Logos are only one element of your brand, but how you use them will be very important in realizing the goals that lie behind your branding strategy. One of the first of these is simply recognition. Your business has done well in meeting the needs of consumers, and just about anyone will instantly recognize it when they see your logo. To get this kind of recognition, you need to use your logo effectively. But just what does that mean? Use this checklist to see if you’re making the most of your logo.
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Have a Logo
This may seem like a no-brainer, but before you can use your logo effectively, you need an effective logo. It should reflect what you do and it should help you to stand out from the crowd. If your logo is too generic, or you’re starting from scratch with your first logo, start brainstorming and creating prototypes. A free logo maker: create cool logos | create.vista.com offers a great tool for capturing the concepts you generate. Run your ideas past stakeholders including customers and choose the best option to refine and run with.
Put Your Logo to Work Online
The first online real estate your logo will occupy will naturally be your website. The usual place it occupies is at the top left of every page of your website. That’s right, every page! And, when folks visit your site, the browser tab should also display your logo, but in a much smaller format. In fact, it’s probably the smallest format your logo needs to support. Keep this in mind when you’re designing it. You don’t want your beautiful logo to display as an indecipherable blob.
Your logo will probably also serve as your profile picture on social media and in online listings. Once again, it has to display clearly so that your social media marketing efforts support your brand and nobody else’s. Just as your photograph represents you, your logo represents your business. It takes on a personality of its own! Make sure that every post contributes positively to consumers’ perception of that personality.
Brand Your Premises
If your business is conducted from a store or suite of offices, your logo comes to the fore again. This time, it starts really big with your signage. A passerby in a car should be able to spot your logo from the street and instantly recognize your business.
On closer inspection, the interior of your premises continues to support the impressions you hoped to create with your logo design. It’s cool and professional or it’s high tech and edgy, or fun and playful. In-store signage continues to reinforce recognition with your logo playing a prominent role.
Brand Your Packaging
You know that the items you produce or sell are something special. Whatever your competitive advantage is: quality, price, or convenience, you want people to know who was responsible for bringing them the products or services they love.
From shopping bags for retailers to branded product packaging for manufacturers, your logo reminds people that if they like the products they bought, they can get them again. As long as you have an impactful logo, helping customers to associate your company with the satisfaction they gained from doing business with you is as easy as giving your logo a prominent position on packaging.
Uniforms, Stationery, Vehicles, Gifts, Etc
Your brand, and your logo, are involved in every single thing you do. When you issue an invoice, your logo heads the page. Your emails and stationery are never without your logo. And if your people are out and about in company vehicles, they carry your branding too. It’s as good as a mobile billboard with hundreds of people being exposed to your brand whenever they see your vehicles. Impress the need for considerate driving on your staff, though. You don’t want your brand being associated with careless or reckless road-use!
Offering freebies like calendars, pens, or coffee mugs is another way of reminding your favorite customers that you’re there for them. This can be particularly useful for B2Bs, and the best options are always things that your customers will look at or use every day.
In short, any item that’s used in conjunction with your business carries your logo and communicates your brand. Sponsoring a charity event? Your logo is on display. Attending a trade show? Your logo introduces your stand to customers. Work it, work it, work it to win!
The Most Effective Place to Use Your Logo is Everywhere!
When you consider that your logo goes in so many places and becomes your brand’s distinctive signature, you’ll realize just how important it is. It’s not just a thing to have because everyone else has one. It’s your all-in-one statement of who you are as a business. Take your time. Be distinctive. Be creative. Your hard work is behind your success, but it’s your logo that represents you.
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