‘How much for just a logo’ - the question that makes every brand designer let out an audible sigh… But if you’ve asked this question, we understand why and this article will help to explain why ‘just a logo’ is simply not enough for your business.
The global rise of people starting their own businesses over the last few years has resulted in a grey and confusing cloud forming over the word ‘brand’ and what building a brand actually entails. The short answer is that just a logo is simply not enough of a cohesive brand identity for your brand to stand out in its marketplace.
In an ever-expanding market, it is critical for your brand to have a full brand identity, including recognizable brand visuals, set color palettes, typography, brand marks, and more. Having this cohesive brand identity and strictly following your brand guidelines will boost your brand visibility, recognition, and trust immensely. You want people to recognize your brand’s content on their feed instantly, just from the whole appearance, before they even see your brand name or logo.
One of the first things we look at when evaluating our client’s competitors in their market is how their social media accounts look in comparison to their website (if they have one). More often than not, the websites we come across will be using completely different fonts and color shades for their social media accounts, making it look messy and, in some cases, like a different brand entirely. This makes the brand look unprofessional and suggests that they haven’t invested much time and effort into their brand, which then leads the consumer to think that maybe they don’t put much effort into their products or services either.
Your branding is the first thing a potential new client or customer sees, so ensuring you have a strong visual identity will massively help to show them that you’ve invested a lot into your brand and they can be rest assured that your services or products will match this high level.
The next reason why just a logo isn’t enough is strategy. Just a logo means you’re only looking at the brand from an aesthetic point of view, which is simply just the tip of the iceberg. Before we start a branding project, we carry out a brand strategy session which effectively lays the foundations and framework of your brand, or as we like to call it, its anatomy.
In this strategy, we delve into your brand’s "why" - this is what connects you to your audience. We all know what you do and how you do it, but why do you do it? That’s the bridge to building a connection with your audience. This leads us onto the next part, which is "who" you’re doing it for - here we look into your brand audience personas, their pain points, false beliefs, and how we want them to feel and interact with your brand. We can then use all of this to ensure that your brand visuals effectively communicate your brand messaging to attract your dream clients.
Last but not least, we have legibility. In order for a brand to remain consistent, it is essential that your branding can be scaled. There will be some instances where there is limited space, and you will be required to put your logo in a small space. Full brand logos can only be scaled down so far before they become illegible, so this is where a wordmark logo or submark logo can be used in place of the primary brand logo.
With just a logo, your brand will lack this essential legibility on smaller scales, which will not only weaken but cheapen the appearance of your brand.
In summary, if you’re looking to grow your business in the long term and really make a splash in your industry, a strategy-led branding is absolutely essential for you. It shows potential clients that you’ve invested in your brand, and your strategy will give you that extra level of confidence and clarity for scaling and growing.
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