Company Profile — Tips from a Business Profile Writer
The importance of writing a company profile (also called a business profile) is often overlooked. Your company profile can be an effective tool for presenting your organisation and stand out from the competition. Despite the rise of the internet and social media, there still is a place for the traditional business profile that doesn’t directly sell products or services but builds the image and credibility of a business.
As a company profile writer, I will share what I have learned since beginning company profile writing in 2005.
What is a company profile?
Also called a business profile or corporate profile, a company profile summarises an organisation’s purpose, history, function, and outlook. It’s a comprehensive overview of your business. A well-written business profile makes it possible to quickly and easily present key information to the media, potential customers and investors, and the general public. An compelling company profile doesn’t have to be long – it can be as few as four A4 pages for a small business. Larger businesses will have more information to include. For example, we created a company profile that was 32 pages long for a large multinational business. Regardless of its length, it must be easy to read and presented in a high-quality format.
What should be included in your business profile?
Having written many company profiles for a wide range of organisations, I will share my experience about what to include in a company profile.
There’s no exact formula for writing a business profile. The type of information you include and the length of the business profile will depend on your organisation and what you are trying to achieve. In general, you profile will include basic details about your business and tell your company’s story.
Here are a few items that are typically included when writing a business profile.
- Mission statement – summarising company values, mission and vision.
- Leader’s message – a short message from the CEO/Director can briefly explain the mission, goals, achievements and importance of the business in a broader context.
- General overview of what your business does – this can include a brief explanation of the types of products and/or services offered. It’s not necessary to go into detail, as this can be covered in product or service brochures and websites.
- Company history – established businesses often have notable stories behind them about past successes and the challenges they have overcome. New businesses might be able to highlight the experience of the founders and what inspired them to begin the venture.
- Successes and milestones – this can include short case studies explaining how your company has helped its customers and an overview of important accomplishments.
- Awards and certifications – include any awards or industry certifications that are required to do your work.
- Profiles of key personnel – these should be in a consistent style and include the same type of information. When writing staff profiles, we ask these questions for creating staff profilesto get the information needed.
- Corporate governance – your approach to meeting legal requirements.
- Social responsibility – how your business aligns its values and behaviour with the expectations and needs of stakeholders — customers, investors, employees, suppliers, communities, and society as a whole.
- Company culture – this could include your organisation’s outlook when it comes to staff development, occupational health and safety, and the overall work environment.
- Financial performance – if a publicly traded company, include a summary of the most recent financial data.
- Contact details – include your physical address, contact email address and phone numbers, social media links. You can also include a call to action to get in touch.
By no means is this a complete list; well-written company profiles might need to cover other subject areas not included here. This might depend on factors such as your target audience. For most of these sections, the key questions to ask when writing a corporate profile are “What makes us stand out from others?” and “What makes us memorable?”
The aim of writing a business profile is to lift your organisation’s image and raise its credibility. So it’s okay to boast a bit about your company and its achievements when taking on the role of business writer.
Here’s an example of a business overview for a multinational company.
In addition, here’s a business profile example from a commercial plumbing company that they present to potential clients.
The type of content you include in your corporate profile will depend on your business, the intended readers and your goals. We will be glad to share other strong company profile samples and determine the best approach for your business.
Get in touch with Word Nerds for company profile writing services
If you need assistance with writing a business profile, please contact us to speak with a business profile writer about our writing services. We will be happy to discuss your requirements and provide examples of company profiles. A company profile template can be useful, but you still need to write the content based on your business. So a company profile template is simply an outline that needs to completed to tell your company’s unique story.
Our professional company profile writers are ready to assist. Give us a call on 1300 731 955 or use the contact form on this page.
If you are thinking about writing a company history, visit Tips for Writing a Company History.
About the author
Michael Gladkoff, Director of Word Nerds, has been a copywriter and content strategist since 2005. He has created content and campaigns for top Australian and international brands, including ABB, Amcor, ANZ, BlueScope, DB Schenker, Electrolux, Harvey Norman, NRMA and Siemens Ltd.
In addition to his creative work, Michael is a speaker and trainer specialising in helping people improve their creativity and persuasive communication skills. His most recent creation is Fantastic Figures, a gamified live and online workshop that covers over 35 figures of speech used to create powerful brand names, slogans and tag lines.