inclinations and habits may be fairly common but this is not something you can rely on. Coincidently, this is also one of the strongest arguments why you should hire an outsider to handle your company’s rebranding.

Still, there are so many things you can do even on your own. What you need is something that will appeal to a much larger audience, something that will get a better response on average. Here are five ways you can improve your company’s image in order to achieve that goal.

Identifying your target demographic

Before you start making an image, you need to make sure it fits the world-view of your target demographic. For this to work, you need to identify them first. You can start by learning a thing or two about their age (generation gap is currently wider than ever before), education, gender, income and similar other identity features. Outside of this, you also want to use tools like Google Analytics in order to see where they come from, how much time they spend on your website and how many of them are return visitors. The latter, however, can only take place after you’ve already established at least some form of online presence. Either way, knowing who you’re dealing with is a mandatory first step that you need to take.

Work hard on your visuals

Your corporate colors and your logo are things that will affect your brand recognition the most. Even with clients that don’t know much about your business, they’ll definitely be able to recognize your company if they ever encounter it. This is particularly important due to the rule of seven. This marketing rule suggests that a person needs to encounter your brand at least seven times before they decide to make a purchase. What good is it for them to encounter your company’s logo, product or service if they can’t follow the thread directly to your company?

Establish a strong customer service

A strong customer service is your last line of defense. Sure, sometimes people will call you for menial things but more often than not, they’ll have a genuine concern regarding your business or one of your products. How you deal with this situation may be a difference between losing a client and gaining a return customer. This is where you need to try and cover as many fields as possible. Emails and social network IM services are just the tip of the iceberg. Apart from this, you should also invest in chatbots on your website, as well as have a traditional, landline-based customer service. In order to be seen as even more caring and assertive, you should buy a 1300 number so that the cost of the call doesn’t go to the customer.

Be vocal about your values and stances

The next thing you need to do is raise all of your flags high so that all likeminded people have a chance to align with you. What does this mean? Well, it means that you should, for instance, make your business eco-friendly and, in this way, gain some extra points with potential clients who feel the same. When it comes to currently hot topics, the best piece of advice is to avoid them, while there’s another opinion, claiming that polarizing issues may be your strongest selling point. According to advocates of this stance, it’s better to have 50 people strongly agreeing and 50 people strongly disagreeing with you than to have 100 people be indifferent towards your business.

Personal branding

As a leader, you’ll often be in the spotlight. Just look at how all Elon Musk’s escapades are affecting stocks of Tesla as a company. This goes the other way around, as well, seeing as how they can attribute much of their success in these previous years to his personal brand. In other words, you should never underestimate the importance of personal branding. This means that aside from managing your company’s social media presence, you also need to worry about what you post and how you portray yourself on your personal social media accounts. What you want is a combination of professionalism, knowledge and casual behavior. In this way, you will appear both reliable and human at the same time.

Conclusion

At the end of the day, there’s one more thing that we need to set straight. By trying to make an image that appeals to everyone, you’ll end up sending mixed messages and signals in all directions. This is why you need to decide who your primary demographic is and tailor your message to appeal to them. Later on, there’s nothing to stop you from diversifying your line of services/products a bit, yet, at a core, you need to have a single loyal, financially potent group supporting you. With the right image, you’ll be able to gain their loyalty and tie them closely to your brand in no time.

