Logos are a critical aspect of any marketing strategy. As a company’s single most important graphical representation, a logo anchors a company’s brand and becomes the most visible manifestation of the company within its target market.
Let’s face it: we are a culture that judges everything at first glance. It is part of our evolutionary advantage to make a split-second decision about whether something is good for us or bad for us. We can tap into that innate aspect of human nature when we create a good first impression by putting a beautiful logo in front of a potential customer’s eyes. Potential customers, suppliers and business partners will make snap judgments about whether or not to do business with you based on how you initially appear. At times, your entire company will be judged by this single logo image. If this image is not deemed professional or well-designed, potential customers may not be inspired to trust you initially, no matter how qualified you actually are. They will move on and do business with someone else. IT is important, especially for small businesses in local markets, to make that great first impression to get their foot in the door, so to speak. Once the customer is inspired to choose your business, then you have the opportunity to gain their loyalty with your product or service quality.
Build Initial Trust Before a customer walks in your store or logs on to your website, they have developed a first impression of your company by the first impression they get from your logo. If your logo is professional, you’re more likely to help customers feel like your business is a professional one too.
Attract New Customers An effective logo will inform customers about what you’re offering, attract the eye to inspire customers to do business with you, and should be memorable, so that they can remember your company when the time is right for them to seek your products or services.
Stand Out From Competitors Flip through the phone book and you’ll see a myriad of forgettable companies. Sanding out from the competition with a memorable logo is critical to catching the attention of potential customers. Make sure you develop a logo design that will highlight your business.
Create Loyalty With Professionalism A professional logo will tell customers you’re good at what you do, because it implies precision, pride in work and a professional attitude. A sloppy, boring or poorly executed logo conveys lack of ability and effort, which makes people feel less confident in your products or services.
But a good logo is about more than just making a good first impression. It can have a lasting impact on your company’s success. Your logo appears on stationery, websites, business cards and advertising. A logo should be cohesive with all other aspects of a company’s visual presentation. No logo, however well designed, can look good when surrounded by contradictory graphical elements or inconsistent fonts. This is why a logo is the basic unit of a larger brand identity that includes fonts, colors and design guidelines that should apply to all printed and published documents. For instance, your logo, business card and website should all use the same font and color scheme. This lets your customers visually associate all three marketing pieces with your company… otherwise your entire brand appears disjointed and not well put together.
Your logo is your cornerstone, and should be done right, from the beginning.