Logos
The most important marketing step a business can take is to obtain a logo that accurately conveys the business image and message.
The most effective yet least expensive marketing tool a business can utilize is its own logo.
Use your logo often and everywhere. Let it be seen so you will be remembered.
A business logo should be used on business cards, letterheads, envelopes, faxes, invoices, statements, email signature lines, web sites, products, telephone book ads and all other advertising or marketing materials.
Your logo is an icon that will come to represent your business. The more people see it, the more likely they will remember your business and become your customers when they need the product or service you provide.
Carefully consider these important points when deciding on a logo:
- Determine the business image you wish to project.
- Hire a professional designer, who has the education and knowledge to help you convey that image with typography, color and graphics.
- Select a font that is readable, distinctive, & appropriate for your business.
- Know your customers and pick a logo that will attract them regardless of whether it appeals to you. Your logo is for your customers, not you.
- Find out what your competition is using and aim for uniqueness.
- Color matters. Don't use a color just because it is your favorite or because no-one else is using it. Choose a color intelligently, based on the image and message you wish to portray; the customers you wish to target.
- Select appropriate graphics to relay your message and image.
- Develop standards of use for your logo.
Decide on the image you want your business to project.
- A delivery service might want to project dependability.
- A financial institution would wish to convey honesty and trustworthiness.
- A fashion retailer could imply taste and elegance.
- An amusement park logo would shout "fun"!
In general, the business image conveyed by a logo is a single strong message. Occasionally, more than one message can be worked into it, but their strengths will likely be diluted. The strongest message is single, simple and thus memorable.
Hire a professional designer, who has the education and knowledge to help you convey your image with typography, color and graphics. A design pro can create a logo that is memorable, rather than boring and forgettable. This is accomplished by arranging and manipulating elements of the design so the focal point is noticed without centering it or making it large and bold (boring amateur mistakes).
Consider the image below, under section 3, Fontastic fonts. What is the first word you notice? Very likely, it is the word 'casual'. Why did you notice it even though the word is not centered and it is not the largest word in the image?
The designer used a number of techniques to make the word Casual stand out.
- The word Casual is orange and everything else is blue.
- The word Serif points to Casual with its direction and size increase.
- The word San serif points to Casual with its direction and size decrease.
- The bottom of 'p' in the word Script points to Casual.
- The word Funky points to San serif, which leads the eyes, in turn, to Casual. Also, the top of 'k' in Funky points to Casual.
These and other techniques are learned and used by designers to draw and keep the attention of customers so your message (whether it be logo, website, ads or flyers) will be noticed and remembered.
Typography is a broad term that involves several fields of study. It ranges from type design, where type (or fonts) are created; to graphic design, where type is studied and used in a variety of creative ways.
Each font has its own personality, so choosing the correct font to convey your message is an important aspect to consider when deciding on a logo.
Some fonts imply playfulness while others might say "I am: romantic, or trustworthy, or hip, or reliable, or fashionable, or clean and neat or down and dirty." Fonts can make words seem to dance, spiral, grow, recede, or sit static on a page.
The logo of an attorney should not have the same feel as that for an amusement park.
In addition to projecting an appropriate image of your business, the right font should be readable even if the logo is used at different sizes and for different purposes.
Be careful not to use a font for your logo that everyone else is using for their garage sale. An example of this is Monotype Corsiva, which is on almost everyone's computer. It is a common-looking stubby script font that is used on everything from flyers for car washes, movie rentals, lost dogs, to funeral home prayer cards. Since it is so commonly used, it would hardly make your logo or business look special.
Some businesses purchase a special font family from a typography design service because they understand how important it is to have an exclusive font.
Know your customers and pick a logo that will attract them. If your business is providing security, you would not want to choose fonts and colors that scream 'fun' since your market is not customers seeking fun.
In the above example, your market would be home and business owners, who want to protect people and property. When they are looking for someone to provide that protection, they will not be attracted to a logo that projects fun, elegance, health, relaxation or any of the other business images inappropriate to their needs. They will look for an image that will make them feel secure.
Find out what your competition is using and aim for uniqueness. This is especially easy if your competition has chosen colors and fonts not appropriate for the target market. In that case, your carefully considered choices are bound to make you a winner!
If, however, they have chosen wisely for the target market, you still have a wealth of options. Even your name can be unique, so work with your designer to create a message that will inspire customers to seek you out for their needs.