Have you ever had a logo designed and asked people, “Which version do you like best?” Or has someone asked the question of you? Here’s why that’s the wrong question and a bad idea… plus some suggestions for how to approach your logo design instead.
Branding consistency is important. But businesses can get so caught up in their day to day operations that they fail to present a unified visual identity or worse, they don’t portray a strong message about the product or service they’re selling.
Today I want to talk to you about a small business that made this error. What business did that?
Mine.
Yup.
We did that. Or rather failed to do that.
I’d like to share our branding journey with you along with some strategies you can use to make your own visual identity the strongest it can be.
What does “branding” mean to you? Maybe you think of a logo or website style or even a “voice” and message. But your brand goes much deeper than that. You can’t earn loyal customers with a good logo or even some brilliant copywriting. Read more to find out some things that really create your brand and how they can keep customers coming back for more. Even when things go wrong.
The cost of a logo ranges anywhere from free (as in: “I know a guy who has a kid that does design”) to thousands of dollars. But whether you’ve gone to Fiverr or hired a top-notch agency, that doesn’t mean you’ll end up with a logo that works for your business. There’s more to a logo than a nice color and a neat graphic. Here are some things to think about before you design a logo or rebrand with a new one. And it may not even be a bad idea to give your current logo a test against these questions, even if you love it!
Designing a logo can be a tough process. There’s a lot to think about and if you want a successful logo you can’t start today and expect to have one by the weekend. A logo is part of your brand, and you don’t want to mess that up, right? Here are a few things you should tuck under your hat and remember as you’re going through the design process. They’ll help you think more clearly and avoid some common pitfalls.
A logo is a fundamental part of any brand’s overall marketing mix. What isn’t usually recognized is that developing a quality logo is not easy or fast. It requires that the business be in tune with itself and have a unified vision of its mission. So how can developing a logo end up in disaster? Here are six things you should know.
In today’s super hyped-up, fast-paced, be-everywhere-or-die business world, there’s a lot of chatter about engaging your audience, building an army of evangelists and creating that holy grail of marketing: brand loyalty. Here are a few things loyalty is not, and a few it is, so that when you start thinking of how to build your band of evangelists and true believers, you can do it on a solid foundation.
“That’s ugly.”
You may have heard this about your marketing materials. You may even have said it about someone else’s. While they say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, sometimes it’s a cold hard truth that your website, letterhead or brochure got slapped upside the head with an ugly stick.
If you run a business or are an entrepreneur, marketing yourself and your business requires some level of design. The fact is that when it comes to building a brand and making a good impression, good design is better than poor design. Good design can go a long way towards getting your audience to feel what you want them to feel or persuading them to do what you want them to do. So it’s that word, ugly, that I want to focus on because defining ugly is important if you want to turn your marketing materials into powerful tools for business growth and profit.
It’s not uncommon for a fellow business owner to look at my logo and say, “That’s a great brand!” What they were really saying was, “I like your logo!” You really can’t create a brand in Photoshop, even if you add a slogan. Both can be valuable parts of your overall image, but your brand is something entirely different. Find out what your brand is (and isn’t) and what it can mean to your business if you develop it correctly.
DonnaLyn Giegerich gives paid speeches nationally as well as locally, and is “one of Monmouth County’s most sought after speakers,” says the president of the Eastern Monmouth Chamber of Commerce. She’s also a producing partner in two insurance agencies that generate more business than she can handle.
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