The Power Of A Good Logo

Your Logos: Dress for Success

Your logo is the first component of your brand’s trade dress—the visuals that make your company unique in the marketplace—and is one of the most impactful components to the psychological effects of branding.

Ever hear the saying “dress for success”? Of course you have, but did you ever think to apply that concept to your brand?

Let’s say you are meeting with a business consulting firm – what would you think of their advice if they were wearing cutoff jeans and a t-shirt? No matter how good the advice may be, you are going to assume they are full of hogwash, simply based on their attire. The same is true if their logo has a juvenile type face or any other casual stylistic traits: the business is not taken seriously.

As a consumer, what would you think of meeting with a contractor for a kitchen remodel, and he was wearing a suit? Are you going to trust them with gutting your kitchen, and to know when to call in the electrician and plumber to ensure your family’s safety?

Just as we trust business consultants who wear business attire, and contractors with a well worn pair of construction boots, consumers expect your business to have appropriate brand dress.

While a logo alone won’t guarantee the success of a company, the impact your logo has on your overall business success is astounding:

• Consumers are more apt to do business with companies that have a logo which speaks to their service line (trust and tech for IT companies; warmth and compassion for insurance companies, quality and dependability for home appliances).
• Well designed logos drive consumer brand commitment (and thus improve company revenues and profits)
• Logos can portray a brand’s functional benefits (The strong arm of Arm and Hammer along with the cleaning power of baking soda)
• Logos are a point of connection between a company and its customers, and can create an emotional connection between consumers and a brand (Amazon’s logo smiles at the consumer)

How do you choose specific traits to portray in a logo? What makes a logo appropriate or “good” for one company, but not for another? Planning and research are the keys to avoiding the logo pitfalls that plague most companies. This may include settling on a safe block, an abstract squiggle, or plain text that does nothing more than fall short in visually expressing a brand’s values and principles.