4 Things Your Logo does NOT do.
So you’re starting a new business or looking to give your brand an update and you’re on the hunt for a designer for your new venture. That’s great! However, it’s important to understand these 4 things of what a logo does NOT do for your business:
1. Tell Your Brand Story.
We all know that in order to connect with your dream customers, you need to communicate more than just the benefits of your product or service - you need to tell a story. A logo on it’s own may communicate the type of business you’re in or hint at your personality, but ultimately, it will never be able to act as a story-telling tool on its own.
2. Sell Your Products.
A logo identifies your business and acts as its recognizable mark. That’s it. This alone isn’t enough to inspire, motivate, or capture your audience. What will sell your products is a solid marketing and social media campaign, displayed through the lens of a strong, consistent brand identity and a memorable web and packaging experience.
3. Connect With Your Audience
Simply showing why your product is “the best on the market” is no longer enough to attract a converted purchase. Modern audiences are looking for brands that they can relate to as an extension of their own lifestyle and personality. Similarly, (especially with Gen Z), audiences are looking for brands that have values that reflect their own . If your logo communicates ALL OF THIS without a solid color palette, type, or other brand touch-points, then congrats, you’ve achieved the impossible. (AKA - it’s not possible.)
4. Grows Your Business
Branding has the power to propel you towards the business of your dreams. Through strategic design and meaningful decisions, your brand can become one of the leading voices in your niche, be making+ figures a month, and featured in industry-leading press and more. ‘Just a logo’ doesn’t share this power, and relying on your logo alone to communicate 101 things isn’t going to have half the impact that expert-created branding will.
So, then, what DOES your logo do?
Your logo is simply an identifier of your company. It’s a symbol that represents your company. Keeping it simple is key in making it easy to identify and practical in various applications with different scale, contrast, printing, etc.
To sum it up…
A logo never works in isolation, but when it’s combined with strategic branding, the sky is the limit.
A business will never connect with an audience or become an “it” brand by trying to pack everything into their logo. In fact, simplistic logos are often most effective, practical, and clear.
What’s the answer?
YES, a logo is important. Very important. But it is not your brand. Your brand is an experience that is objectively felt by your customers/clients. That’s why it’s important to make this crystal clear, attractively dynamic, simply practical, and undoubtedly consistent (visually speaking). Brand experiences also entail your messaging, positioning, sounds, smells, customer services, everything that is sensed by the customer. When all of this works together in tandem, it can be a beautiful thing that will guarantee an understood intended brand experience that will build support and loyalty of your products, company, and lifestyle.
If you’re looking to rebrand and want to achieve an unstoppable brand experience, focus on building out a dynamic visual identity that is built on meaningful principles and encapsulates your logo(s), color, type, pattern, and other graphic elements.
If you’re looking to get started on the right foot, let’s talk. I’d love to help with your project to make sure we build your brand to be set up for success.