May is International Business Image Improvement Month. Though the month is typically devoted to helping individuals improve their own images by making remarkable first impressions and accurately representing their businesses in public, small business owners can devote this month to improving the images of their businesses.

Your business's image is not only the way customers view your business, but also how other consumers, suppliers, prospective employees, bankers, investors, etc., view it. If your business's image has room for improvement, you can use a business cash advance to finance some important steps in this process. 

Address Competitors' Weaknesses

Before you can know your competitors' weaknesses, you must first be fully aware of your target market, your competitors and the important features of your products and/or services. You can then discover your competitors' weaknesses by talking to your customers and finding out what they dislike about your competitors. Then, when you advertise, emphasize the strengths that you have over the competition. 

Take Pride in Your Business

Make sure that everything that goes out from your business (i.e., business cards, letters, advertisements), exudes the image that you want to present. "Would you expect specialty chocolates to be dropped into the bottom of a brown paper bag when you purchase them?" is the question posed on the "Business Image" section of the Small Business Notes website. 

Motivate Employees

"...almost 70% [of customers] leave due to a poor attitude exhibited by employees of the business," also stated on the website. You can avoid this by communicating your desired image to your employees. You can also provide employees with incentives to promote excellent customer service. 

Rebrand

Rebranding may be the most expensive way to improve your business's image, but it may be the most necessary and lucrative for those in need of complete makeovers. "Remember, branding should be a reflection of your company, not just a projection of what you want it to be," writes John Williams for Entrepreneur. "You must ensure that the customer experience equals the expectation, or no amount of image revamping will work." In other words, a business that cannot actually deliver what its image suggests will lose customers. Likewise, one whose image does not project what it has the capacity to deliver will miss out on important customers.

If you have owned your business for at least six months and you processes a minimum of $3,500 a month in credit card sales, you may be eligible for a business cash advance, which can offset the costs of improving your business image. Applying only takes a couple of minutes and you can be approved in 48 hours and funded up to $500,000 in as little as 10 business days.