What Is a Company Profile? (And How to Write One)
Whether you’re creating content for an established business or a startup, a company profile should be part of your plan. In this post, we’ll discuss what a company profile is, and how to write one.
A company profile can be an effective way to highlight the business to customers or stakeholders. And you’ll quickly find that it is a vital part of business communication.
It’s a way to state what your business stands for, what your goals are, and where you place your focus. As well as featuring all the practical information that anyone might need to know about your company.
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What Is A Company Profile?
A company profile is a professional introduction to your business. It informs potential customers, stakeholders and the general public about your products, services, and business as a whole.
A company profile can be anything from a few sentences to an entire page on your website – most businesses have a long and short version – and is a good way to differentiate yourself from other businesses.
Why Is It Important?
A company profile is important for several reasons. It is a set of guiding words that describe your business.
Use it to shape how employees talk about your company and present a cohesive and consistent vision of the company to people outside of it.
A good company profile will get used frequently. These words can be copy and pasted into all kinds of other documents – grant applications, social media profiles, websites, professional directories and more.
A well-written company profile communicates three key things:
- It persuades others to interact and engage with your company. The profile should entice people to learn more.
- It includes contact information to build business credibility and tell people how to get in touch with your business.
- It tells your company story and sets a vision for the future. It should mention where you’ve been and where you are going.
How to Write a Company Profile
When it comes to actually writing a company profile, start with a plan.
- Outline a purpose. A company profile will get used in a lot of places. Outline what you want each audience to know and tailor the writing to match.
- Pick a style that matches your brand. Your company profile should read like the other elements on your website. Use the same voice so it feels like it belongs to your company.
- Highlight your mission and tell a story. A well-written company profile often has a narrative that makes people want to know more.
- Include plenty of relevant information at a glance. While the company profile might include a few paragraphs of narrative, you can also use bulleted lists to highlight products or services or key company information. Also, make sure to include a block with contact information and links to your website or social media profiles.
- Spellcheck and edit several times. Nothing is worse than a company profile with errors in it.
Once your write a company profile, you’ll likely edit to a couple of versions:
- Long version for applications and business documents
- Short version for quick introductions or descriptions
- About us page on your website version that includes the full company profile
- Tiny version for about lines in social profiles
Where Will You Use a Company Profile?
You will get a lot of mileage out of a company profile. The great thing about having this description written and ready to go is that you can make small tweaks to use it almost anywhere you need to post business information.
Using the company profile as a starting point will ensure that you post consistent business listings everywhere you provide information.
This includes in web and print materials distributed by your company, as boilerplate content for media and press releases, as descriptions for team members when they have speaking engagements, on social media in profiles for Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn, in job descriptions and applications, and anywhere you need to tell people about your business.
A company profile is an important element in your overall brand strategy.
Don’t Be Afraid to Design Your Own
While most of the focus is on writing a company profile, the design matters as well.
While you can’t always dictate what a company profile will look like, you can design it on your website or print pieces.
Don’t overlook this important part of your overall design. Too often, company profile pages are stripped down and look like an afterthought rather than a key element in the design. (Did you know that About pages are some of the most read on the web?)
Stick to trusted design principles when planning how company profile information will look.
- Add visuals that relate to your company. Use images of products or services or team members in action.
- Use white space to your advantage.
- Format intentionally and use the same structure as the rest of the design.
- Show off with testimonials, awards or fun company information.
- Organize content into logical sections that are easy to read at a glance.
Conclusion
Every company – no matter how big or small – can benefit from having a strong company profile. This language will get used everywhere and helps establish consistent messaging for your company or brand.
Having a strong company profile will save you time and effort in the long run because you will have a set of guiding words that you can use time and time again to describe your business, product or service.