Acrobat
How to create a company overview document + free downloadable company profile PDF template.
Learn how to create a PDF company overview document for your business, what to include, tips for editing PDFs, and get a free downloadable PDF business profile template to make it your own.
The importance of company profile documents.
Company profiles, also known as business profiles, company overviews, or business overviews, are documents that provide a concise summary and serve as an introduction to your business. Your company overview should be concise, and engaging, and effectively communicate the essence of your business to your intended audience.
The specific name or terminology used may vary depending on your industry norms, organisational preferences, and the intended audience for your document. However, a company overview will include key information about a business. This will include your business’s —
- background and history
- products or services
- target market(s)
- main personnel
- and other key information.
Uses for business profile documents.
Creating your business overview or company profile should be the first step you take and the document you write when you are creating any business documents. A company profile is an introduction and overview of your business and what you do. It’s like the same content you may present in an About Us page on your website, but usually with a bit more detail.
Company overview documents are a business document that may be used for —
- marketing materials
- funding applications
- introductions and overviews to potential partners, clients and new employees.
Business overviews or company profiles may be created as stand-alone documents or as documents that you can incorporate, when needed, into updates of your other business documents. For example, business plans, strategic plans, annual reports and pitches or proposals to investors or funders.
How to create a company profile document and what to include.
When you’re writing and compiling the information for your company profile, think about the key elements of your company's history, purpose, goals, operations, and strategic plans that you want to communicate. Your business profile should be a clear and concise, but comprehensive overview of what your company is all about.
The headings and sections you include in your company profile will vary depending on the nature of your business and your audience. However, the main sections to include in a company profile document include —
Elements to incorporate into an overview of a company may include —
1. Title page
Start with a title page that clearly states the title of your business overview document — for example, business profile, company overview, or similar, with the date your document was created. Insert your business logo on the title page. And if you have already established branding elements such as fonts and colour palettes, use them from the beginning.
2. Contact Information
Make it clear how customers, partners, stakeholders, and any of your intended audience can contact your company. Include your physical and postal addresses, phone number(s), email address, and website. With PDF business documents you can make it easy for your readers to contact and communicate with you. Remember to add links to email addresses and your websites to help people get in touch.
3. Executive summary
An executive summary is a concise overview that tells your readers, in a nutshell, what your document is about. Your executive summary should give a brief outline of the highlights and critical elements that you cover in each section of your overall company overview document. Often, it’s best to write and review this section last, after you have fine-tuned everything else.
4. Company profile and overview
Prepare an overview of what your company is, what you do, and what your plans are for the future. This section can be written in paragraph form, or you can break it down with subheadings that are relevant to your business, and the specific purpose and audience of your company overview.
Elements to incorporate into an overview of a company may include —
Company history.
Write a summary of the history of your business. Include when it was established, why, and by whom. Note any significant milestones or achievements since your business’s inception. If your business has been operating for a while, mapping noteworthy events on a timeline can be an effective way to show your readers what you’ve accomplished.
Mission, vision, and values.
Include brief statements outlining the company's —
- Mission — its purpose or reason for existing.
- Vision — its long-term goals and aspirations.
- Values — its guiding principles and core values.
Ownership structure.
Summarise the ownership structure and/or legal status of your business. For example, whether you are set up as a limited liability company, partnership, or charitable trust. If you have a board of directors involved in making key business decisions, include their information.
5. Key people and organizational structure.
Introduce the key members of your management team, including their roles, qualifications, and relevant experience. Highlight any expertise or accomplishments that demonstrate their ability to lead your company effectively. Include individual or team photos so your audience can see who they are interacting with.
Business model and key operations.
Give a brief explanation of your business model and operations — the ways your company generates income, and any key day-to-day operational activities that your audience may have an interest in knowing.
Products or services.
Describe the products or services your business offers, highlighting their features, benefits, and how they address customer and client needs or solve problems and offer solutions.
Target market.
Provide information on your target market, including demographics, geographic location, and any niche markets you serve. Incorporate any market analysis you may have done that has identified trends, and growth potential.
Marketing and sales strategies.
Outline your marketing and sales strategies, and how you plan to attract and retain customers, promote your offerings, and generate revenue. Include information about your pricing strategy, distribution channels, and promotional tactics.
Market position and competitive advantage.
Explain your position in the market. Identify key competitors in your market and any market analysis you have done on your competitors’ strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Do you offer products or services that are unique or different in some way from your competitors? Make a statement on what sets your company apart from your competitors, and include factors such as any unique selling points, strengths, or proprietary rights and technologies.
Strategic plans.
Summarize your company’s long-term vision, goals, and plans, and any strategies you have planned to achieve your plans. This could include management, marketing, sales, financial and human resource goals that you have plans for in the future to grow your business.
Call to action.
Include a call to action at the end of your company profile that invites your readers to contact you. Remember to add links to websites, email addresses and your contact details to help and make it easy for people to contact you directly.
Appendices.
Attach as appendices any additional documents or materials that support your business overview. For example, organizational charts, product or service specifications, market research reports and analyses, and legal documents.
The benefits of PDF company profile documents.
Portable Document Format (PDF) files are the most shareable file format there is. We created them to be so back in the early 1990s. PDFs continue to serve the original purpose of being accessible across different systems and devices, and more.
PDFs are accessible.
Company overview documents or company profile documents need to be in a format that is accessible to your audience. People might be reading your company information on a laptop, tablet, or mobile device. When you want to communicate information about your business in a secure and trusted format, a PDF file is something everyone can open anytime, anywhere.
PDFs preserve document formatting.
PDFs preserve the formatting of your document regardless of the device or software people use to view them. This ensures that your company profile will look the same to all recipients and upholds your overall brand image and professionalism.
PDFs can be interactive and collaborative.
Business profile documents are often collaborative efforts that involve input from different members of your team. You can send and share your business profile PDF with other people to review and make comments, as and when you want them to, file via —
- the free Adobe Acrobat Reader
- Adobe Acrobat Online
- or an Adobe Acrobat application
PDFs are secure.
The final version of any business profile document needs to be secure. You can prevent other people from making unwanted changes and copying content with PDF password protection. If you have an iteration of your business profile overview that contains commercially sensitive information or confidential financial details of your company, you can also add a password to open the document.
How to create a PDF company overview template.
When you’re ready to create and customize a company overview template PDF, there are a few ways you can get started with Adobe products.
1. Create a new PDF template from scratch.
Use Adobe Acrobat to create a new company profile template from scratch. Simply open your Adobe Acrobat application. Then, from the top menu bar, click + Create, select Blank page, click Create – and get started!
2. Convert file(s) to PDF.
You can write a business overview document or convert content you’ve already created in other applications, such as Word and PowerPoint, and then convert your file to PDF format.
Simply open your Adobe Acrobat application. Then, from the top menu bar, click + Create. The options to choose from include converting single or multiple files, and more.
You can also convert files to PDF online.
3. Download a template and make it your own.
Using a company profile template is an efficient way to get started, especially if this is your first time creating and compiling a document like this. Download a template, and then add your text and content relevant to your business.
There are plenty of free templates on Adobe Express that you can download and customize to showcase your business.
Or
Edit and customize this free downloadable PDF template to create your business profile.
Tips for editing and customizing PDF templates.
Whether creating your business profile template from scratch or customizing a template you’ve downloaded, there are many tools and features in Adobe Acrobat at your fingertips. If you don’t already have it, make the most of a free trial of Adobe Acrobat Pro to explore what you can do.
Some of the tools and features in Adobe Acrobat that you might find useful when you’re creating and customising a template for a company profile PDF include —
PDF editing.
Use the Edit tool to make changes and customize PDF templates. Along with text editing and a spellchecker, there’s a lot you can do in PDFs — add images, videos, sound, 3D media, backgrounds, and more. Use these PDF editing tools to make your business overview one that visually represents who you are and what your business does.
Insert PDF headers and footers and/or watermarks.
Also found in the Edit tool is the ability to add and edit headers, footers, and/or watermarks. Use headers and footers to add page numbering, the name of your company and the title of your document on every page. Watermarks may be used to show the status of a document, such as draft, confidential, for internal use only, or you could insert your logo as a watermark on every page.
Add PDF form fields.
Use the Prepare a form tool to add form fields to your PDF company profile template. PDF templates are often created as fillable forms that users can interact with and fill in form fields. insert an E-signature field if you are requiring sign-off, approval, or acknowledgement.
Check your PDF is accessible and easy to navigate.
Use bookmarks and links to help your readers navigate your document. Add tags for people using screen readers. Use the Prepare for accessibility tool to check your PDF can be read and understood by people with a range of abilities. The tool will help to point you in the right direction of how to make a PDF accessible.
Organize PDF pages.
When you’re using a template, converting files to PDF, or merging PDF files, sometimes you may end up with PDF pages that aren’t in the order you originally intended. It’s a straightforward process to rearrange PDF pages, add pages to a PDF, rotate PDF pages, and more.
Get PDF signatures online.
Do you need to get a sign-off from a stakeholder that they’ve read your PDF business overview? Simply request a PDF signature online. Do you need to sign a PDF yourself? You can sign a PDF online too.
Review your PDF template.
Once you've drafted your business overview document template, review it carefully before you finalize it. Check for clarity, accuracy, and consistency in your written content and formatting. You can easily share PDFs with others from within Adobe Acrobat as an email attachment, or to access from one central location in the Adobe Document Cloud. You’ve got the choice of whether you allow other reviewers to edit text or send a PDF for comments only.
Ensure your PDF is secure.
Use the Protect a PDF tool to access security settings. Password protection and/or encryption can be set to protect the content of your company profile PDF to the levels you choose. For example, you can prevent people from changing the document, copying content, extracting pages, printing, and more.
Compress your PDF.
Use the Compress a PDF tool in Adobe Acrobat or compress a PDF online to ensure your final PDF is a file size that’s quick and easy to share and/or download. This will reduce the overall file size.