Why Businesses Should Use Personalized Letterhead

Personalized letterhead is employed by many large corporations to, well, personalize interaction with customers and prospects. Communication is important on every level of business, so personalized letterhead shouldn't be reserved for the largest companies - in fact, even solo entrepreneurs can benefit from personalized letterhead. Here's how.

When you personalize letterhead, which means to put your name in the header and/or contact area, it lends the impression that there is a team behind you. This can make it easier to land larger contracts from companies that want to know that if something happens to you their projects won't derail. If you're a lone wolf, don't give yourself the title of president or founder - instead, go with "account manager." This makes it that much easier to hand off portions of projects that you do not personally handle to contractors who are part of your extended team.

While it's true that many companies want to know there is a team behind you, they also want to deal with you and only you. The fact that communication comes directly from you, and not the company at-large, can be the difference between a customer who is loyal to the end and a customer who is always shopping for a better deal.

If you're going to print personalized letterhead, why settle for just including your name? Get creative and include a picture and a brief bio that lists your business specialties as well as your hobbies, which can make you appear more human and often will spark interesting projects and fuel customer loyalty. People like to do business with those they are most comfortable with, those they can relate to: "Hey, I collect Spider-Man comics, too!"

Small businesses have to work under a tighter budget than their corporate competitors, so any opportunity to maximize marketing dollars should be taken advantage of. Personalized letterhead is one such opportunity. Include a coupon or discount for those you communicate with: "Friends of [YOUR NAME HERE], get 20% off your next purchase!" As you can see, personalized letterhead can become a very powerful part of your overall marketing and branding strategies - especially for small businesses. When it's time to go to press, make sure you level the playing field by printing on premium letterhead paper and having your letterhead professionally finished. This goes hand-in-hand with making your company appear larger, and thus more legitimate, and can help you fuel sales now and in the future.