Describing What Your Company Does: Category and Boilerplate

Ask a founder what their company does and you will usually get a long answer. Ask them to put it in one sentence, and the answer changes. Ask them to choose a category from a list of two hundred, and many pick whichever sounds best.

Both tasks matter. The sentence is what people repeat, the category is how systems and browsers file you and the boilerplate paragraph is what journalists paste into articles. Getting them right takes an hour and saves a good deal of confusion later.

Three layers of description

Think of your description as three layers, each for a different use.

1. The sentence: twenty to thirty words, for cards, snippets and conversation.
2. The paragraph: around eighty to a hundred and twenty words, for profiles and about pages.
3. The boilerplate: a standard paragraph, reused at the end of announcements.

They share the same facts, written at different lengths.

Layer one: the sentence

Structure: who you serve, what you provide, where or how.

• "Independent financial planning for self-employed professionals in Scotland."
• "Temperature-controlled storage and delivery for food producers in the Midlands."
• "Cloud software that automates purchase-order matching for mid-sized manufacturers."

Test: could someone who has never heard of you explain it back? If not, simplify.

Avoid: "leading", "innovative", "world-class", "solutions", "end-to-end". They add length and no information.

Layer two: the paragraph

Expand the sentence with four ingredients.

1. What you offer, in concrete terms.
2. Who for, including sectors and sizes.
3. How it works, briefly.
4. Why you are credible, with a fact.

Example: "Brindle & Cole provide independent financial planning for self-employed professionals in Scotland. We help architects, consultants and contractors plan for irregular income, pensions and tax. Clients meet a named adviser, who prepares a written plan and reviews it each year. Both partners hold recognised planning qualifications and have worked in the sector for over a decade."

Notice that the credential is stated as a fact, not an adjective, and the reader could check it.

Layer three: the boilerplate

Wikipedia lists the boilerplate as part of the usual press release structure: a brief "about" section on the issuing organisation. It is a standard paragraph you attach to every announcement, so writers can quote it. Keep it short, around fifty to eighty words, third person, with a link and a contact.

Write it once, keep it in your facts sheet and update it deliberately. Consistent boilerplate across announcements means journalists and partners describe you the same way.

Choosing a category

Directories and profiles ask you to choose a category or several. Pick them carefully.

Google's Business Profile guidance, written for local business listings, offers sound principles that apply broadly: use as few categories as possible to describe the core business, choose specific categories that complete "This business IS a..." and not "HAS a...", and do not use categories as keywords or to describe unrelated nearby businesses. In other words, a category states what you are, not everything you could mention.

Practical steps:

1. List your top three activities by revenue or effort.
2. Choose the category that matches the first.
3. Add a second only if it genuinely describes a distinct core activity.
4. Check three competitors' choices for ideas, not for copying.
5. Read the category's description, if the platform provides one.

Official activity codes

Many countries ask companies to register an activity classification. In the United Kingdom, GOV.UK says you select a SIC code describing your business activities when you register with Companies House. Your public description should not contradict that registration. If your business evolves, update your registered information as required, and your public profiles at the same time.

If you are unsure which code fits, consult official guidance or your accountant.

Words customers use

The words you choose should match how buyers describe their needs. A manufacturer may call it "purchase-order reconciliation"; a buyer may search "matching invoices to orders". Gather real language.

• Look at customer emails and enquiry forms.
• Ask clients how they would describe you to a colleague.
• Check search suggestions for your service.
• Read trade press in your sector.

Use the common phrase in your sentence, and the technical phrase in the paragraph.

Be accurate about scope

Do not claim services you do not provide. Describing yourself broadly to appear in more places causes wasted enquiries and can breach rules for regulated activities. If you serve a region, say which. If you specialise, say in what.

Google's helpful-content guidance, with its emphasis on trust and avoiding content created mainly to manipulate, matches this: describe the business accurately for the reader, not artificially for a filter.

Structured data

Your own website can state a description in machine-readable form. Google's organization markup lists a description property alongside name, logo, address and contact details, with no property required. If you add markup to your home or about page, use the same sentence and paragraph that you publish elsewhere.

Keep versions in step

Create a one-page facts sheet with:

• Trading and legal names.
• One-sentence description.
• Paragraph description.
• Boilerplate.
• Category choices.
• Official activity code.
• Contact details.
• Logo files.
• Date last reviewed.

Whenever you update one item, update the sheet, then every place that uses it.

Review triggers

Update the description when:

• You add or retire a service.
• You change audience or region.
• You move or rename.
• You gain a significant credential.
• You notice that enquiries often misunderstand what you do.

That last trigger is the most useful. Misdirected enquiries are feedback on your wording.

Common mistakes

• A sentence that could describe any company.
• Choosing a category for its popularity.
• Listing every possible category.
• A description that contradicts your registered activity.
• First-person boilerplate.
• No contact in the boilerplate.
• Never updating.

An exercise

Write your sentence, then ask three people to say what your company does after reading it. Write their answers beside it. Adjust until they match your intent. Then write the paragraph and read it aloud. Cut any sentence that does not add a fact. Finally write the boilerplate, and put all three in your facts sheet.

On this site

Profiles here use a short summary, a longer description and a category chosen from a structured list. The categories page shows the full set, the submit page starts a profile and a launch entry costs $5. The about-founders page introduces the people behind the project.

Worked example: from long to short

A founder starts with: "We are a dynamic, forward-thinking team of professionals offering a wide range of bespoke services to help businesses grow in the modern economy." It says nothing. Working through the questions, she discovers that most of the company's income comes from preparing annual accounts for owner-managed shops, that clients are mainly in two counties and that both partners are qualified accountants.

The sentence becomes: "Accountants for owner-managed shops and cafes in two counties, preparing annual accounts and tax returns." The paragraph adds the services, the named partners and the qualification. The boilerplate repeats the facts in third person with the website and a contact. For the category she chooses "Accountant" as primary, and nothing else, since bookkeeping is a part of the same service. Her registered activity code already matches. The result is shorter, clearer and checkable.

Testing the category from the other side

Search a directory or a map for the sort of business you want to be found as, and note which categories the first results use. If your category does not appear among them, ask whether customers think of your business in the same terms. Sometimes the official term is not the everyday one, and an extra descriptive phrase in the paragraph can bridge the gap. Do not add categories merely to catch more traffic; instead, add words to the description that real customers use.

Translating internally

Inside the team, people describe the company differently: the salesperson says one thing, the engineer another. Circulate the three layers and ask everyone to use them. Repetition makes descriptions memorable, and consistent language across every channel is part of how a small business comes across as established.

Reviewing with a fresh reader

Once a year, hand your sentence, paragraph and boilerplate to someone outside the business and ask them to mark anything they do not understand or do not believe. Their marks will point at jargon, vague claims and anything you have outgrown. It takes ten minutes and keeps the description honest and current, which in turn keeps the enquiries you receive well matched to what you actually do.

One more habit

Keep your three layers somewhere visible, such as the first page of a shared handbook, and refer to them whenever someone asks how to describe the company. A small habit of pointing people to the same words does more for consistency than any style guide.

The takeaway

Describe your company in three layers, a sentence, a paragraph and a boilerplate, using plain words and checkable facts. Choose the fewest accurate categories, keep them consistent with your registered activity and store everything in one facts sheet. Then everyone who describes you will say the same thing.