Do you have a Logo?

fisicx

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Carl Mintern

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My business face is the same as my weekend face.

Having said that...
It depends on how you will market your company.
We get allot of work from having signs outside properties we are working on, and on our vehicles. I've no doubt this brand recognition feeds into calls we get when someone is looking through a Google search result or directory and recognises the name.
 
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G

Grant Smith

I wrote a blog article about this very subject, I can not post links, so here is an extract…

When you commit to starting up a new business or developing your SME, there are several issues you’ll need to cover including product development, staff costs and business premises to name a few. However, branding and marketing your business properly are also imperative to start-up success. Establishing your company’s identity through a logo or website is very important as what you portray on your website or through your promotional material gives your client base an insight into who you are as a business. The importance of branding for start-ups and SME’s should not be under estimated.

Creating a brand that sticks
Your business logo is the first thing a customer will see, therefore it should stand out and be memorable. According to a report by Interbrand, out of the top 100 brands of the world, 93% of these brands logos are moderately simple, yet have a huge impact. But this simplicity is not something that stems from lack of attention. Ask any good graphic designer what techniques they use to come up with a brand logo and they won’t just talk about drawing, as design is so much more than the end product. Colour psychology, brand perception and experience all come into play to create a logo that works for each unique business, and if you’re not sure about how much colour matters, it may be worth noting that 33% of the top 100 business logos mentioned above used the colour blue – because blue psychologically promotes trust and professionalism.

A professional logo also helps promote company unity. Employees who are surrounded by a good quality logo will help them feel an affinity to the brand, which in turn encourages positive attitude and a healthier work environment. To your client base, a good quality graphic design communicates that you are willing to invest in your company; and that you truly believe in your business and its success and longevity. The endurance of your business helps improve customer loyalty, so investing in a logo to see you through every stage of your business is essential to success.

Avoiding the temptation of a “good deal”
Of course, budget constraints are always going to come into play for a small or medium sized business. But although you may be able to get a drawing cheaply through some purported designers, the likelihood is, if you don’t invest in the designer, they won’t invest in much more than a picture, and we’re pretty sure your brand is worth far more than a 20 minute rush job. Drawing on the expertise of a committed graphic designer helps businesses to understand what promotes their services best to the right audience, and a competent graphic designer will not only come up with a great design but will be able to create designs ready for any format whether digital or print – something you don’t always get from a cheap logo design. In fact, there are many small businesses who, after marketing their business online, find that the logo they’ve been using all this time isn’t actually print ready – necessitating the employment of a new designer to rejig the digital logo for print, and the extra cost associated with this adding to their marketing budget.
 
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RLlewellyn

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This is how I explain it to clients who thinks logo's "don't matter" for small businesses.

What won't you have without a logo?

- Recognizable social media accounts
- Business card credibility
- Marketing materials credibility & branding
- Advertisement persona
- A business personality

In my opinion and many others, a logo is one of the first things a business should acquire, even if it's just your business name in fancy lettering with a pretty background, without one it just looks lackluster.

They might not be telling you they've noticed you don't have a logo, but at least a few of them are probably thinking it.
 
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Claire Freshney

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Can you imagine McDonald's without a logo?
How about Facebook? Twitter?

Yes a logo is important, ignore all the comments where people say you don't need one. I'm assuming if you are running a business you want to be successful. A logo is so important for memorability, comparing you against competitors, standing out from the crowd (if you hadn't guessed the www is one of the biggest platforms worldwide) and brand image is crucial to the success of your business. Give it a face. The fact it's online is more important. 70 percent of sales are now done on line.

I'm a brand expert and I don't know one successful business without a logo or a brand, do you?
 
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Trademarkroom

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I love a logo, it can make your brand very memorable. You may also be able to protect a brand with a registered trademark- (think Nike tick). This can be very handy when it comes to protecting your brand from infringement and if you wish to sell it at a later date.
 
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fisicx

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Carl Mintern

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Can you imagine McDonald's without a logo?
How about Facebook? Twitter?

Yes a logo is important, ignore all the comments where people say you don't need one. I'm assuming if you are running a business you want to be successful. A logo is so important for memorability, comparing you against competitors, standing out from the crowd (if you hadn't guessed the www is one of the biggest platforms worldwide) and brand image is crucial to the success of your business. Give it a face. The fact it's online is more important. 70 percent of sales are now done on line.

I'm a brand expert and I don't know one successful business without a logo or a brand, do you?

Did they not start out as small businesses? Yes. That grew into billion pound companies.

Hence having a logo is crucial. Even in the early days

McDonalds formed in 1940, and the logo was first used 22 years later.

No-one is suggesting a logo is a bad idea. Many are saying it's not a priority for most businesses at conception, a theory born out by the example you list to (wrongly) make the opposite case.
 
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fisicx

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No it doesn't. I could show you a hundred logos from around the world and you would have no idea what business they represent or the values and attributes.
 
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fisicx

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There may be occasions when this is so but in most cases people just don't care about the logo. In fact most people don't even recall the names of most of the sites they visit. This has been tested many times.
 
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There may be occasions when this is so but in most cases people just don't care about the logo. In fact most people don't even recall the names of most of the sites they visit. This has been tested many times.

After visiting my website I had a call from someone who wanted to discuss factoring and I ended up introducing him to the factoring company that I thought most suitable for him.

A year later I was listening to a podcast and this chap was extolling the virtues of the factoring company that I had introduced him to and happened to mention that he came across them via "a bloke on the internet"

Perhaps if I had a logo he might have remembered my name :D
 
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Andrew Chambers

After visiting my website I had a call from someone who wanted to discuss factoring and I ended up introducing him to the factoring company that I thought most suitable for him.

A year later I was listening to a podcast and this chap was extolling the virtues of the factoring company that I had introduced him to and happened to mention that he came across them via "a bloke on the internet"

Perhaps if I had a logo he might have remembered my name :D

If that's the case it's not a logo you need but a understanding of marketing.
 
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Andrew Chambers

[QUOTE="Andrew Chambers You are ignoring content by this member. Show Ignored Content

I will resist the temptation to read his post on the basis that leopard's never change their spots so it's probably just a snipe as usual :)

If you see it that way. However, if your clients don't remember you then you are doing (actually not doing) something seriously wrong.

I know Ian won't read this, but it might be of use to someone else.
 
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Can you imagine McDonald's without a logo?
How about Facebook? Twitter?

Yes a logo is important, ignore all the comments where people say you don't need one. I'm assuming if you are running a business you want to be successful. A logo is so important for memorability, comparing you against competitors, standing out from the crowd (if you hadn't guessed the www is one of the biggest platforms worldwide) and brand image is crucial to the success of your business. Give it a face. The fact it's online is more important. 70 percent of sales are now done on line.

I'm a brand expert and I don't know one successful business without a logo or a brand, do you?

Etsy - no logo
Craigslist - no logo

Now you know two.
 
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fisicx

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And your point is?

Nobody is saying 'don't have a logo'. What people are saying is it's not important. Very often all you need is the name of tha company with the right font and colour. If you want to cal lthat a logo that's fine. But you don't need some sort of ideogram.

I and many others have tested this. I have a client who dropped the image logo from their site and it made no difference at all to their conversions.

Etsy and Craigslist both have logos they are typographical. Logos are not just emblems of iconic images.....
Go look at the definition of a logo. A word is not a logo.
 
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Logo is essential for large companies and corporations. That's where it's essential for branding because it becomes recognizable trough large advertising campaigns this companies can afford.
Can a small company afford to be seen by a unique user frequently? Can a small company afford to build brand just to become known to people?
The purpose of doing logo branding for company is that user becomes farmiliar with you, comes to supermarket and takes your product because he thinks he knows what that is. That is not the scenario that 'd happen to a small company. Are your products in supermarket?

In the small company's case the logo serves as a additional message. Like a support of a content on a website, as a quick message anyone can read not even knowing. I think that the purpose of a logo for a small company is negligible.
 
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fisicx

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A logo is not essential for large companies and organisations. Branding maybe but that's not the same as logo.
 
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fisicx

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Carl Mintern

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So much bad advice in this thread from 'experts'

1: logos can be great tools for businesses

2: logos can add legitimate weight to conversions, or bottom line of some businesses

3: logos are not a necessity for almost every business

4: logos are almost never something that should be on a top 10 list of things to worry about at business conception

TO ALL-
When reading advise from other people on how important a logo is to you, just check wether the person giving the advise makes their living by providing them, and weigh the advise given accordingly.
 
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fisicx

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Watch a bunch of TV adverts. The company logo rarely appears until the last few frames. The name on the company is prominent but not the logo. A logo is not an essential marketing component.
 
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mzone

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I think if you base on returning customers and develop returning services, then logo is great staff for you company. People mostly remember a signs and easy names, they don`t keep you business card but probably will look after your business on Google.

Logo is not big investment on the start you can get that for 5 -20 pounds and your company looks much better with an logo.
 
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fisicx

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Logo is not big investment on the start you can get that for 5 -20 pounds and your company looks much better with an logo.
Good luck with that.
 
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fisicx

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Fine if you want a cheap looking, naff and generally crap logo.

When I said good luck with that I was being sarcastic. If that's all the investment you are prepared to make then you might as well just use some clip art along with a $10 SEO campaign.
 
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