Question
I'm about to launch a new site (retail this winter, with wholesale to follow next summer). I've addressed a lot of the initial issues (product, text and flavour of the site, payment gateways, layout, hosting, coding, etc) but find the twin issues of logo and branding to be more difficult.
I intend ultimately to market my product on a wholesale level and will be attending tradeshows and doing mailing to convince other shops to carry my goods. As such, I'll need a logo that is appropriate to a business card (and letterhead, postcards, signs, and branded promotional goods) and my website - or at least I think so. Or is it more likely that I'll use two different (or more) but similar logos - different logos for different purposes? I've done a big o' googling on this topic but find that my searches aren't yeilding anything useful.
Does anyone have links they like on the topic of logo design and use, as well as promotional branding?
Answer
Have you read this post?
Logos and branding are big issues. That's where the advertising design companies make their living.
Other than the links in the above post, I don't have any references for you. You might try searching for advertising companies or creative writing companies on Google.
IME, the most important thing is consistency. Keep all your logos the same. Change the size to fit business cards, letterhead, websites, but keep the same colors and the same look. For different divisions, such as retail and wholesale, you might add a line underneath the logo such as "For the trade only" on wholesale promotional items.
Another important point is your domain name. People won't keep your cards, but you want them to be able to find you. Keep the domain name as simple as possible and related to your company name (which is getting harder and harder to do). For instance, if your company is ABC Corporation, your domain name should be www.abc.com or as close as you can get it. Don't add dashes or such if you can help it. People never remember where they go. Don't use .info or .biz if you can avoid that, either. People naturally type .com when they are going by memory.
If you find any helpful links, would you post them?
Answer
I'll need a logo that is appropriate to a business card (and letterhead, postcards, signs, and branded promotional goods) and my website - or at least I think so. Or is it more likely that I'll use two different (or more) but similar logos - different logos for different purposes?
Unless you have two entirely different sections of your company (two names under one roof, for example) I would think you definitely need just ONE solid design. There is no recall for your product/company if you have dueling logos.
"Corporate Identity & Branding" or combos of that -
might get you headed for the information you're after.
I have a site saved that has a decent series of articles:
http://www.marketingsource.com/articles/
- I really liked the one titled "Shattering the Branding Myths" in the Branding Your Biz section ...
and "Branding in Todays Economy" was good too ...
Hope that helps, or gets you started
~ gem ~
Answer
I found this article in my archives, which gives some additional information on branding & logos, etc.
eMarketing Brand Building - How To Develop A Great Brand
When most people think of a branding strategy they consider this is fancy logos, clever slogans and other such items. However, this is an after-effect of brand development, and market share. Logo & slogans do not work very well if you have no developed trust.
Branding your name into the minds of your prospects so they see you as the only solution to their problems is quite different. Once that loyalty has been developed, they will want to continue to do business with you and they will begin telling their friends about you as well. Your branding strategy cannot be focused on you or your company. It must be focused on your customer and only your customer. Your branding strategy has to communicate to people the benefits they receive if they do business with you rather than your competitors.
An effective branding strategy creates the kind of loyalty that leaves customers indifferent to the advertising and marketing factors of your competitors. Your branding strategy will be most successful and most profitable if you closely target your market. Focus on getting your company name and advertising in front of your best potential customers... the one's that have already expressed an interest in what you're offering, as opposed to everyone.
Brand is synergy - the consistent creative execution of your strategic market position.
What?
Well... To understand branding, you have to understand market positioning. Market positioning is your strategic posture in the market place.
What?
Hmm...
Ok let us forget those tedious explanations again... those things that make you different, better or worth taking a risk over other snake oil merchants that have similar products or services. When you commit to a market position, you are establishing an in-field line-of-sight headquarters on the marketing battlefield, defiantly hoisting your colors and daring the enemy to take their best shot.
Generally, that first shot is the first indication your brand is starting to be successful. Individuals' current dealing with competitors are approaching them and asking for a similar quality as yours, since they have been already dealing with and prefer not to attempt another risk. Thus, competitors start to mimic your brand.
Develop Your Marketing Position
The way to develop your marketing position is by first writing a market positioning statement (which is loosely associated with your mission statement). A market positioning statement defines who you are, why you are great and why the world would be foolish not to beat a path to your door. It should be accurate, precise, written in the dullest, least creative manner possible and (the tough part) -- no more than two sentences long. This can be very difficult, as you will find, attempting to narrow down one or two sentences against which all of your marketing, advertising, product and/or services are measured.
A general rule of thumb to appreciate is, if this is extremely difficult ' you currently have no brand. You cannot begin to brand your company, products or services unless you can convey to any person, regardlessof knowledge or skill precisely what you do in simple plain language. Your brand is a clone of a market position, and creatively applied.
Nevertheless, remember: brand is synergy - the consistent creative execution of your strategic market position. Once you define your branding strategy, it has to be everywhere on your website. It needs to be in the navigation and usability of you website, the names of your categories, the means by which you present your goods to the public, your layout and even your chosen domain name.
Everything on your website -- and in your business -- should be branded, right on down to the design of the buttons on your navigation bar, and original graphical artwork. Consistency builds trust and when you build trust, you are building a great brand. Great brands increase customer loyalty, referral business, and even partnerships with like-minded businesses.
Brand is the only thing that changes your bottom line. If you do not stand out in a crowd, the general source of your business is the "accidental shopper" whom in many cases was enroute to a competitor and accidentally happened to come across you.
Answer
Thanks for the pointers. :-) I've book marked a few things already. I spent much of this early afternoon exploring About.com's information on marketing and branding and logos. Interesting but - on the whole - not terribly useful. Less specific information doesn't translate well to action for me in this realm.
I unfortunately lost a whole pile of really, really marvelous bookmarks on this topic with our last computer upgrade. (I really need to figure out how to use my CD-RW drive so I can back up regularly I guess.)
(But I still find searching online on any of this to be just utterly defeating. I tend to pull up the most useless pages of crap via google. Argh. Another day tomorrow - maybe I'll have a link to contribute then. :-)