No matter what market you’re in, it’s all about putting your brand forward these days. And one of the main ways you can do this is by use of branded visuals. This includes a wide range of possibilities in the branding world, but one of the most important is your logo design.
How does your logo build your brand? Let’s take a look at five different benefits of a great logo, and what it will do to fix your brand in the minds of everyone who hears about it.
Logos Get the Attention Of New Customers
It’s a simple goal, with often a complex execution. A logo is designed to catch attention. After all, you are working with limited space, often a limited amount of elements and logo design can be somewhat abstract.
But none of that is really a bad thing.
It’s amazing how such a small space can pack a big punch. Think of the basic, iconic logos for McDonald’s, or Target, or other famous brands. A perfect logo design not only catches the attention of new customers to begin with, but it can grow into its own entity.
Nobody needs to be told what the McDonald’s logo is, for example; and if you simply say, “The Golden Arches,” everyone knows exactly what you mean.
So a well-designed logo can get attention, and end up taking on a life of its own. You want to design a logo that is memorable whether it be for a florist or a dance school brand identity. When your logo is so famous that it’s known even without the name of your brand, then you can consider your brand seriously built up by your logo.
Logos Enhance Recall Value
Quick, what’s the name of the last fast food restaurant you drove by?
In remembering it, did you picture the name, or did you actually see the visual, the logo, in your mind’s eye?
Visuals, in general, are easier for us to remember with completeness. That’s why so much of marketing is centered on creating visuals rather than written or oral content. Your logo compiles and compresses that visual into a small space, but it still carries a lot of weight.
A good logo means that your brand will more easily be remembered.
Your Logo design Sends A Message
Your logo is basically the ambassador for your brand. As such, it should be carefully designed in order to fit in with your brand personality and your brand’s mission, goals, and values.
When it is designed to do that, it becomes a reflection of your brand personality; it’s basically like putting a picture of your brand’s “face” everywhere for everyone to see. Especially since logos become so synonymous with brands, it’s not just advertising.
To make sure that this aspect of your logo is doing all it can to contribute to the building of your brand, take the time periodically to reassess the message that your logo is sending.
If your brand is youthful and energetic, your logo should be as well. If your brand is centered on trustworthiness and reliability, your logo should be broadcasting that loud and clear.
This means assessing not only the graphic used in your logo design, but also the colors, font choice, amount of negative space, balance, composition, overall shape — every aspect and every element, in fact, either contributes or detracts from the message of your logo design. And that message needs to be on-par with the personality of your brand.
Your Logo Helps Your Brand Stand Out From The Crowd
Every brand has a logo. But not all logos are created equal. Some kind of look a lot like other logos — often, they look like logos from the companies of competitors! But that is never advised for a brand that wants to stand on its own two feet.
All that will get you is possibly being mistaken for your competitors!
On the other hand, a logo can be carefully designed in order to really make your brand stand out among that competition. Choose elements that are not in common usage in your market or niche, and put a unique spin on traditional logo design ideas.
For instance, even if you’ve chosen to use a basic shape or element in your logo, you can hand-draw it in order to keep it from looking too generic.
After all, your brand isn’t generic, right? So your logo shouldn’t be, either.
Logos Invite Emotional Investment
It’s proven that our brains are set up to deal with visual content much more quickly than with written or oral content — some research suggests that we process visuals up to 60,000 times more quickly than we do written content.
With that ability, it’s clear that logos have the potential to elicit very quick, very strong reactions from those who see them. And with that quick, strong reaction and a rapid first impression, logos have the potential to draw potential customers in, automatically laying out the path to engagement and investment.
All of that does center on having a logo with is well-designed and chosen carefully for your desired audience. But if you really want to build your brand, you should already be putting that careful thought and effort into designing your logo! After all, your logo is the face of your brand.
