There are things you should do to promote your business and present a favorable first impression. Done right, this gives you and your business credibility. You definitely need these:

IDENTITY
A logo (or logotype) is a symbol that identifies your company and its purpose at a glance. It should be simple so that it can be used in multiple ways. It can always be embellished if necessary, for instance, on a web page where more color may be used. This symbol should also have something to do with what your company sells or is about. More abstract logos are fine too, but then you have to promote them more to fuse that association between the symbol and YOUR company.

HAND HELD PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS
Business cards are a must, but your business card should only contain your contact information, along with your logo, company name, and tag line (if any). A tag line is that short phrase that briefly describes or enhances your company name. A business card is not a mini billboard. Today, we have expanded contact information, so by the time you add a fax number, a cell phone number, a web address, an email address, business card real estate is at a premium. Keep it simple, and leave yourself something to talk about when the recipient calls.

From there, the next step is letterhead and envelopes. When you communicate, communicate your purpose as well. Use that opportunity to put your company in front of another person. Identify. There are other forms that may be useful as well, it depends on the type of business.

Brochures tell about your products and services. If you have many products, a catalog organizes everything in one place. If you have different product lines, line cards can be 3-hole punched to create a customized binder. Printed items expand your reach. Hand them out. Mail them. You can buy or rent targeted lists of potential buyers. A design professional can advise you regarding papers that will work well and hold up when processed through Postal machinery. And let a professional printer do the folding. Even the toughest glossy card stock will look nice and clean when folded by your printer's bindery department. If you elect to save a few bucks folding them yourself, some papers can crack and chip when folded by hand. Ugh!

A WEB PRESENCE
People use the internet to look up information. Young people use it almost exclusively. Computers have been used in the classroom for almost thirty years now, starting in kindergarten. This means that the average 35 year old has been using computers for his or her entire life. The World Wide Web, the portion of the internet that allows graphical content, has grown in leaps and bounds in the last decade, but is still considered to be in its infancy. That's one bandwagon you need to jump on if you expect to compete in today's market. Having a presence on the web for your business allows potential customers to gather information about your company without first making contact. It's like an open door, twenty hours a day. As immense a marketing tool as the Web is, it is just as unforgiving in relation to usability and navigation.

When a person reads a magazine, that publication already has their attention. When that same person uses the web to get information, that person already knows exactly what they're looking for. If it's too hard to find, or pages take too long to load, or the site just doesn't work properly, they move on. Quickly. Don't you do the same? I know I do.

A well organized, easily navigated, and properly functioning (that is, everything WORKS) web site can go a long way towards creating a good first impression with new potential buyers, while keeping a favorable connection with existing ones.

ENGAGE USERS TO FORM A BOND
Professionally crafted materials are a must, but another thing to consider is creating an experience that entertains, educates, and entices buyers, and keeps them coming back. Even users who come to play, if they come often enough, will end up buying.

A favorable user experience is the number one reason people return to a web site, and if it's fun, all the better. By now, we've all seen interactive applications on the web, perhaps in the form of a quiz, or choosing colors and styles for something we're going to buy, a user poll, discussion boards and forums, or even a tutorial on a subject of interest. If your product or service involves some detailed, variable information, a user driven interactive application can help.

An interactive application is simply a self-running program that a user can initiate at will. The user clicks on a button or image to start the program. The user is then guided with questions or choices that when clicked, will explain or show what the user needs to "learn".

On the other hand, there are some things to avoid when promoting, things that leave a bad taste in the mouths of your potential customers. You should definitely avoid these:

TRITE SYMBOLS
Avoid overused symbols, and for that matter, ANYTHING that looks like clipart. Using these types of graphic materials says "we skimp" and "we didn't think how we look matters". Oh, but it does. Graphics don't have to be elaborate, but they should be clean and well crafted. While the old adage "a picture is worth a thousand words" is still true, it IS a bit of an understatement. Professional looking graphics will instill confidence and lend credibility, because using them says "We care enough to do things right."

PRINTED MATERIALS THAT LOOK HOMEMADE
Come on, you've seen them, those poorly printed, awkwardly spaced creations that coincidentally contain some information about someone's new business. The products and services could be the best in the world, but if poor design and even poorer printing are grabbing all the attention, why bother to print these things at all?

Professional looking promotional material gives your business credibility and legitimacy right out of the starting gate. It says, "this is a real honest to goodness business, we know what we're doing, and we'll treat you fairly" (because we did this right, didn't we?").

A POORLY ORGANIZED WEB SITE
Getting on the Web is essential, but it's also essential to do it right. Doing it right doesn't have to mean doing it big. Put yourself in your user's place, and along with the help of a web design professional, a useful web site can be created that is advantageous to both the business and the customer. Organization, navigation, usability, and accessibility are key. It's nice to have some of the latest cool stuff on your site, but you have to consider the target audience and that means taking a good hard look at how they are accessing the Web, with what equipment, and at what speed. Essential.

EVEN WORSE, A POORLY FUNCTIONING WEBSITE
A seasoned web design professional will test in multiple browsers, on multiple platforms, on multiple computers to make sure everything works properly. Every image, every link, every piece of script, EVERYTHING must work before YOU see it for the first time.

Unfortunately, there are more bad websites out there than good ones. I keep an ever growing list of bad ones to show my web design students in a demo I call "Don't Let This Happen To You". These under-performing "messterpieces" (as I like to call them) are unbelievable and many of them have been "live" for years. Yes, years! There's one that has a JavaScript menu that opens up alright, but when you close it, it leaves little image pieces all over the screen that obscure the company's information. It's horrible. In essence, that company is telling their customers and potential customers "we hire people who can't get the job done". (Incidentally, that site was done by a web design firm that, not surprisingly, has not chosen to include that particular site in their portfolio. Gee, I wonder why.)

So, overused, hokey symbols, along with poorly crafted materials and an online mess will make potential clients wonder what else you don't do well. And yes, it's obvious what that says about your company.

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