The impression your business makes on customers and clients doesn’t start with you. It starts as soon as that person gets to your office or building. The state of your building and even the doors to your office space say a lot about you.
If you own your building, this is almost completely within your control – you can make sure that your building is kept up properly. You can make sure you’ve got good landscaping and everything is clean. If you don’t own your building or are renting office space in a park or tower, you probably won’t have a say in any exterior stuff.
You can, however, control how your doors and the space around those doors present your business. In addition to making sure that they are clean, it’s a good idea to brand your doors. Some office parks will allow you to put branded signage on the doors themselves. While they may not allow you to etch the glass, you shouldn’t have any problems putting up clear film that has been printed with your logo and business name.
You can also use branded door mats. Business entrance mats seem almost like an afterthought, but they are an important part of that first impression. They can help improve the uniformity of your entryway (they also make great branded merchandise for clients, but that’s an article for another time).
When designing your mats, remember: You have a finite amount of space and, most of the time, need to work with a rectangular shape. Your first instinct is going to be to either simply stretch your logo image out to fill that space or to try to cram in as much information as possible. It’s better to strike a balance – especially if you hope to use those mats as merchandise to give to clients.
Your business entrance mats should have:
- Your company logo
- Your company’s name
- And (if you’re giving them away or selling them) a phone number or website URL
A logo alone won’t tell your clients that they are in the right place if they don’t already know what your company logo looks like (this is especially important if you work in an office park that won’t allow you to put your company name on your doors). You need the name in there, too. And if you’re hoping that these mats will be placed out “in the wild,” you’ll want to have some form of contact information on them. Phone numbers look great, but your URL will probably work better, especially if that URL is short.
These seemingly small touches will go a long way toward broadcasting your professionalism and creating a positive first impression on anybody who stops by your space. They’re worth taking the time to get right!
Photo Credit: Wikimedia/Producer