A logo is just the beginning,
of your branding journey
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Mark Coster
Founder of Pixooma
When you start a new business, everyone says that you should have a logo, but have you ever wondered why it’s so important?
Logo overload?
Logos – we see them everywhere in our daily lives. Digital marketing experts estimate that we’re exposed to around 4,000 to 10,000 ads each day. That’s an awful lot of stuff for our brains to process, so when it comes down to your logo, you need to make sure that it’s unique and easy for people to realise what you do/offer.
Be aware that sometimes creating your own logo yourself doesn’t give you the objectivity and creative free rein that is needed.
What’s a logo?
A logo is simply a visual graphic, emblem, shape, symbol, text or image that:
- Uniquely represents businesses, helping them to become easily identified, understood and remembered.
- Distinguishes one business from another even though they may be working in the same sector.
- Tells a story, by conveying brand message, purpose and values.
- Establishes an emotional connection with customers, conjuring up feelings of quality, excellence, trust, value, professionalism, reliability, flexibility, integrity and teamwork.
- Fosters brand loyalty – keeping customers coming back time after time.
Where does a logo appear?
In terms of its use, well it could be just about anything. It should appear on everything business related, whether that’s business cards/stationery, leaflets, brochures, adverts, websites, packaging or promotional items. In addition, it must also feature on display materials (for exhibitions/events), buildings (internal and external signage), workwear and vehicles too.
Where do I start?
Don’t just get a designer in and hand the job to them straight away. Our advice is to start doing some research and fact finding yourself. This may include:
- Thinking about your product or service and how you want it to be perceived by the marketplace – define your brand identity
- Finding out as much as you can about your customers, prospects and of course the sector in which you are operating
- Looking at your competitors’ efforts to see what type of logo they are using, check out the colours, typography, images, style and taglines and discover what you like and don’t like
Once you have done this, the next stage is to brief a graphic designer. You may wonder why one is needed and feel able to design something suitable yourself. If that’s the route you want to take, then I can’t stop you. I will just add that sometimes doing it yourself doesn’t always give you the objectivity and creative free rein that is needed.
A logo isn’t a brand
But having a logo isn’t the end of the branding process, just the start. Whilst it’s a powerful visual representation of your brand, there must be more. That’s why to back it up you need to use physical and emotional cues to ensure that your products/services or company activities are triggering the right reactions in your target audience. This is where advertising, sponsorship, communications (on different channels including TV, radio, magazines, outdoor ads, website etc) pricing strategy, product and packaging design, customer service/experience, tone of voice and management style come into their own.
For more information on logos and why they are an essential part of your brand, check out some of our previous blogs and articles below.
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