Today’s tip is short and straight – you DON’T need a logo. Your business is not defined by a logo. A Ferrari badge on your bicycle does not make it a Ferrari.
Branding your business is about projecting a mood, projecting a personality. It’s about creating a connection between you and your customer; it’s about how you make them feel when they interact with you.
IT’S NOT THE LOGO THAT MAKES THEM FEEL THIS WAY.
It’s a whole suite of little things – your style, the images you use, the colours, the fonts you choose, the words you use to talk about how you can help them. It’s how you interact with your customers; it’s how you make them feel amazing so that they love you after they’ve purchased from you.
Your logo is the cherry on the icing on the cake. Yep, it’s totally that kind of distance from the heart of your brand. It can be lovely, it can totally encapsulate what feel you bring to your brand, it can represent you when you want to put your mark on something – but you don’t have to spend oodles of time or cash getting one designed.
Look, I love a beautifully designed logo that totally nails who and what a brand is about as much as the next person, but let me show you something –
Their name is their logo. All of these brands are huge companies – you’d think they’d have some dosh to spend on a fancy logo if they so desired? I’m sure they do. And I’m sure they’ve also thought long and hard about what they want for a logo – and it’s come down to something that is real, honest, and identifiably them.
What better way to do that than simply write your business name in the perfect font?
Now, go find that perfect font that’s aligned superbly with your business personality, and write your name in it. Use a particular colour if you wish. Et voilà.
And get on with what you’re supposed to be doing – delighting your customers.
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(ps. Update: This is Tip 2 of my 5 best tips. You can find all 5 tips for branding here.)
(pps. Of course, there’s a whole lot more to branding than 5 simple pointers. If you seriously want to knuckle down and sort out your branding AND be thrilled with your results, go grab a copy of my 92-page e-book, “VIZ BIZ: Branding for Small Business ” here. It’s my 20+years of experience in design and teaching all bundled into a neat package. Because you don’t have 20 years to figure it all out – do you?)
Julie x