How Logo Design Impacts Your Small Business
Consumers are inundated with branded messages every day, with thousands of companies adding their voice to the general noise that people experience when they go through the process of making a purchase decision. Having a strong visual brand can help your brand’s voice to be heard above the chatter, and a logo is the epicentre of that visual branding.
A great logo can create a sense of trust and recognition that is an irreplaceable asset for a business’s marketing efforts. Below are 4 ways a great logo design can impact your small business, as well as questions you can ask yourself to evaluate your logo’s potential.
1) Provides an instant connection
If your logo is in keeping with your overall brand personality it can immediately act as a beacon for your business, drawing lost and floundering consumers to your sales portal with clear direction and a sense of purpose.
Think, for example, of the WWF panda, or the Dunkin’ Donuts coffee cup. Two strong logos that convey the purpose of the company, that play on our basic emotional reactions, subliminally linking our association of the logo with the perceived benefit of the product.
Does your logo design communicate an emotional link with the product or service you provide?
2) Creates familiarity
In a world of overwhelming sales messages, familiarity is the base camp of establishing trust, and trust is the key to consumer confidence and maintaining stability with your sales.
Research repeatedly shows that the more familiar we are with a brand the more likely we are to become their customer, repeatedly. Since your logo is the image from your company that people see with the highest frequency, it makes sense that it should be considered a vital asset in your customer acquisition strategy. Not only this, but your logo is likely going to feature on all of your branding material as the feature of commonality- and should lend itself to being memorable across multiple applications.
Is your logo unique and memorable?
3) Is universally recognizable
Possibly the biggest benefit of your logo is its size and simplicity. It is inherently suited to the busy world of social media in particular, where its small size works to your advantage as it brands each of your messages clearly and confidently.
According to logo and web design company Magicdust; “Your logo should be designed to be crisp and versatile in a variety of sizes and formats to ensure that it remains consistently recognizable in every situation”. For this reason, your logo should be able to be broken down into iconography as well as typography to ensure maximum flexibility.
Small enough to be included in every communication, on packaging and even on products themselves, logos can still have a large enough presence to take on a life of their own, exemplified by brands such as Apple, Nike and Shell.
Is your logo both adaptable and recognisable?
4) It solidifies your branding
Used well in your marketing and branding your logo can come to represent your company’s ethos and identity, creating a sense of loyalty and connection to your business for your customers.
It can also creatively convey a sense of fun, like Mailchimp’s cheeky logo, or rely on established iconography to suggest meaning, like the use of a shield in the UPS logo, which implies trust and security.
Is your logo an accurate representation of your brand personality?
When designing your logo, remember to keep it simple and clean, with a clear connection to your core business offering to give it the strongest chance of acting as an enduring and instantly recognizable ambassador for your brand.
This article was contributed by Magicdust, a logo and web design company who also provide ecommerce and online marketing solutions for small businesses.