Eye-tracking research shows that audiences on average spend about 2.6 seconds scanning a website before focusing on a specific piece of copy. However, even in this content-crazed era where first impressions mean everything, many brand marketers have yet to utilise the full potential of their website content. It’s easier than you think to overlook ‘self-indulgent’ content, and focus on flashy web designs that promote friendly user experiences. This may be important, but to fully succeed at inbound marketing, brand marketers need to effectively communicate their company’s unique selling points – and this starts with the ‘About Us’ page.
The ‘About Us’ section of your website is the go-to page for company information, but time and time again, this valuable piece of online real estate goes unnoticed and neglected.
‘About Us’ gives brand marketers the prime opportunity to showcase value to customers by promoting buyer personas, customer testimonials and interesting facts about your business. Don’t be afraid to add a little bit of personality too.
Whether you’re reaching out to B2B or B2C audiences, creating remarkable and unforgettable ‘About Us’ content gives potential customers, partners and employees a great snapshot of your business that will resonate with them and ultimately encourage a boost in conversations and conversions.
Sounds great - but how do we get there? Luckily, Wordsmith has rounded up our top 5 ‘about us’ tips to get you started. Showcasing your company’s achievements shouldn’t be a challenging feat. By the end of this post, you’ll have all the tools at your disposal to write compelling content - without coming across as a hard-sell know-it-all.
[National Geographic uses emotive visuals and unknown facts about their company to promote intrigue]
1. Tell your readers something new
When we think of National Geographic, we tend to think of photographers crouching in the middle of the wilderness snapping breath-taking photos. However, instead of focusing all of their ‘About Us’ content on things we already know about their global brand, they decided to show us another side of National Geographic by highlighting their passionate contribution to the global conservation effort.
This unexpected information catches most audiences off-guard, and may even attract different buyer personas to the brand. National Geographic’s understated, yet hard hitting call-to-action copy encourages people from all walks of life to get involved and find out more about what their iconic brand has to offer.
[Mary’s Meals, global children’s food donation charity captivates audiences by telling them the compelling story of how their foundation came to be]
2. Become a storyteller
If you believe your start-up or long standing business has an amazing story to tell, share it. What better place to tell the story of how your got started – or how your products and services changed lives – than in the ‘About Us’ section?
Research shows time and time again that not only are we intrinsically programmed to love a good story, but stories also make people feel more generous, charitable and compassionate. Storytelling is also a great way to humanise your brand, making you and your company relatable and likeable. Use a story that reflects your brand’s ethos and values to create an honest and emotional connection with your consumers.
Mary's Meals provides school meals and emergency relief to some of the world’s poorest countries. What makes their charity so unique is their incredible story of how the foundation was formed. In 1992 a Scottish farmer, Magnus McFarlane-Barrow, overwhelmed by call for assistance, sold his house so he could drive essential emergency supplies to victims of the conflict in Bosnia- Herzegovina.
The company breaks down different sections of the story, combining words and easily digestible graphics to paint a picture instead of big chunks of text.
This touching true story pulls on the heartstrings and has effectively engaged donors, inspiring volunteers and motivating campaigners from across the globe for almost 3 decades. Mary’s Meals is proud of their heritage and invite audiences to explore their story.
Smart content marketers are quickly realising the link between brand recall and powerful storytelling. Your business may not be in the charitable sector, but every company has a unique story to tell – either from its own perspective, or from the personal experiences of customers and employees.
Consumer brand stories can change customers’ perceptions for the better. Embracing your history and telling a story through emotive copy shows key audiences that you’re passionate about your brand and committed to achieving excellence, which (as luck would have it) is one of the main messages you want to express through your ‘About Us’ content.
[Marketing Intelligence company Apptopia steps away from techy colloquialisms to connect with a wider range of buyer personas]
3) Cut out the corporate jargon
Some of the best ‘About Us’ pages on the web speak to audiences with a straight talking, friendly approach. However, many content marketers get bogged down stuffing our content full of keywords or industry jargon, attempting to gain credibility and trust through a higher search ranking. One word of advice - instead of trying to impress, skip the business babble and focus on creating an authentic tone of voice. Research shows that if you write in a clear concise way, audiences are more likely to believe what you’re saying is factual and truthful.
You may be trying to play it safe, but despite your best intentions your flowery, fluffy copy may fall flat. No one wants to read content that sounds like it’s been churned out by an SEO robot. If you spend too much time using words people don’t hear in day to day life, how will they understand what you do, and connect with your brand?
Instead of technical lingo that no one understands, Mobile marketing intelligence company Apptopia, uses short, conversational and punchy sentences to reel in their customers. Their approach may be simple, but they say everything that needs to be said in a way their audiences relate to. Seeing their business from a customers’ point of view shows that Apptopia not only provides mobile solutions, but also understands the psyche of their customers.
4) Share your customer’s testimonials
You may think that showcasing your customer testimonials is too boastful and cheesy, but think again. Customers really do want to hear, from the source itself, how their experience with your product or service was, and if they would truly recommend it to others. This tactic, if used well can actually boost your credibility and trust. With 80% of people trusting online reviews as much as personal recommendations, and 63% of audiences are more likely to purchase from a site that has user reviews on it, this really is a no-brainer!
Ultimately, customers don’t really need to know every little detail about your company. What they’re really looking for is the additional benefit if they decide to use your products or services. Benefit-led copy may sound great, but authentic testimonials really stand the test of time with consumers.
In line with the theme of cutting technical jargon, video production company, FortyOneTwenty's focus on promoting their customers’ experiences in a quirky and relatable way. They don’t jazz things up too much, and ensure that the main benefits and USP’s are communicated under the radar – making them a hit with new audiences, and encouraging devote customers to grab the mic and have their say. Another successful strategy is putting faces to the names, which amps the believability factor.
Who would you trust more: A company talking about how awesome it is, or a colleague raving about the company's work? I'd bet you prefer the latter – your colleague is more likely to be unbiased, and to give you a realistic understanding of what the company is like. Including customer testimonials on your "About Us" page can give prospects and leads a more direct, down-to-earth view of your company.
5) Embrace your Company Culture
Some brand marketers have separate sections for ‘Careers’ and ‘About Us’ pages, but smart companies may decide to combine both together to promote the company’s identity and fun-loving work culture. We all know that a happy work culture can impact employee productivity and company profit, but conveying that healthy work-life balance on your company’s page can have a knock-on effect that boosts the calibre of prospective employee applications and even increases conversion rates.
Like customer testimonials, employee testimonials are a great way to show how your company contributes to society on a local and global scale. New York City based Technology Company, Contently gives audiences a snapshot of daily life at Contently, and how their creative hub of like-minded quirky professionals helped to grow the company into what it is today. Contently dedicates the entire page to their work culture, engaging prospective writers and readers around the world to invest time in their content platform.
It is also important to remember that creating an amazing and relevant ‘About Us’ page should be a continuous work in progress that not only compliments your current business profile, but also stays up to date with current market trends and technology. If you land major clients, enter new markets, or move to new locations, etc., share it with the world on your page. Your ‘About Us’ page should always reflect what is going on in your company today. Keep it fresh!
So there you have it. Writing your About Us page may make you feel a bit sales-y and self-congratulatory at first, but it doesn’t have to be that way.
For brand marketers today, the ‘About Us’ page gives us an opportunity to break the mould, embrace your own brand of funk and quirk, or share an unforgettable story that will convert anyone who reads it. Taking the time to consider how to sum up your company in 300 words may have significant pay offs for your brand.
Don’t settle for generic content. Make your ‘About us’ copy stand out from a sea of standard corporate pages through creative storytelling, relatable content, humility and digestible visuals. Great user experience coupled with eye-catching content will not only ensure that audiences keep your brand top of mind, but may significantly boost your company’s image – connecting you with potential customers, employees and business partners from around the world.