Earlier this week I was at a workshop event and one of the things that came up was about branding and logo design. There was a selection of random leaflets on the table and they nearly all had their logo at the very top of the leaflet. The logo is not the first thing someone needs to see when they see your leaflet. To them it’s much more important to know what you can do for them than to see your company name.
The logo is the least important aspect of the leaflet.
The message – the purpose of the leaflet – is the most important thing – which you should consider before you even start thinking about how the leaflet will look.
Your business image should be consistent and effective. It should show your business in the best light possible and give your audience confidence that you know what you’re doing.
Your logo is a really important starting point for building your brand. It informs how everything else will look and creating it gives you the perfect opportunity to look closely at your business and see what’s important to communicate.
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It really helps to start with your logo to be able to create your brand – but your brand is bigger than your logo. (TWEET THIS!)
Your logo is the thing that tells people who you are – but not why they need you. So it’s VERY important, but visual branding can do even more for you by helping you to ensure that your audience thinks, feels, and hears the right message over and over and over again.
Your logo should be well thought through, a perfect representation of your business and what you’re all about, but it’s not going to tell people why you’re great. It should indicate your values and what it is that you do but it won’t offer the same compelling message as a beautifully constructed sentence that pulls on their emotions where they are now, or an image that leaps out at them. Your logo is about YOUR business, it’s not their business. You audience wants to know what you can do for them before they know who you are.
Branding covers everything and supports everything that you do. You should make decisions on typeface, style, colours, photography, layout etc.. and use these decisions to inform every design you create. You should use your logo too – creating a fabulous logo in the first place is a perfect starting point and will help you to create a visual brand that really works for you. You do not need to make your logo bigger. The people looking at your leaflet, website, brochure, advert… will want to know who you are – but not until they know what you can do for them.
Branding isn’t just about how your business looks. It’s about how people feel about your business, what they think about your business and what they say about your business – even when you’re not there to put them straight. These things don’t just come down to how your business looks, it’s about the message you’re giving out, the way you treat people, speak to people, reach out to people, the way you communicate and the experience that people get working with you. This boils down to a lot more than just your logo.
So when you’re designing your materials, include your logo, but think about what people will actually get from your business. What will help them out? What will make them pick up the leaflet and call you? It won’t be your logo. It will be the message that’s communicated about what you do and how effectively you convey that and give your audience confidence that you can deliver it.
Please comment below and let me know what the most important thing that you want to communicate to people is. For me, it’s that I can help businesses to look better which gives the business and their audience more confidence. What is your most important message?