Building an online company brand requires ongoing diligence. Small businesses, in particular, have to be creative and effective. One of the easiest and most effective online platforms for brand building is Crunchbase. In fact, it’s something you can create in less than a day.
If you haven’t heard of Crunchbase, that’s about to change. Crunchbase is a comparatively new player in the business platform arena, but with its rapid growth, credibility, and leverage, you’re missing out if you don’t take advantage of the benefits a Crunchbase profile delivers.
How can you use Crunchbase as part of your company brand strategy? Take a look.
What is Crunchbase?
This company Crunchbase profile is an illustration of the information the platform includes. With a simple glance, you see the company’s name, industry, initial public offering status, phone number, website, social media accounts, and a brief business overview.
Crunchbase was founded in 2007 by Michael Arrington. Arrington’s initial idea was to keep track of technological startups featured in TechCrunch, the Crunchbase parent company. The database kept track of startups looking for investors, changing IPO status and acquisition events.
In 2014, Crunchbase expanded from a simple database operation with the addition of venture capital partners, leader board features and incubators. In 2019, Crunchbase raised $30 million as a step toward CEO Jager McConnell’s longtime goal of turning Crunchbase into a LinkedIn for businesses.
McConnell’s vision is to not only expand Crunchbase subscribers but also its products to deliver more personalized, predictive information using AI-based technologies. Crunchbase fills the need for more targeted and reliable business data and is poised to become an even greater brand influencer.
With an already globally dominant position, Crunchbase is a go-to destination for company information. It makes sense to take advantage of its unique position and services as a tool to build your company brand.
Getting Started With Crunchbase
Crunchbase offers free and paid services, but a free account gives you plenty of rewards. Crunchbase requires company identity verification before you earn access to an account. Verification processes through your Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook account. Verification may take a few days.
After you receive verification, begin filling out your company profile. Read and follow the Crunchbase guidelines for best practices.
Include all the following in your profile using exact data, dates and names:
- Founder and investor information
- List of board members
- Key employees
- Third-party news articles about your business
- Special events
Choose your industries carefully. The choices you make show up in Crunchbase database search results. Make sure you cover every major and lesser-known product and service your company offers.
Pay attention to keywords and phrases when you write the overview description. Place the most important points near the beginning.
Fill the profile out as completely as possible. Skip sections that don’t apply.
Because Crunchbase is crowd-sourced, members have the ability to edit your profile. As a matter of course, check your profile periodically to fix errors. You can also request a locked profile to prevent edits from users.
What Does a Crunchbase Profile Do for Your Business?
Your company profile is complete. Now what?
Online users have reason to be leery of online personas. Potential customers, partners, and investors won’t give your business a second glance if they can’t verify your legitimacy. Legitimacy is exactly what a Crunchbase profile lends your company. Viewers who visit your profile see there are real people and a solid foundation beyond the online presence.
A Crunchbase profile also gives you more control about how your company appears in search engine results. Imagine searching your company, and the first listing on the results page is a customer complaint. A profile in Crunchbase can counter negative patterns and offer a level of brand protection.
How to Get More Out of Crunchbase
A Crunchbase profile does a lot on its own, but if you use it proactively, it can do a lot more.
With Crunchbase, you can do the following:
- If you need investors, an investor search gives you information and contact details about those who’ve invested in your type of business before.
- Particularly helpful if your business is a B2B, searching for prospective customers is another Crunchbase capability.
- Conduct market research.
- If you’re thinking about finding a partner to grow with, a search results in leads to businesses or entrepreneurs who might be interested.
- Find businesses in your local region or geographical area to partner with or offer your services.
- Stay up-to-date on industry trends and breaking news with the Crunchbase News section.
- Subscribe to the daily newsletter to keep up with industry news as well as new platform features.
If you want to grow your brand, strengthen your online reputation, and open doors to new opportunities, a Crunchbase business profile is exactly the tool you need.
