In life, image may not be everything, but in business, it is one of the key cornerstones that will play a huge part in your company’s overall success. Your business will suffer if you have a bad company image, either because you are dealing with negative press or because there is no image at all. You must always be in full control over your business’ image. Without that control, it can be impossible to direct your business how you want it to go. Yes, there are times when you need to seize the day and take opportunities as they are presented, even if they are not what you had initially planned out, but if you are instead just putting out fires, it’s time to give your business a total makeover.

Improving your business’ image is one of the primary focuses of any effective PR campaign, but PR isn’t the only way to get started. You need to know who your business is and how you can focus your brand image so that it’s more effective as well. Not sure where to begin? Not to worry, as this guide will outline everything you need to know:

Solidifying Your Brand Identity

The first step to improving your business’ image is to clear it razor-sharp. You never want anyone, from a passer-by to a potential customer or client, to be unsure of what it is that your business does. Your company should not be fuzzy around the edges. It should not have people looking at your brand name and coming up blank. That is why your first step is always to go through and audit your brand image and then work on establishing a firm identity that can be understood instantly.

Narrow Down Your Elevator Pitch

To do this, start by narrowing down your brand. Yes, you have your name, but if you had to describe your business in a sentence or less, how would you do it? It can be hard to narrow down your business into a single sentence, but it must be done. This is your elevator pitch. You can then use that pitch to send to a designer or even a brand image specialist who can use your name and pitch to create a visual identity that explains your brand and what you do in a snap.

Work with Professionals

If you want to make a big impact with your brand identity, then you will want to pay the big bucks to a brand specialist. These specialists do more than create your logo. They will create an entire brand deck and a whole cast of assets from packaging to even fonts for your business. Getting that branding deck from a professional cannot be stressed enough when it comes to instantly being recognized and visually identified.

Building Up Your Reputation

One of the biggest challenges when it comes to improving your brand’s image from there is working on establishing a good reputation. If you have only just started out, you may feel like there’s a limited number of options, but there aren’t. There are several ways that you can immediately start establishing both your, and your business’ reputation and expertise:

Use Virtual Office Services

You can be based out of your home, but this will not look that great if you are trying to impress the big brands. That is why virtual offices can change the game. You can rent a virtual office from www.yourcityoffice.com and benefit from a central London location, for example. You may not be physically working out of this location, but you can put that address as your company’s location, and even benefit from an around-the-clock call concierge. This way you will never miss a potential lead, no matter when or from who it comes from.

Get Published

If you want people to recognize you or your business, then you need to get published. No, you do not need to write a book and go through a publishing company. What you do need, however, is to write industry-relevant articles and have them published in leading niche or industry magazines or even the news itself.

Get Your Business Talked About

In fact, getting others to write about you is the best thing you can do for your brand. You can do this at first by being philanthropic. You may want to start up a charity, kickstart a sustainability initiative, host a charitable event, and so on. So long as that event is in line with your business and what it can offer, you will benefit from getting positive press and showcasing a bit more about what your business does to the general public.

Work With the Right Businesses

In the business world, it is all about who you know and to whom you are seen talking. Use that if you have a personal connection to someone fairly high up in a fortune five hundred company. Make full use out of every single little advantage that you have so that you can start associating your business with the right people. In this case, the right people will mean businesses that are renowned or have social standing. For example, you can partner up with a much-loved non-profit in order to gain that association.

Conduct Yourself with Integrity

If you want people to work with you, anyone from potential investors to business partners to customers, you must conduct yourself with integrity. Integrity means that you follow through with your promises. These promises can be whatever they need to be, so long as you manage to keep your word. This is how you will get customers to come back and, more importantly, make those key business connections that will open up opportunities for your own company. Not only is conducting yourself with integrity important from an outsider’s point of view, it is also critical when managing employees. Work on being trustworthy, being a great boss, and taking your responsibilities seriously. Once you do that, you will be better capable of steering your brand’s image towards a direction that works for all parties.