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Brick No13: My advice on logos
By Matt Weston, Friday 31 October 2003 All marketing, branding and advertising is an investment. Its end goal, whether immediate or long-term, has to be to generate sales. Logos are no different. Most businesses don't get any tangible benefit from logos, yet getting a logo done remains an entrepreneurial milestone - a symbol of going it alone. Many start-up textbooks start off their marketing chapters with talk of logos, image and branding. This is wrong. They should focus first on the top line - helping you get your first sale. I believe that, for most small businesses a logo doesn't matter a jot, as long as it's not terrible, and doesn't give off a negative impression. It's not difficult to get it right, just don't try to be too cute. If you do need a logo (and for most businesses I think a simple text based-logo will suffice), follow the rules I've outlined below. Get it done quickly and cost-effectively and then move on to the more important job of bringing in your first sale. Work out what your logo needs to say What does your business do? What is your USP (Unique Selling Point) or your advantage over competitors? What values do you stand for? Can you get that across in a logo? If not, don't try to - just stick to something simple and readable. Focus on your company name, rather than an abstract image. Yes, it is possible to communicate virtues such as speed, dependability, innovation, choice and value in a logo - but it's a fine art. Companies like Royal Mail and BT have wasted millions on rebranding, without a positive effect on sales. Why should your business be any different? To me, a logo is a tiny part of the picture, far less important than your company name, a well pitched sales presentation, well written advertisement or effective sales call. If you can't think of an easy way to get your brand across, don't worry, just get a standard logo that states your brand name in simple company colours - think WHSmith, Boots, Heinz, Weetabix, Tesco and McDonalds (it also has the 'Golden Arches' - simply a big yellow 'M'). Sketch out ideas BEFORE you go to a designer It doesn't matter how pretty your logo looks. What's important is that it works - it gets your name across and is readable. I can't stress the word readable enough. It's you, not your designer who has to drive this (if you even need a designer). As always KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) is a great rule of thumb. For inspiration, look at logos that work for you, and logos that don't. Try your draft sketches out on prospective customers, friends, or family. Many moons ago, during my A-levels, I was running a little enterprise printing wall planners. We sold advertising around the edge of the planner to local businesses. We'd designed a logo - an unreadable, overcomplicated letter 'A', that was an amalgam of many poor design ideas. The 'A' stood for 'Acronym' - a dreadful company name. We were young. But we all liked the logo. We plastered a scaled-up 'A' over several thousand wall planners, taking up valuable advertising space. Only then did we realise that no-one could tell what it stood for - or even that it was a letter 'A'. I learnt an early lesson about logos - make sure you ask someone not involved with the business what they think, before you use it. In fact, I'm not sure we even needed a logo - '(c) Acronym Ltd' in small print at the foot of the planner would have sufficed. Pay on results, not by the hour There are plenty of designers who charge by the job, rather than by the hour. This is much better for you - budget no more than £150 for the job if you just want a simple logo. Again, if you've sketched your idea out beforehand, and give the designer a tight spec, you should be able to negotiate a lower price. Use a service that works on the principle that if you don't use the logo, then you don't have to pay - or at least you only pay if you approve the drafts. As a starting point, check out these sites - logopro.co.uk & logosolution.co.uk Easy to reproduce Beware the hidden costs of logos. Make sure your logo is easy to reproduce, and you have all the necessary versions you could need. Businesses often get stung because they haven't got a version that works on the web or a black and white version for a newspaper ad - you don't want to have to pay a designer a second time. As a rule ask for the following versions: black and white, 2 colour, 4 colour and web usable (gif, tif or jpeg). Also ask for the original files, so that for if you need to change the orientation of the logo, or add a slogan, it can be done without having to start from scratch. Lastly, thanks to business bricks reader, James Williams, for the inspiration behind today's bb. James' company Williams McKenna Wines is an importer of wine from small quality producers. Remember to sign up: back to top |
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