How Important is a Logo?

In a word: kinda.

Well, that doesn't inform much, does it? A logo is a useful thing to have so that you can slap it on to different pieces of marketing material and people can see that it represents you. You see, most Americans are functionally illiterate, so it's good to give them pictures.

Logos help your company to reinforce its style and image. They leave a memorable picture in a person's head that may stick there better than words alone. But remember: a logo is an expression of a sense of style and image that should already exist before the logo is created! Read on.

What Marketing Elements Do You Need First?

We think that a basic marketing setup runs something like this:

1.Brand Identity
2.Logo
3.Business Cards
4.Web Site
5.Brochure

The further along that scale you go, the more variations you can have. It depends on how you plan to market your business. Some clients would rather skip to a first contact piece, like a postcard, and take the brand identity as a shot in the dark. It's OK, but it doesn't help establish your brand identity as much in a customer's head. Still, if you're a good company with a good product, you can get away with that.

StepRock Super Tip: People care more about the products and services you offer than they do about your mission statement, your web site, or your brochure. When you get your marketing material together, they are simply intended to be support elements so that you can present a company that already has a life of its own, and present it in a professional manner. That life may be in an established client base, or in a clear vision in the founder's mind, but it has to be there first!

You might be wondering why we hit upon “Brand Identity” and then went on to talk about a logo. Aren't they pretty much the same thing? That would be a no! Your brand identity is an expression of what your business stands for and what kind of style it needs to present to attract your target market. You need to know who your target market is (and don't say “everyone”) and what they like to see. It matters not if you, personally, like the color blue if your audience doesn't like it.

Brand Identity will be expressed in a concrete form when you decide upon your company's mission statement and when you get these other 6 elements more or less settled:

1.Top 3 key words.
2.Top 3 colors that express the key words.
3.Top 3 photos/art that capture your “groove”.
4.Top font and secondary font choices.
5.Type of language you use.
6.General approach to page layout.

Then you can get a logo.

You see, it's more important that you understand who your company is and how it should present itself to its customers than it is to just run out and get a logo!

StepRock Media Uses Pro software:

• Macromedia DreamWeaver
• Adobe PhotoShop
• Adobe InDesign