Why should your business care about logo design? The answer is quite simple. In the words of the logo experts at Tailor Brands, “If you don’t have a logo (and one that stands out), then you are missing an opportunity to make your business stick in the minds of your audience.”
If nothing else, your target consumer audience simply expects any business of substance to have a logo and display it prominently on marketing materials that range from print and video advertisements to company letterhead and business cards. Read on for more information about the key characteristics of a high-quality logo and the reasons that you should make the design of your logo a top priority.
What Makes a Good Logo?
In short, a good logo must be both relevant and distinctive. Although different businesses certainly require different logos, designers should generally stress simplicity and create logos that contain no flourishes that aren’t absolutely necessary.
As observed by Emily Krause of a leading graphic design firm, the average consumer (who isn’t employed as a graphic designer or graced with a particular eye for design details) isn’t likely to put a great deal of stock in a company logo. However, this consumer will subconsciously expect your logo to look and feel appropriate to the industry in which you work as well as the specific products and services that you offer. “Good design not only looks professional on the surface,” writes Krause, “but it also signifies something deeper.”
7 Reasons Why a Logo is Important
Grabs Attention
With consumer attention spans at an all-time low, your company must make a considerable impact within seconds if you want your target audience to learn more about your products and/or services. As a succinct and highly visual representation of your company and its core worth, your logo is a powerful way to capture interest while communicating key traits such as professionalism, trustworthiness, contentiousness, and quality. For maximum effect, your logo should instantly demonstrate how your company’s core values are different and preferable to your closest competitors.
Makes a Strong First Impression
While it isn’t always wise to judge a book by its cover, most consumers do just that when it comes to learning more about a company before making a purchase decision. Exceptional logo design branding provides a great way to put your best foot forward and make an outstanding initial impression. The marketing specialists at Webdew point out that even a less than perfect logo is likely preferable to having no logo at all, warning that “the absence of a logo creates a drab outlook that can alienate prospective customers.”
Lays the Foundation of Your Brand Identity
Just as people have personalities, businesses have brands. Even if you’ve taken great care to cultivate an emotionally compelling brand image that tells a distinctive story, you are missing a tremendous opportunity if your logo fails to reflect that image or summarize that story. For most successful companies, their logo lays the foundation for all that their brand represents. By leveraging the power of color, typeface, and other key logo elements, you can create a shorthand for your brand identity that can serve as a unifying factor for all of your subsequent branding efforts.
Stays with the Consumer over the Long Term
In addition to capturing consumer attention immediately, a high-quality logo must embed itself in consumer memory. As a central brand symbol, logos are a key element of company identification. Ideally, you want a memorable logo that will instantly trigger a firm understanding of what your business does and, perhaps more vitally, how your business makes them feel. A logo that is visually pleasing will have a far better chance of connecting with consumers emotionally. In some cases, a consumer may forget the name of your company but still remember your logo.
Separates You from Competitors
One of the primary reasons that you want your logo to be distinctive and unique is to set yourself apart from other companies in your business sector. Ask yourself how your brand image differs from your competitors and make sure that your logo reflects this difference. A great custom logo design can identify your business as more professional, innovative, fun, efficient, or sustainable than other businesses. Whatever your company does best, your logo should demonstrate it.
Fosters Brand Loyalty
A memorable logo can serve as a consistent guidepost in the minds of consumers. Companies with logos that are instantly familiar are also generally regarded as immediately accessible and highly trustworthy. When loyal customers look for your product on a cluttered and overstocked store shelf, your logo will likely be the first thing that they spot. Iconic logos such as the Nike swoosh and McDonald’s golden arches serve as perfect examples of this fact.
Reinforces Professionalism
Of course, your business won’t go very far if it doesn’t provide quality products and satisfying customer service, but there are ways to demonstrate this high level of professionalism to consumers before they even make a purchase. As the central symbol of your business, your logo speaks volumes about your professionalism. Exceptional business logo design with keen attention to detail suggests similar attention to detail in all that you do. In the words of the marketing leaders at Webdew, a professional logo “fulfills the customers’ requirements and expectations, as any client would expect a credible business to be represented by a suitable logo.”
Your Logo Is the Visual Foundation of Your Brand Identity
Just as your company name represents your business verbally, so does your company logo represent your company visually. So it should demonstrate exactly who you are, what you do, and how your customers feel about you. If you’re looking to learn more about what a well-designed logo can do for you, contact the industry leaders at Marketing Done Right in Cleveland, Ohio. True to the essence of what a good logo does best, our logo design work speaks for itself.
