When creating a business brand, there a couple simple things you can do to help elevate your business above your competitors. The best part? One is free and one costs just a bit, but the payoff is huge!
Email Address
Your email address is one of the easiest things to set and one gives off the biggest first impression of your business.
So many times I see a business with an email address of businessname@gmail.com or businessname@yahoo.com. I still even see businessname@aol.com. Without doing any research, I immediately have an judgement in my head that that company is a small company; unprofessional company; or or even a small side business that isn't a serious company.
Of course, I'm 99% of the time I'm wrong, but that's my immediate judgement on your business. You can be the smallest business and have your email address be info@businessname.com and I immediately elevate you to another level. You're no longer a small, unprofessional company...you're a serious company that knows exactly what you're doing and can handle whatever I may need.
Remember, perception is reality, even if it is a wrong perception. There are many services that can help you get email with your company name. We use GSuite to manage our email services and it starts at just $5/month/user. It is a small investment that will pay for itself in business that would otherwise be turned away.
TL;DR - don't use businessname@gmail.com for your customer facing email. Spend a little and get an name@businessname.com email address.
Social Media Handle
What is a social media handle, you may ask? That is your username...or the part that you tell people to look you up. Ours is @gigbagmedia. Now, I can tell you to look us up on any social media platform using just that. On facebook.com/gigbagmedia; twitter.com/gigbagmedia, instagram.com/gigbagmedia; so on and so forth. Did you catch the consistency?
Facebook wasn't gigbagmedia2020 or Instagram wasn't gbmedia. They were all @gigbagmedia. This is very important when your business has a name that someone else in the country (or world) has as well. For example, if you had a business called Joes' Pest Control; and someone in Kentucky had Joe's Pest Control; and another person had a Jo's Pest Control in Utah social media handles will probably be a little hard to come by. You want to be unique, so you choose @joespestcontrolatlanta because the Kentucky business already has @joespestcontrol. That is good as long as you choose @joespestcontrolatlanta for all your social media platforms. You don't want to be @atlantapestcontrol on one; @joespestcontrolatlanta on another; and @atlantajoespestcontrol on a third. Consistency across your branding platforms is key!
TL;DR - use the same social media handle across all your social media platforms!