So your opening your own business, a new venture into the unknown. The freedom you'll find is vast and unmeasured. Intensity of your work is now hard, but bearable knowing that every penny is really adding to your bottom line. But mistakes in those ground working days can be brutal and effect your business like a crack in a homes foundation.
This article is about one of those ground work areas, your brand, your logo. A logo is so important in today very visual world of colorful pictures. Think about the last time you walked the Aisles of your local Big Box ~ Mart. Each product you look at has a brand. Maybe you do not recognize the brand, or it's the local store brand, but it's branded. I remember the Generic Craze of the 80's when white boxes with "Corn Flakes" or "Donuts" was placed on shelves with no real artwork. As a kid I can remember walking down the aisles of Acme looking at these products and wondering if the cartoon characters had run away. These products were 'unbranded' to save the cost on marketing and pass a product to the customer at a savings. From a business prospect, this is really bad when you hand people a card with only your name … Where did all the artwork go.
When you go Logo shopping, first you need to know what the culture of your business is going to be. Are you fun, or does it need to be high caliber to meet the needs of highly professional clientele. If you use your name as a business, like a doctor, why not pick an image which will get people to remember your name. You need to pursue your business venture from a single perspective, You are the best in what you do. When you think of the best in your field, what image comes to mind. Is it a big dog, we are tough enough to tackle the biggest jobs. Or maybe an Owl, we've got the brains to solve your problem.
Next be specific do not just pick a leaf, find a tree that can relate to your business. When people think of clean air they think of Aspen, so an aspen leaf is much different than an oak leaf. Use this, this is your branding. Know why your business is like an aspen leaf … this is a marketing pitch. Now from a financial perspective, try to find something you can represent in one color. The reason is when printing items like shirts, pens, swag normally setup fees are based upon color and location. Too many colors will cost.
Most small businesses make this mistake: once they find an image to use for a logo, they search free clip art and find the item. Now this is perfectly legal, you need to ask yourself how many other small businesses are using that same image. I once saw a health clinic use Leonardo Di Vinci's Vitruvian Man. Now, yes this image is recognizable, but so many other clinics use that same artwork. This is when hiring an artist to stylize or recreate your image to make it unique. It's really not much work, and I've found a local company in Austin, Color Factory, which will do a nice logo for about $ 60 an hour. A unique and professional image is essential to how people view your company.
Next get some nice business cards, do not skimp, and do not get the ones for free on the internet which print their company name on the back. Get something which says a lot about your company, If your totally unique, try a transparent or semi-glossy card. A card is only the start of your new business but it is the first mark people you meet will use to find you.
Online presence is essential in this high tech age, make sure you get a nice website, again out of the box type websites are cheap, but they also make you look cheap. An average on a website will cost around $ 8000 for a fully functional website which has your business look. Again your logo must match the website.
Register your brand! If it's unique, and it's you, trade mark that brand. Without trademark anyone can steal it. Now, go out there and draw in the business. You've created a brand that puts your company in a higher class.
