An essential marketing tool for many companies is the ‘capability statement’. These are often distributed digitally by business development and sales teams, as well as a printed leave-behind following meeting with prospects. Capability statement design is all-important because, in the hierarchy of collateral, this is one document that must leave a professional impression.
Here are some tips on how a capability statement should be designed and provide you with an understanding of how it is a handy marketing tool.
Design with your audience in mind
Given how vital your target audience is, it is essential that your capability statement puts your best foot forward. The level of skill with which your capability statement is designed will leave an impression.
A poorly executed, sloppy design will say something about your business that you would probably rather it didn’t. If you are delivering a professional service or merely want to be perceived as professional, this will need to filter down to your design and how you present information.
Create content that people will want to read
You might own or work for a company that is highly capable with an in-depth level of expertise. The one thing in your business might be to itemise everything you deliver for your clients. As commendable as that is, resist the urge to make your capability statement long-winded and overly technical.
We all know attention spans are decreasing. Presenting a prospect with an exhaustive 24-page document that reads like a technical manual probably isn’t going to produce the desired result. There’s a time and a place for detailed service offerings and demonstrating your technological know-how concerning specific client scenarios.
Remember, you want to leave this audience wanting more. If technical processes, IP or similar are a part of what you offer, consider how you can communicate these in a simple way that’s easy to understand.
Questions your capability statement should answer.
What is your USP? Spell out what makes your company different than your competition.
Who are you? Introduce your company, talk about how long you’ve been in business, outline your credentials and describe how you treat your clients.
What are your core competencies? List your services and provide a very brief overview of what they involve and the problems they solve.
What experience do you have? Demonstrate credibility with examples of projects you’ve worked on and who your clients are.
Are you accredited? Depending on the nature of your work, clients might want to see that you tick all the boxes when it comes to meeting industry standards and licensing requirements.
If you’re not a professional copywriter and you don’t have a strong writer in house, we strongly recommend that you engage one to write your content. Poorly written, inaccurate, or misspelled information that misses the mark will not do your business any favours. Your sales copy should be working extremely hard for your business, and if it isn’t, a copywriter can get in and fix it.
One final thing to remember…
An excellent capability statement design goes a long way, but it can’t do all the talking. It won’t win you work without the proper back-up. Your capability statement does not replace building a good-quality relationship with a potential client. It is an essential marketing tool for many businesses, but merely having it and distributing it won’t seal the deal.