On average, small and medium sized businesses spend about $400 / month on marketing. During this time, you’re constantly staying up-to-date on the latest market trends and adjusting your SEO, pay-per-click, and retargeting to match. But how much time and thought have you actually put into your logo design, and what it means to your customers?
As you know, your logo is often the first contact your potential customer will have with your business. But did you know that every aspect of your logo (the color, font type, and image) can affect different buyer personas? What may seem enticing to you, may very well be off-putting to your business’s target demographic.
It’s important that as you work with your designer, you’re not thinking about what you find most attractive, but more importantly, what brings in customers. You’re the market leader, so you’ll be best equipped to guide the decisions to make a successful logo. But as you work through the design process keep the following elements in mind:
Typeface
Times New Roman or Trebuchet? Italicized or bolded? What are your business’s typeface needs? This all relates back to the type of buyer persona you’re trying to attract. And while studies showing how readers react to different font types are scarce, following these guidelines should help guide your decisions:
- Atmosphere – When people see your logo, is the font type fun, inviting, timeless or serious? What type of business do you run? If you own an ice cream stand, you would want to appear fun and inviting, etc.
- Legibility – There are a few things to consider when thinking about legibility. Is the font type you selected too busy? Did you have something that is a bit too ornate and hard to read at a quick glance? Also, think about the size of your logo. It may only appear on a business card now, but how’s that logo going to look on a fleet of maintenance trucks or on a billboard on the side of the road?
Color
Color is obviously a key component to your logo, but have you given the color palette thought? It’s not enough to simply pick a color based on your personal preference. According to a study titled “Impact of Color on Marketing,” 62-90% of a customer’s assessment of a brand is based on color alone.
So, what color should you choose? Well, that depends on what your product is and the type of buyer personas you’re trying to reach:
- Red – The color of passion, excitement, and bold ideas
- Yellow – Projects warmth and optimism
- Purple – Is creative and imaginative
- Blue – Dependable and trustful, blue is also the most commonly used color for branding
- Green – Is the color of growth and health
- Black and White – Conveys a timeless brand
One thing to remember is that no matter what color you decide on, make sure your logo is legible. While working with your designer, think about the message you’re trying to convey through color to attract the right buyer persona.
Image
Whether or not you add an image to your business’s logo is a tricky one, and should be approached as an optional addition — not a “must have”. There are a lot of great examples of businesses that include an image in their businesses logo, whether it’s cleverly included within the text itself, an addition to the text, or included subliminally. On the other hand, many of the largest corporations use only text for their logo.
No matter what you decide, keep in mind that you only have a couple of seconds to capture the attention of potential customers, so it’s important that the image doesn’t confuse them or misrepresent what your business is really about. It’s important to understand the buyer persona that you’re trying to attract when thinking about a logo image.
What your Logo Means to Your Customers
Ultimately, all of the creative decisions that you’ve made are driven by the buyer persona you’re trying to cater to and the type of business you own. By keeping in mind those design elements, you and your designer can work to create a logo that is both representative of your business and also catches your customer’s eye.
Do you need help desiging your company’s logo? Call us at 617-249-2600
