HOW CAN A LOGO INCREASE YOUR SALES?

Logos can be quite a mystery to anyone outside the creative industry. Small business owners can wonder what the difference is between a 'home made logo' and a 'professional corporate identity'.

Why should a small business owner hire a professional designer when there are hundreds of cheap (or free) logos available?

The answer is simple... your customers will analyse your logo with their own concept of what is 'professional', can you be trusted to supply their wants and needs?

A simple variation in an 'off the shelf template' will ruin the message you are trying to convey to your target audience and you may come across as being unprofessional. A logo is often the first impression that your potential customers will have of your business. A good, well designed logo can build credibility, help increase sales and attract a wider share of your target audience, but only when it meets your customers' pre-conceived ideas of what a professional corporate identity should be - not the business owners!

Several key areas define success for small business owners and brand perception is an important one of them. When looking for someone to create a professional logo brand for your company, make sure they understand how to create an identity that will appeal to your customers and promote your business as someone that your customers can trust.

A professional logo will impact greatly on whether your potential customers will pick up the phone and speak to you!

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HOW BAD DESIGN CAN HURT YOUR BUSINESS

Let's start with the basics. Just what is design? I'll tell you what it's not! Design is not about making things look pretty. It's not an afterthought. It's not adding a bit of clipart or grabbing an off-the-shelf template because it's cheap and "does the job!"

Design is fundamental to the success of your business, it gives your business a personality, a voice, an image of who you are. Design is the difference between "buy" and "goodbye".

Good design can inspire, bad design can humiliate.
Good design can communicate, bad design can confuse.
Good design can make you stand out, bad design can make you invisible.

4 SIMPLE STEPS TO GOOD DESIGN...

We create effective design that works for our clients every week. The best way to evaluate and improve your own business image is to follow these four simple steps...

1. Gather together all your printed materials; brochures, business cards, forms, letters, invoices, leaflets, etc.

2. Take photos of larger materials such as posters, exhibition stands, signage, etc and take screen shots of your website.

3. Pin all the materials to a wall in order of sequence that a customer will see them (from making an initial enquiry through to them receiving an invoice).

4. Stand back. Do you like what you see? Does it all look like it's from the same company? Is it all in the same "voice"? Most importantly, does it look professional and covey a sense of trust? If it is, well done. If it isn't, then you need to make the decision to change, sooner rather than later - a little bit at a time.

SO WHAT NOW?

Write down all the things that are wrong, this will help greatly when you come to brief a designer, things such as; the logo's don't match, the wording sounds a bit unfriendly, the forms are hard to follow, the brochures have old pictures and out of date copy, the web site hasn't been updated for ages! If you're short on inspiration, get a close friend to do it, this way you will get an honest and unbiased opinion. Sometimes it can be difficult to critique what you're used to seeing day in day out!

If you still feel you need a helping hand and a bit of inspiration, then we would be happy to meet with you and discuss how we can help your business benefit from the use of good design. To arrange a FREE design consultation please contact here at Creative Orange

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WHAT YOUR LOGO COLOURS SAY ABOUT YOU

Colours impact our mood, our appetite, our energy level.

In design colours play a powerful role - they make us feel and react in a certain way which is critical to building a brand's image.

Specific colour schemes used effectively and consistently throughout all marketing materials creates a more unified and familiar look and associates those colours with a companies image.

By using colour psychology, you can send a positive or negative message, encourage sales, calm a crowd, or make ones heart to beat faster.

Here is a meaning of basic colours which will help you to make your colour choices wisely from the start!

YELLOW

• Associated with: comfort, liveliness, intellect, happiness, energy, laughter, happiness, optimism, cowardice
• Recognized as: creative, young, visible, bright, lively, cheerful, light, curious, playful, nutritious, eye-catching, attention-grabbing, cowardly

ORANGE

• Associated with: enthusiasm, ambition, creativity, cheerfulness, affordability, stimulation
• Recognized as: Welcoming, active, excited, communicative, inspiring, warm, helpful, friendly

RED

• Associated with: energy, strength, boldness, leadership, career goals, determination, fast action, movement, excitement, cheerfulness, passion, desire, love, life, courage, danger, risk, war, blood, bravery, aggression
• Recognized as: Powerful, vital, dynamic, energetic, romantic, seductive, passionate, commanding, alert, rebellious, complementary, visible, hot, fiery, fun, drawing attention, eye-catching, noticeable

PURPLE

• Associated with: power, wealth, prosperity, rich sophistication, nobility, luxury, mystery, royalty, elegance, magic, wisdom, respect
• Recognized as: intelligent, artistic, aloof, luxurious, royal, vain, fantastic, melancholic, feminine, fragrant, solemn

GREEN

• Associated with: reliability, safety, honesty, optimism, harmony, freshness, durability, growth, nature, money, wealth, envy, good luck, generosity, fertility, peace, harmony, support, good energy
• Recognized as: reliable, safe, honest, patient, natural, adventurous, relaxed, athletic, lucky, balanced, safe, conservative, musculine

BLUE

• Associated with: depth, stability, professionalism, loyalty, reliability, honour, trust, dependability, wisdom, loyalty
• Recognized as: peaceful, formal, trustworthy, reliable, firm, determined, educated, clean, free, deep, technical

BLACK

• Associated with: elegance, sophistication, formality, strength, mystery, authority, power, stability and strength, intelligence, evil, grieving
• Recognized as: elegant, formal, powerful, serious, conservative, sophisticated, conventional, mysterious, sexy

WHITE

• Associated with: cleanliness, purity, harmony, truth, new beginnings, virginity, peace, innocence, simplicity, safety, neutrality, creativity, spirituality, precision, positivity, union, goodness, heroism
• Pure, clean, new, innocent, simple

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DOES YOUR BRAND STAND OUT IN THE MARKETPLACE?

Does your brand stand out in the crowded marketplace? Does your brand message stand out from the myriad of messages that clutter consumers’ minds each day? In order to ensure your brand is noticed and remembered amidst the clutter, you have to be certain that it stands for something specific. In other words, it needs to offer a unique value proposition.

What makes your brand unique and what makes it distinctly different from other brands available to consumers? What makes your message more important than all the other messages customers hear?

Your brand’s unique value proposition is what gives your brand strength. Consider the brands below and think of what each brand stands for in your mind:

• Kia

• Mercedes

• Volvo

Each brand above has a unique position in the marketplace and stands for something very specific. Kia represents the inexpensive car. Mercedes is the elite, high-class brand, and Volvo is the safe choice. Each brand’s strength comes from “owning” its unique value proposition in the minds of consumers.

Many brands have success extending beyond the unique value proposition that originally gave them strength and power in the marketplace, but typically, those successes occur only when brand extensions enhance the original value proposition rather than running counter to it.

Where is your brand positioned? What is your brand’s unique value proposition? Make your brand distinct or you run the risk of standing for nothing and getting lost in the clutter.

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THE BASICS OF GOOD BRANDING

The most important thing a professional brand should do is to create an instantly recognisable graphic or type treatment for your company. Hopefully this treatment arouses a sense of trust, respect, loyalty and an overall feeling in your audience that your brand and products or services are superior to your competitors.

A good brand should be unique, practical and simple. Your brand should express your company’s intended message, concept or “meaning”. There are practical things most brands should do, for example; your logo should be as effective when displayed on a simple business card or a twenty foot poster. The best brands work well in colour but equally as effective in black and white.

Making your brand unique and professional is what is important, a poor quality brand can be negative to the image of your company and may do more damage to your business than you might care to think!

Above all else, remember one thing - First impressions last!

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LONG TERM PROFITABILITY OF PROFESSIONAL LOGO DESIGN

Nothing is as potent in identifying your company as a professionally designed company logo. It is not just a mere identity for your company but also shows the class, strength and uniqueness of what your business represents. Many customers and clients will associate your business with the way your company logo makes them feel. So this tells you that how your clients perceive your company logo is vital to your business in terms of sales and branding.

The well thought out logo you design for your company today will be used for many years to identify your business. The logo may in future be used on T-shirts, prints, websites, emails, banners etc. in creating more awareness for your business. This is one good reason you should not think just cheap in your company logo development. The cheap logo may not properly relay all your company’s strength and uniqueness, thus the need to look beyond where you are now and think of what your business will look like in the years to come.

Whatever you spend on hiring a logo designer today will benefit your business in many folds.

Benefits of a professionally designed logo:

1. Your company logo can build trust and credibility to your clients.
2. Some people love to associate with credible enterprises and a befitting company logo is one tool to relay your latent position to your customers.
3. Your company logo creates a professional image for your business in the market place.

A professional logo designer will help you in figuring which design is best for your business. While the logo will not directly fetch you money but it definitely will bring clients to your business.

A professionally designed company logo helps to brand the business and this is even more necessary to be considered here because in today’s brand world many go for the brand instead of the product. The excitement, trust, strength and so on that your logo creates in the mind of some customers can keep them coming to your company. Creative logo design is vital to the survival and growth of businesses in the world today.

You may be leaving lots of cash on the table if you fail to have your logo professionally designed. This is easier now than it was before because with few clicks of the mouse you can start discussing with a professional logo developer that will design an effective logo for your business.

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WHY IS A LOGO SO IMPORTANT TO YOUR BUSINESS?

Q: Why is it important?
Q: Does it matter what it looks like?
Q: Is your brand professional?

These are good questions to ask when considering getting a logo design or looking to rebrand your business.

The truth is, a logo speaks volumes about your company, straight away it tells your “future clients” if you are reliable and instills trust in them. Although offering a good service or quality product is highly important, how you initially present yourself is what will win you their trust and in the end win them as a client. As I have already mentioned, how good your service or product is will decide if you are successful long term, but the initial image of your company says many things to potential clients / customers:

1. Are these guys professional?
2. Do they seem to care about their business (which in turns means do you care about your clients)?
3. Does their business seem to be one I can trust?

A good logo design is highly instrumental in establishing a business brand and creating a long lasting impression among its customers. It should be able to create a powerful impact on the viewers and successfully exude the nature and attitude of a business. Ideally, a company logo design should be able to communicate your company ethos, principles, mission and the nature of product or service offered.

A professional logo design will establish a professional image of your company and strengthen your brand. Actually, in most cases the consumer gets the first impression about your company through your logo. Your logo should build a brand that is strong enough to give your consumer a visual imagery of your company. People should be able to identify your company on sight of your logo.

A professional image can be as simple as a text logo with a different colour letter in it to give it a unique twist, or a logo with a complex symbol to represent the company ideals and it’s philosophy. Making it unique and professional is what is important, a poor quality logo can be negative to the image of your company and may do more damage to your business than you might care to think!

Above all else, remember one thing – First impressions last!

If you would like to discuss how good design can have a positive effect on your business, then please contact Creative Orange to arrange a FREE design consultation.

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