Well, are ya?

Yeah, yeah.  You tell them your phone number.  You tell them your e-mail address.  You tell them how much it costs to buy the wares you’re peddling.  But what do you tell them about you?

When you first set up your business, it’s possible that you focused on the basics.  In other words, you might have asked yourself, What goodies am I going to sell? Where am I going to sell them?  What bank is going to be delightful enough to lend me the money for this?

Then things got rolling, your customers started buying, and you were probably like, Whoa.  I have a real business! So then you may have gotten yourself some business cards, some letterhead, and maybe even a few T-shirts to pass out to your family and friends.  And that was pretty awesome.

Once all those fun milestones are under your belt, though, it’s time to look at the BIG picture.  Your business is your baby.  Except babies basically develop their own personalities, but you get to play a more direct role in the development of your business’ personality.  You can have a classy business.  A fun business.  A hippie tree hugger business.  And it’s all up to you to decide.

Maybe you’ve decided already, and you are comfortable in your company’s identity.  Maybe you’re not quite sure yet.  If it’s the latter, take a little time to think about what your business is and what you want it to be, and when you’ve thought enough to develop a sore puzzler, you’ll know.

And once you know, then you can let your clients know.

So let’s talk about a few ways to do that.  First off, a few suggestions of what not to do:

• Call each customer at 3 AM and, in a creepy, whispery voice, tell the story of your business.
• Write a folk song about your company’s personality and hire singing telegram people to dress as the Von Trapp children and sing it for each of your customers.
• Spray paint key adjectives that describe your business on the exterior of your clients’ homes and/or cars.

Okay, so now that we’ve cleared that up, here are a couple of ideas that we actually do recommend:

• Write about your company’s vibe.  And print it up in a nice, professional brochure or newsletter.  Send it out to your clients with some coupons or an ad about an upcoming sale.
• Choose high quality promotional items that tell a little bit about your business.  Rather than occasionally giving potential customers random promotional items, come up with a welcome package of well-chosen giveaways that you give out consistently.  Make sure that the items you select really give people a feel for what your company is all about.

If you want to develop lifelong customers, you need to let your regulars know who you are, what you’re all about, and what you stand for.  Come on, don’t be shy.  Get your company’s sparkling personality out there for the world to see.