In my last post “Eight things to help you choose your next marketing piece” I mentioned that I was inspired to do a blog series to try to break down, either, the information you need to know or the steps you should follow to accomplish a task in your marketing goals.
This posts is all about your logo. The corner stone of your branding and the one thing that will appear on every marketing piece you create moving forward.
Logos, while they look simple, aren’t something to be taken lightly or for granted. There is a reason we think of a swoosh when we think of tennis shoes, golden arches when we think of cheeseburgers, or a sea shell when we think of gas for our car. Often simple in design, or sometimes just a smart selection of fonts, logos set the tone and perception of your company long after you aren’t in the room.
As before, I am going to start so we can both be on the same page. Let’s pretend that you either haven’t created your logo yet or you know you need to re-brand from the Times New Roman font you’ve been using when you first started. Let’s get right into “Eight things to think about before you start your logo”.
- Will your logo represent just you or your company – Before you get started, think if your logo is just representing you or the umbrella that will covers how people will perceive your employees. Sometimes it’s great to have an ego about the company you created, but if you are in a service industry you may want to create something that your staff can easily get behind as their own.
- Is it in your budget to make this change right now – Your logo will not only cost you to be redesigned, but will cause you to need to print business cards, change an image on a website, and update/create your marketing pieces. Also keep in mind the more colors you have in your logo the more costly it can become to reproduce.
- What type of logo makes sense – Do you want to create an iconic image that will stand alone without a sales person driving it? Do you need something a bit subtler? I’ll go over different types of logos in a later post, but this is really a good question to bounce off a designer or marketer who can be unbiased about your company. Sometimes we business owners need to be talked off the ledge of our own greatness.
- Do the colors you like fit your industry – Colors evoke an emotion. Take a drive down the highway and count how many fast food, and restaurants, have red in the color of their logo. Red means stop. Using that color they hope, subconsciously, that you’ll stop in their joint. On the train of thought, red is a bad color for an accountant, because in the world of finance no one wants to be the red, but in the green. Do you see where I am going with this? While you may like a certain color, to your prospective customer that color might strike an emotion that causes that to think the opposite of your company.
- What image do you want the logo to project – Is your company fun? Is it stoic? What do you want people to think of when they look at your logo when your, or your sales people, aren’t around?
- Will this logo be printed, embroidered, or enlarged – All too often I see logos that only look good in the original size they were designed. Or that don’t translate will to other mediums because the owner wanted multiple colors, complex designs, and all sorts of wackiness just to make themselves feel good. Take a look at some of the most successful brands and their logos. These designs, more often than not, as simple and don’t loose any consistency of their design as they shrink or enlarge.
- How long will this logo last before you change it again – You could be in a transition between just creating your business and the next evolution of your companies’ success. It is ok to alter your logo as your company grows. Whether it’s the increase, or decrease, of colors or the addition of a certain design element the design of the logo should show some sort of logical transition from one to the other. Drastically changing runs the risk of confusing future, and current, customers and thus turning them away.
- Can you look at this design every day – This is your logo. The visual representation of your company when no one is around. If you can’t stand it…you aren’t going to get excited to promote it. Don’t get talked into a design by a marketer or designer who has learned the latest and greatest about whatever design technique is hot right now. They have to live with this logo in their portfolio, but you have live with it every day.
If you notice, I haven’t gone into much detail about what a logo is. That’s saved for a future post, but, hopefully, what is here will be some thing you can keep in the back of your mind when the time comes. I intend these to be sparks of thought and not mandates of marketing/design.
I hope you leave a comment here with your thoughts, suggestions, or questions. You can also reach me on Twitter by sending a message to @wickedjava, or on Facebook at facebook.com/mcdougherty.
As all ways, if you have been reading, thank you and stay wicked.
Tags: budget, design, entrepeneurship, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, Generational Marketing, logo, Marketing, michael dougherty, millennials, small business, Small Business Success Index
Posted in Entrepreneurs, Generational Marketing, Marketing | 11 Comments »
