For today’s post on the Speedy Signs Blog I will provide the part two of our “Does your company logo break these 10 rules?” You can view the first five rules on my previous post here, view now.

6. CONSISTENCY.

Picture this. You’ve discovered a café that makes coffee just how you like it. You’ve only been once but the coffee was heaven. You now go into the same café, very excited because the latte that you are anticipating is just what the doctor ordered. This time you order a large, only to discover that it tastes like dish washing detergent. Disappointing to say the least. Will you go back? Unlikely. Why? It’s unreliable and gives confusing and erratic messages. Confusion repels customers. To create the desired impact and awareness of your brand, consistency is absolutely crucial.

People like brands that they can understand. People like being able to associate a personality and an expected result to a brand. It is absolutely YOUR responsibility to help and encourage your audience to understand who you are and learn to recognise you, through being consistent. Think of every brand that you love and think about whether they are consistent and the answer will always be, ‘yes’. They are consistent in their graphic elements, colour theme, font and simplicity.

If you refresh your logo, ensure that your core message is uncompromising. Remember, only one main logo should be the bread and butter of your brand.

“Promoting what YOU see as attractive, funny, entertaining or sexy may seem like the obvious path but your audience may be triggered by something completely different.“

7. WINNING LOGO DESIGNS ARE SIMPLE.

Logos are messages. You need to be able to communicate your message with your audience quickly and effectively. This means that your message needs to be focused to be easily understood. There can be no element that distracts from the overall message. As such, logos should not be overly complex. Complex logos usually send more complicated messages and this makes them harder to understand. Remember, you are investing time and money into your logo so that it is effective in delivering the intended message.

Logos are also often printed in a very wide variety of sizes. Your logo should therefore be simple in order to be as recognisable and equally effective on a small piece of collateral as a large one.

8. DISPLAY YOUR LOGO IN THE RIGHT PLACES.

From vehicle wraps to pull up banners, there are countless different ways and places to display your logo. This can seem overwhelming and can make the easiest or cheapest path look most attractive. However, these paths can be counter-productive and it is therefore very important to carefully assess the most effective places to display your logo. Have versions of your logo to suit portrait and landscape and web icons. Your logo needs to work on printed material, online and on your signage.

Analyse where your leads are coming from. If more of your leads are coming from a vehicle wrap than from website banner ads, it could be worth considering investing a larger portion of the marketing budget accordingly (or vice versa).

It can also be beneficial to trial new media and places to better identify the sources of maximum return on marketing spend.

9. DESIGN TO ROMANCE YOUR TARGET MARKET, NOT YOURSELF!

Brand love is defined as the degree of passionate, emotional attachment a satisfied consumer has for a particular brand name. Increasing ‘brand love’ for your business can be achieved through romancing your target market. It’s all about what your target wants. You can grab your audience’s attention by first finding out what they are attracted to and incorporating those elements into your visual branding.

Promoting what YOU see as attractive, funny, entertaining or sexy may seem like the obvious path but your audience may be triggered by something completely different. Your favourite colour combinations may even be offensive to some cultures. Like in any successful ‘pursuing’ period, it is important to focus on wooing your audience through providing them what they relate favourably to.

“The right time (and frequency) for a brand and logo to be refreshed differs depending on the strength of your initial design and the rate at which your target market’s preferences change.”

10. REFRESH YOUR LOGO WHEN THE TIME IS RIGHT.

Even if your logo has been designed well in the first place and with timelessness in mind, it could still benefit from the occasional refreshing! Refreshing is different to rebranding. Refreshing is only a slight adjustment that is still consistent with all other aspects of a brand’s visual identity.

A logo needs to be brought up to date when certain preferences of the target market change. ANZ refreshed their logo recently when, after significant research, they realised that their target market wanted to feel that ANZ empathised with people. They consequently updated their logo and tagline. Their tagline is now, ‘’we live in your world’’ and their logo incorporates an image that looks like a person. They wanted their image to revolve around people and refreshed their branding to achieve this.

The right time (and frequency) for a brand and logo to be refreshed differs depending on the strength of your initial design and the rate at which your target market’s preferences change. Keep track of these two things to ensure your marketing dollars are always hitting the right notes.

Achieving a larger market share isn’t necessarily a result of who has the better product, but rather who can create the better perception in the mind of the consumer. In branding, whatever the mind perceives to be truth may as well be truth. The first step to creating such a perception is getting your logo right. If your logo has not obeyed all these 10 branding rules, the ‘truth’ about your company may be far from the truth.

So for branding advice that you can trust, go to where New Zealand goes for signs. Visit www.speedysigns.co.nz or Call 0800 773 339.

Contact your local Speedy Signs today!

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