business-english-company-profile

4 Types of Words in Business English That’ll Automatically Improve Your Company Profile

Sometimes the most basic questions are the hardest to answer.

Who are you? What does your company do? Why should I choose you?

There’s so much you want to explain! It can be overwhelming enough in your native language.

But many companies must answer these questions in English as well, in order to compete in a global market.

In fact, it’s often useful to create a company profile in business English, to describe your company’s strengths and values to potential customers or partners.

We’ll show you how to do just that.

This article breaks down four key elements of a powerful business English company profile. They will instantly strengthen your writing and set you apart from the competition.

But before we do that, let’s look at some tips and a quick outline on writing a company profile in business English.

Contents


Before You Start Writing a Company Profile…

Read your competitors’ company profiles.

This will help you identify the main concepts and types of vocabulary that you may want to use in your own company profile. You can also identify weaknesses in their profile that you could improve on.

Simply visiting your competitors’ websites or LinkedIn pages will help you find their profiles. You can also Google the name of a company plus “company profile.”

For a more general look at successful company profiles, check out this blog post from IMPACT.

Set the tone.

These days, companies are keen to present themselves not just as a business entity, but also as a collective or team with a common company culture. To give your readers a sense of your company’s culture and personality, it’s important to decide what sort of vibe (mood; emotional atmosphere) you want to put out in your company profile.

Are you a funky young start-up? An established player in your field? Is your company in the creative sector, or in competitive business consulting?

Decide if you want to sound mature and authoritative, or youthful and creative, and then chose your vocabulary and phrasing accordingly. This will help give your company profile a strong sense of identity.

Decide the medium.

Companies are going digital now more than ever. This means you might be writing your company profile for a digital platform. Knowing where your company profile will appear will make a big difference regarding how much content you need and how to present it.

Digital company profiles are usually presented in the “About Us” section of a website. Some companies post their profiles on social media or as articles on Medium. Depending on the design, this will drive how long the piece will be as well as help you edit it for precision and brevity.

4 Business English Word Groups for Your Company Profile

1. Show What You Do with Strong Action Words

A company profile is all about what your business does best. Swap simple verbs for strong action words to make your statement stand out in a crowd of content.

Start by asking yourself questions. What does your company do? Do you make products or provide services? For concise, to-the-point statements detailing your work as a company, verbs work best.

Keeping in mind the three reminders from the first section of this article, let’s run through some examples of strong verbs that can describe what your business does. Below are some examples of commonly used words, followed by more impactful synonyms.

This is by no means an exhaustive list, as it highly depends on the content you’re writing for your profile. But it will give you an idea of how a strong verb can create a bigger impact.

Do/make → produce, manufacture, generate, develop

Enable → empower, facilitate, implement

Design → compose, create, invent

Make better → improve, advance, raise, enhance

Update → transform, innovate, diversify, revolutionize

When looking for snazzier synonyms, a good thesaurus will become your best friend.

2. Identify Your Business with Impressive Nouns

Although we just focused on strong “doing” words that signify action, we also don’t want to get stuck in a “we do this” pattern of sentences. This is where using nouns can help you show who you are as a company in a concise way.

Nouns help to provide your organization with a sense of identity and are useful in positioning statements, like letting your audience know where you stand in your industry and marketplace. For example, is your company a manufacturer of products, or a provider of services?

You should also focus on nouns that describe the type of organization you are. For example, your company may identify as a start-up, a multinational, a corporation, a firm and so on.

Established in 1920, we are now a multinational with offices in over 100 locations across the world. 

Finally, choose a few nouns that demonstrate what makes you unique or successful.

Company A is a market leader in the production and distribution of aeronautical equipment. 

We are experts in our field with over 50 years’ presence in the field. 

Company A is a leading innovator in the tourism sector.

3. Highlight Key Facts with Carefully-chosen Adjectives

You’ve set down all the important facts about your company that you want your reader to be aware of. How do you add flavor to that information in your company profile? Spice it up by using adjectives! This makes the piece more interesting and descriptive.

Ideally, think about adjectives as words that help draw attention to achievements and descriptions. Make sure they’re specific and meaningful. Try not to use adjectives that are too poetic as you want to keep the company profile smart and professional.

For example, compare the two sentences below:

Company A is a producer of electrical appliances for the home.

Company A is a leading producer of cutting edge electrical appliances for the modern home.

Just a few adjectives can transform a boring, forgettable sentence into an attention-grabbing sentence that says a lot about your company’s work.

Here’s another example:

Our solutions help businesses in the financing sector make decisions. 

Our innovative solutions help businesses in the financing sector make fast and consistent decisions.

Remember to choose adjectives carefully and selectively for maximum effect. Unnecessary adjectives will make your writing flowery (overly descriptive) and even annoying to read.

For an example of how not to do it, look at this sentence:

Our productive team has assisted over 500 satisfied clients in the bustling New York area.

You don’t need to say that your team is “productive”—that doesn’t tell potential customers much about how you’d benefit them. It’s also irrelevant that the New York area is “bustling.”

By contrast, you could keep the adjective “satisfied” because it’s important for your readers to know that your work has been successful and appreciated.

4. Stand Out with Comparatives and Superlatives

Okay, so not everybody can be the “biggest” and “best,” but when the opportunity arises, comparatives and superlatives are very useful to set yourself apart from the competition.

Comparatives are words such as “happier” or “weaker” that show how a specific quality in one thing/person compares to another. Superlatives are words such as “happiest” or “weakest” that position a thing/person in the highest or lowest level of comparison.

In English, comparatives are typically formed by putting -er at the end of an adjective or adverb, or by adding “more” in front of an adjective or adverb.

Our team has consistently achieved faster door-to-door delivery than any other logistics company in the region. 

Thanks to our client management software, we are more responsive than any other local landscaping company.

Superlatives are formed by adding -est to the end of an adjective or adverb, or putting “(the) most” or “(the) least” in front.

Our flagship facility boasts the largest capacity for storage in the city. 

We are the most recognized skincare brand in Eastern Europe.

Use them to differentiate yourself from the competition and place emphasis on what you do best. If there’s ever a time to blow your own trumpet, here it is!

Resources for Writing a Smashing Company Profile

Check out these articles for additional guidance on how to write an engaging company profile in English:

 

Writing in another language can feel challenging, understandably, but with a bit of research and vocabulary planning, it will make your task much easier.

Creating a depository of vocabulary from these four word groups using the thesaurus, a translation dictionary or from similar articles in your company’s industry is a great way to start.

With this at your disposal, along with all the business English skills you’ve learned over time, I’m confident you will produce an excellent company profile your organization can be proud of!

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