The importance of a business logo cannot be overstated. As the visual representation of a brand, it is one of a company’s most significant marketing components, providing information about the company’s mission statement while embodying its ideas and core values. To put it simply, a great logo can communicate straight away what a business is about, while a shoddy one is akin to a disastrous first impression.
When starting a new venture, many fledgeling moguls still seemingly overlook or neglect their new company logo, choosing to underestimate the role a good motif can actually play.
So, with this in mind, here are six reasons why the creation of a strong and endearing business logo should be at the top of your entrepreneurial priorities!
1. It builds a corporate identity
Whether you’re a new or an established business, your corporate identity is everything. It can tell the story of your past, of your future or of anything else that you want your brand to convey. Essentially, a good logo condenses everything positive about your company into a single, small, easy-to-swallow image.
Of course, actually visualising such a concept is difficult, so you may want to enlist the help of a creative professional.
Whatever you arrive at, though, it has to be consistent. Whether it’s a clever combination of outlines and shapes or a well-coordinated colour scheme, the rest of your brand’s visual identity – including all your business cards, letterheads and other marketing materials – is going to have to follow suit.
2. It gets people's attention
In an age where anyone can start a business, and customers are constantly bombarded with options, the reality is that you’re not going to have much time to impress. Therefore, you need to grab people’s attention quickly and offer them something that will immediately pique their interest; luckily, an interesting design will do just that.
A professional, well-considered logo also helps to offer assurances to people that the company is trustworthy – often without them even realising. It gives the impression that you are an authority in your field, and it helps potential new clients join the dots of what it is your company actually does.
Whether it’s bold and brash or subtle and understated, your logo has the potential to turn heads and let your future customers know exactly what your business is all about.
3. It distinguishes you
As mentioned above, it’s highly likely that you’re going to be operating in a saturated marketplace, regardless of your niche. As a result, it’s imperative that you can stand out from the crowd at face value, and a catchy logo is the perfect way to achieve this.
There are two reasons why it’s important to stand out. The first is practical – obviously, you need to avoid being confused with anyone who might have a similar motif. The second, however, is a question of originality. For instance, why does every legal firm or equity house in the world insist on using copperplate gothic? Why does the logo of every Italian restaurant feature a tomato or a slice of pizza? And why are so many car manufacturers obsessed with animals?
Of course, there’s nothing wrong with aligning with industry expectations; nobody is advocating the use of Comic Sans and a cartoon grape in your wine bottling business, after all. But if you stay too rigidly on the beaten path, then you’ll eventually get lost in a sea of competitors all doing the same thing.
4. It inspires brand loyalty
A good logo is a key part of building brand loyalty, with customers developing a familiarity and a comfort with a company that can be worth its weight in gold.
Consider a famous example. Personal preferences aside, there is arguably little in terms of quality between a cup of coffee from Starbucks and Costa Coffee; yet each brand inspires a sense of fierce loyalty from their respective consumers. There are few other coffee chains that can provoke such a polarising effect in customers, but then consider that there are also few other chains that have such memorable logos and branding as Costa Coffee and Starbucks. This proves that, often, people are simply loyal to the brand rather than to the product itself.
Don’t underestimate how much people are willing to invest in the uniqueness of your brand, or how important to achieving this a distinctive logo can be.
5. It’s a symbol of your achievements
Simply getting a business off the ground is an incredibly tricky thing. From discovering the right idea to finding the time to implement it, being an entrepreneur requires massive amounts of determination and hard work. Feeling like you’ve made it, and that all that dedication has paid off, is a hugely rewarding sensation.
Taking a step back and seeing your logo hanging over your storefront or sitting at the top of your website is a massive step towards achieving that feeling. It legitimises the sacrifices you have made, and it represents the physical embodiment of your dream. Indeed, aside from that first sale, seeing your logo unveiled is one of the single biggest moments of symbolism in any business owner’s journey.
If nothing else, you can show it to all those people that doubted you – including, maybe, yourself – and use it as proof that you have achieved something that you are truly proud of.
6. It provides a visual prompt
It’s a well-known cognitive fact that people process visual cues more effectively, which means that a logo – the optical ‘front’ of your entire organisation – will likely serve as the most prominent link between your customer’s brain and your business.
If that sounds hard to believe, then consider how prominent some logos are. For example, when you think of McDonald’s, you may picture the giant ‘M’; for Nike, your first thought is probably of the ‘swoosh’ tick. It’s human nature for us to rely on these visual triggers to remember things, so if you want to stick in people’s heads, then you’ll need a logo that they can associate with you.
If you haven’t already realised, logos are important – vitally important, in fact. They serve as the forefront of your entire visual identity, establish trust and credibility with your customers, and they distinguish you from what everybody else is doing – three core aspects of what a good advertising campaign should achieve.
So, if you’re thinking of starting a company, then don’t pass it off as a superficial exercise; understand that the long-term impact of what your logo can achieve is potentially invaluable.
What do you think? How did you decide on your business’s logo? Let us know in the comments section below!
This article is an updated version of an earlier article originally published on 27 May 2016.