4 Ways a Strong Logo Will Change Your Company
Waking up this morning, I began going through my normal routine, but then I noticed something – there are countless companies that have become part of my day before I'm even fully awake. Think about it: How many brands do you come in contact with in just the first hour of your day?
From your Oral-B toothpaste to your Froot Loops, there are literally dozens of brands that come before your eyes before you even walk out the door. And with such a flood of brands, it’s the strongest ones that we continue coming back to.
This brings us to a question that, if taken seriously, can lead to a significant investment on your part. Why is branding important to my company? Is it really worth pouring the energy and finances into developing a strong brand identity? When facing this question, BBC, Pepsi and BP each saw their branding efforts to be worth over a million dollars. Maybe your budget isn’t quite as deep as these global companies, but that doesn’t exclude you from needing a brand that communicates your company's values.
People chose a product based on its perceived value rather than its actual value.
It's the reason people buy a Q-Tip rather than a generic cotton swab or a Band-Aid over another no-name bandage. Each of those products may generally do the same thing for you as their competitor, but their brands have been so successful that they are accepted as the default namesake for their respective categories.
So, check out these four things that a strong brand could do for your company.
1. Builds Trust
Your customers may absolutely love your product, but when the day comes that your product isn’t the new thing anymore and that feeling begins to fade, people establish relationships with a brand, not a product. A product may meet a specific need, but a brand offers a lifestyle that people want. And when your brand presents that lifestyle to the right audience, they will quickly change from customer to fan to brand loyalist.
2. Begins to Tell Your Story
A company’s logo is the tip of the iceberg when it comes to who they are. More than the service you provide, your company is made up of a specific history and values and aspirations. It's the people that built it and continue to drive it forward. It’s even the language you use, the way you dress and the promises you make. And with so much behind what makes you who you are, your company needs a strong logo to accurately represent its authentic personality and character visually to potential customers.
3. Transcends Boundaries
In every corner of the world and really since the beginning of time, symbols have communicated in ways language could not. If you’ve ever driven in a country with a different language, you’ve probably noticed that even though the road signs are different, you can still understand what they mean. Like those symbols, a strong brand identity will embody and communicate what your company stands for regardless of the audience’s culture, language, age or status.
4. Engages Instantly
Whether or not we like to admit it, when we meet someone for the first time, we form our basic opinion about them after just a few seconds. The same is true when we’re introduced to a company. People really do judge a book by its cover, and they’ll decide pretty quickly whether or not your company is worth their time to find out more. A strong logo provides a strong first impression. It can express value or luxury, youth or maturity, adventure or security in an instant. There are any number of characteristics that you see in your company; a strong brand will help the world see those too.
