A business logo is not an accessory or a decoration for any entrepreneur. It’s a basic requirement if you have to gain confidence and trust from both customers and fans.
People get an idea of what your business is all about just by looking at your logo. Through regular interactions with your business, they form a mental picture of what to expect from your brand.
An impressive logo does a lot of good to your branding by projecting your brand personality in the eyes of your customers.
Most brands prefer adding a tagline as a complementary item to their logo. A tagline is not always compulsory but you can use it to galvanize your image and leave a lasting memory in the minds of your customers.
You probably have a logo already and you are wondering why this article is for you. If you live in Nairobi and most of your business operations take place within Kenya, you may have noticed how companies visually rebrand after every 8-10 years.
A good example is the case of Safaricom and Equity Bank. How many times have they made alterations to their color combinations, logos, tag lines, and product ranges? At least three times.
How to make an excellent logo for your business
If you are just starting as an entrepreneur, you perhaps have no idea which logo will best bring out the nature of your business. We are not all born with an artistic eye, but anybody can differentiate between a beautiful logo and an ugly one.
Since the beginning of the digital boom, many people have got into the “do it yourself (DIY) movement”, which is not a bad thing. You may decide to make your business logo by yourself if you are good with graphics and can easily get ahold of graphic design software.
There are also graphic design and editing templates like Canva that are not very difficult to use. The downside to getting things done all alone is that the time you spend on design will into your precious business time. You don’t want to get into that awkward situation while you have the option of hiring a graphic designer or contracting a graphic design agency for all your logo variations and other design needs.
As promised in the title message, we will now get into the main subject of this article: why you must have a good logo for your business/brand.
1. For a lasting first impression
When you do those social media ads or give out brand collateral like shirts or packaging bags as bonuses to your customers, what do they see first? They will look at your logo. What if that logo is wishy-washy and a bit dull in its colors?
Your buyers are likely to develop a degree of negativity towards your product or service. The moment they step out of your shop or office door, they will forget what your logo looks like. Or they could have a short memory of your brand. Also, you will most likely get a “Their product tastes good but their packaging is bogus” kind of review.
2. A good logo earns you respect with your customers
A business that is run without a logo comes out as unprofessional and short-sighted. People begin to consume your products with a pinch of salt. They are not sure what you stand for and whether they can trust your procurement or production processes.
A small business with a good logo attracts respect from customers even when they are struggling with making sales and getting new customers. An attractive logo projects you as professional and trustworthy.
3. A well-crafted logo turns leads into sales
One hot afternoon, I was out in my neighborhood to run a few errands. After about three hours of the hustle and bustle, my stomach ran empty and I decided to look for an eatery along the streets.
My artistic eye soon directed me to one cafeteria with a clean, neatly done banner hanging nicely on the front door. There were many other adjacent food cafes, but this particular one impressed me with its colors, logo, name, and quality of its food images.
I had never visited them before, but here I was. Drawn by the allure of a neatly-done logo and good graphics perfectly laid out on a symmetrically balanced banner, unlike the rest in the crowd. I could have easily visited any random eatery, but this one turned me into a customer from the undecided position of a lead.
Agree or not, a perfectly done logo will get you new customers. This eatery example equally applies to your online logos on your website and social media pages/channels. People tend to develop a mysterious interest in aesthetic beauty and the power of color combination.
4. A logo completes the visual aspect of your branding
We have talked about brand building in another article which I suggest you read for more clarity on what branding is all about. A good business logo should contain all your brand colors. The logo sets the stage for other visual aspects of your branding campaigns.
Every design work you do for ads, social media profiles, website colors, and print collateral should come from your logo colors. That is why logo design is one of the first business branding strategies you must draw when working on your publicity campaigns.
5. A compelling logo helps you retain customers
No one can deny that all humans are emotional beings. Each day, we make some important decisions based on our emotional attachments to certain people or things.
Look at the Coca-Cola soft drink and what you hear and see in the ads for example: Have you ever had them talk about the content of that drink? But some of us fall in love with Coke anyway, don’t we?
I used to take a lot of Coke in my early 20s and everything about Coca-Cola swept me off my feet, from the logo, the color of the drink, and the shape of the bottle to its cap. That is the power of graphics and typography.
Conclusion
So far, you must have concluded that you need a good business logo for the venture you are intending to start or the one you have just started. And perhaps a change of logo from the current kind of unattractive one to an all-new professional-looking visual representation of your business.
