The “About Us page is the second-most important page of a small Business-to-business company after its home page. Smaller companies are often less well-known, and customers may view them as a risk. Larger and more established competitors usually overlook small businesses unless they offer very low prices.
The “Bout Us page” is the business’s opportunity to establish itself as a credible player in its field. For a company to achieve this, it needs a strong and concise positioning statement (elevator pitch) as well as supporting key messages. When these key elements are absent from the “bout Us,” which is often a logical destination for those who have been intrigued by a pprovider’sservice or product offerings, an enormous marketing opportunity can be lost.
Winning Formula
You can use a formula that is highly effective to help you create your “bout Us page.”This includes:
- A 35-word elevator pitch to tell visitors35-word your business, what you do, whom you target, what makes you unique, and the value you provide.
- Your most differentiating key message about your unique experience, skills, product or service, customer base, etc.
- Your second-most distinguishing key message should describe the uniqueness of your experience, skills, product, customer base, technique, or approach.
- A short company description describing who you are, your location, your business philosophy, your business promise, and the highlights of your experiences.
On their ” About Us, “many small businesses, and even large companies, fall into the trap of only including number four. This is the short company description. This is a huge mistake, and it’s a missed opportunity to build your brand.
Use this precious space to support the claims you make and the pitch you present on your homepage and to differentiate yourself from the competition. Imagine that the “Bout Us” page and your homepage are the only pages that a visitor to your site will ever see. This will allow you to include all the necessary differentiation for a well-constructed “bout Us page.”How To Determine The Effectiveness Of Your “About Us Page
After you’ve written your “bout Us, “print it out and place it next to the “bout Us pages “of your competitors. Compare each page as if you were a prospective customer. Prepare a spreadsheet and list the copy of each vendor, beginning with yours, in columns. You may only want to use the first few paragraphs if you have a lot of text. This is because a customer won’t read past that.
Analyze and analyze each vendor according to key variables. Note that many will not follow the formula you learned—positioning statement, key messages, and company description. You may have to search around to find these components.
Before you can begin your analysis, you need to ask yourself four questions. At the end of every item, you will see an italicized phrase or word indicating the variables you need to enter in your spreadsheet.
- What is the company’s main differentiation claim? For example, does the business say it has the only two-part widget in the world or that it is the industry’s cost provider? What the company believes in is its primary differentiator. On your spreadsheet, name this row ” Principal”ifferentiator.”
- What are”the secondary claims made by the company? For example, if a widget company says it makes a two-part product, you should look for messages that back up that claim. You can do this for as many secondary messages or claims as you can find. It may not be possible to identify all secondary messages. Label the rows below with “Secondary “essage 1,” secondary”message 2,” etc.
- What”is the target audience? Or, to put it another way, who is your buyer? They are small business owners, big organizations, or teenagers. In your spreadsheet, name this row ” Buyer.” I” you ha”e multiple targets, enter them all in the same spreadsheet cell.
- What benefit/value is the competitor offering? This could be as simple as “helping bu” is increase operational efficiency.” It could “also be a poorly written benefit, which you would have to infer. For example, “We are the”largest supplier of cardboard boxes for pizza shops in the world.” It would “be beneficial to provide all of the boxes needed by pizza shops, even if it was not very effective. On your spreadsheet, label those benefits ” Value.”
O”e you'”e creayou’vespreadsheet that compares your “About Us p”ge” with the “ages of your competitors, make an apples-to-apple comparison variable by variable. You can then determine how your page compares.
