Marketing a business can feel like the Wild Wild West. Your business is this wagon.
And your logo is the horse.
Your logo should be making your journey easier. Like this:
Your logo should do at least two things:
- Symbolically convey your company’s identity
- Build trust with your customers by being consistent across all platforms
Sometimes, though, I run into marketers and business owners who’ve got it backwards.
They’re pulling an untamed horse!
Here are a few examples of what that might look like in real life:
- You don’t have a one color version of your logo for special occasions (e.g. on a charity 5K t-shirt)
- Your logo is too detailed and doesn’t look good small (e.g. on a promotional pen or a car decal)
- You don’t have the original files (e.g. you’re always scrambling to find the right format)
- You don’t have a “locked up” font, color or icon (e.g. the logo on your business card is different than your website)
If you have any of these problems, you’re working harder for your logo than it’s working for you.
It doesn’t have to be that way
Let me suggest that you need a visual identity system (a.k.a. logo) that uses typography, color, space, and icon(s) in a consistent and organized manner. If you’re working for a larger institution, your guidelines could look like Clemson University, Boy Scouts or LinkedIn. If you’re a small biz, you may not need to be that organized, but – whatever you end up with – should be written down, easy to understand and make your life easier. Your guidelines should be an instruction manual that accommodates all of your marketing channels: from tradeshows to letterhead to web apps.
So take a few minutes, hop down off the wagon and take a good look at your horse. Is it pulling you along or slowing you down?
Might be time to put that horse out to pasture. Start fresh. If so, give me a call. 843.882.7627
See you on the trail,
Well written and illustrated.