Hmmm another logo gets created where I am truly stumped and can’t figure out what kind of business/industry this is? If your logo doesn’t describe at the very least what you do or what your industry is…the prospects of getting clients are kinds of hard. Take a look at logo guru David Airey and his article on “What makes a good logo design.”

In the meantime….can anyone figure out the logo above and tell me what kind of business or industry it is?

The American Marketing Association (AMA) defines a brand as a “name, term, sign, symbol or design, or a combination of them intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of other sellers. Therefore it makes sense to understand that branding is not about getting your target market to choose you over the competition, but it is about getting your prospects to see you as the only one that provides a solution to their problem.
The objectives that a good brand will achieve include:

• Confirms your credibility
• Connects your target prospects emotionally
• Motivates the buyer
• Concretes User Loyalty

To succeed in branding you must understand the needs and wants of your customers and prospects. You do this by integrating your brand strategies through your company at every point of public contact. From a business card to the logo on your fax cover sheet. The branding should be consistent.

A strong brand is invaluable especially when prospecting. It’s important to spend time investing in researching, defining, and building your brand. After all your brand is the source of a promise to your consumer. It’s a foundational piece in your marketing communication and one you do not want to be without.

The first step in the process of developing your brand strategy is to define what or who your brand is and than you create the foundation or look for all other components. Your brand definition will serve as your measuring stick in evaluating any and all marketing materials and strategies. Begin the process by answering the questions below…

1. What products and/or services do you offer? Define the qualities of these services and/or products.
2. What are the core values of your products and services? What are the core values of your company?
3. What is the mission of your company?
4. What does your company specializes in?
5. Who is your target market? Who do your products and services attract?
6. What is the tagline of your company? What message does your tagline send to your prospects?
7. Using the information from the previous steps create a personality or character for your company that represents your products or services. What is the character like? What qualities stand out? Is the personality of your company innovative, creative, energectic, or sophisticated?
8. Use the personality that you created in the previous step and build a relationship with your target market that you defined in Step 5. How does that personality react to target audience? What characteristics stand out? Which characteristics and qualities get the attention of your prospects.
9. Review the answers to the questions above and create a profile of your brand. Describe the personality or character with words just as if you were writing a biography or personal ad. Be creative.

Now look at your current marketing collateral – are any of these points addressed? Is the look of your materials building a presence for your product or service, if not, perhaps it’s time for a little reevaluation. We are here to help when you are ready!

This article is courtesy of Laura Lake, About.com. To read more on brand strategy visit About.com

See how we can help you! Follow the design process for one of our clients that was looking to redo their marketing materials. We redesigned their logo and brochures and gave them a more appealing, streamlined look to help them market their services.

We were approached to do a redesign the corporate identity for a non profit organization dedicated to enriching the lives of children and families through mental health counseling and substance abuse prevention and treatment.

The old logo was very simple and ineffective at conveying a message of outreach, warmth and renewal. We met with the client to identify the clients’ goals, found out the message they wanted to convey, defined and gained knowledge of their services and we were given a tour of their office so we can see where some of the counseling happens. The tour was great because each room was geared towards a specific age group. This counseling center mainly dealt with troubled children and teenagers. Some rooms had lots of toys and bright colors, meant to evoke a happy place and some rooms were purple or blue meant to evoke feeling a safety and calmness.

Our logo concepts – as always begin as sketches or doodles – we started with a few ideas for an icon. The client really wanted to keep an image of a tyke and a teen, so that was the initial task to develop and redesign the logo.

After some pencil sketches, the computer process begins, taking the initial doodles and better defining the icons and adding letter styles and color to them. Picking the right font is extremely important as it gives weight to the entire logo.

The client was swaying towards using blue and green in the logo concept, to set a tone of calmness, hope, renewal – so the initial ideas were presented to get a feel as to which style and approach felt they would like to pursue.

Concept A. The little icons were actually the letter “t” converted to show images of a tyke and teen. The styling was kept clean, and open to give a more corporate feel. Concept B was more ideaology, symbolizing new growth and renewal, a tree made up of 1 teen (the trunk) and many little tykes (tree leaves). The final concept C sprung from the tree leave image from B, combining different sizes, and gave a brought together a corporate and freestyle feeling which the client wanted to pursue.

Upon further reiterations, a final logo was chosen and to our delight not to far off from one of the original concepts. We moved on to their brochures, which explained each service they offered. Below you can see before and after images. The aim was to come up with an image and a message that will lodge in people’s minds.

Remember your company’s identity should be as consistent as possible. The corporate identity is the pieces, aspects, ideas, methods and techniques a company uses to differentiate itself from the rest. When a brand is associated with a color, a combination of colors, shapes, pictures, phrases, music, etc. a corporate identity is built. It’s well known that a company or business that has a consistent corporate identity is taken much more seriously and are much more successful than those that don’t use own style guidelines.

If you are thinking about refreshing your corporate identity or budget for your marketing items, please contact us now! We are here to help you!

There are so many ways to use promotional items to advertise your business! How can the promotional items benefit your business and increase your sales? Check out these reasons:

1. When you give out promotional items, it will be thought of as a “gift” by the person picking it up or receiving it. Most think of a “gift” positively, which will result in positive thoughts about your business. This is true no matter how the customer receives the promotional items. The scenarios are endless! At the end of a purchase, you could thank the customer with a promotional gift. At a conference or expo, you can have attendees sign up for a mailing list and not only get your future mailings, but get a promotional item. You can even give promotional items to your employees – like stress relievers or company shirts – and make them feel positively about the place they work.
2. Promotional items make everyone and anyone picking them up feel appreciated by you and your business. Free promotional items are just that, free! And everyone appreciates getting something for “nothing”. When you give out promotional items after a sale, as a thank you, your business may find it gets more customers as the person you made feel good will spread the word and suggest their friends bring their business to you!
3. Promotional items make the employees giving them and those who have purchased the items feel generous. Just like “Santa” at the mall loves to give out candy canes, your company employees will enjoy giving out promotional items. When a funny promotional toy is given to a child or a thoughtful promotional calculator is given to a woman shopping, the gratitude and customer’s thank you will surely benefit your business down the line, whether it be with repeat business, referrals, or happy employees.
4. Promotional items just keep working for you! Magnets stay on refrigerators, pens can circulate from one customer to another, and coffee mugs will sit on workplace desks or in homes. Each and every time someone sees that item, your business will be advertised! The customer will remember your exemplary service, their friends may ask about your company, and passersby may look up a website or phone number to find out about the services you offer. Once they are given, their advertising message can last for years!

These are just a few of the many reasons promotional items can work for your business. Give them a try and see if they can work for you! For more information on promotional gifts visit our promo store by clicking here