A Logo Is Not Enough - Why Your Business Needs A BRAND

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Let’s start right off… Your logo and your website are not your brand. You need more than just a good logo. And no matter if it’s good or bad, that logo will only take you so far.

Your logo is unique, creative, and eye-catching. You spent countless hours and numerous revisions getting every detail just right.

It encompasses your brand’s image and style.
It tells a story in lines and letters and colors.
It gives identity to your business.
It starts the conversation.

But that’s just it – it only starts the conversation.

A logo paves the way for effective branding. However, a brand is more than a logo. It’s more than just visual identification. A brand is an emotion behind what someone feels, sees and tastes when they interact with your company on any level. Your brand is the image behind what your business believes and strives to accomplish. As a result, your brand becomes your personality and along with that personality comes much more than just a nice logo. 

A brand bears much more responsibility than a logo.

Yes, A Logo Matters

Your logo is likely to be one of the first interactions people have with your company and it’s your opportunity to make a solid first impression, show you deliver a quality service, and visually express your purpose.

But what comes after that?

More Than The Logo

When you think of some of the most familiar logos, an image isn’t the only thing that comes to mind. 

You know we love a good Apple reference. When you see the Apple logo, you’re not just thinking about the company itself. You’re also thinking of broader concepts that include cutting-edge technology, sleek design, futuristic capabilities, and very specific marketing campaigns. We personally still think of the OG iPod ads.

Apple’s current marketing strategies also resonate with us on a personal and business level.

Like we were saying… You’ve come to associate certain characteristics with that logo and the business it represents. A positive and relevant association is proof of an effective brand development strategy. 

Logos stand out so much to customers because they’re visual, simple, and ubiquitous. They are the component of branding that we notice most often, but businesses can’t afford to ignore the rest of what’s involved in effective brand marketing. 

Brand Marketing

Brand marketing is a strategy that seeks to create a distinguishable and relevant identity around a business. You can think of it as your company’s personality. 

An effective brand development and marketing strategy leverages these aspects to create a cohesive, recognizable, and relevant identity:

  • Reputation Management
  • Design / Style
  • Customer Service
  • Advertising
  • Tone / Voice
  • Logo

Your efforts impact the way in which the public will view, feel about, and perceive your goods and services. 

Why It’s Important

Branding has a direct impact on the habits of your customers. It can determine how they interact with your business. In fact, businesses that present a consistent brand across platforms can boost their revenue by 23%

Successful brand development can lead clients to associate your business with positive feelings and values, such as trustworthiness, punctuality, attentiveness, and influence. Poor brand development, or lack thereof, can create a negative image of your business. 

What Goes Into A Brand: The Basics of Brand Identity

And we mean the basics.

Through the follow broad strategies you can garner the understanding and voice that will build your brand.

  • Brand Research
  • Client Brainstorming
  • Brand Implementation
  • Branding Adjustments

From there you will further develop your:

  • Typography
  • Color Palette
  • Content Strategy
  • Copywriting / Voice / Tone
  • Social / Marketing Strategy
  • Imagery / Graphics
  • A Full Brand Identity

Building a brand is a continuous process that requires consistency, fine-tuning, and creativity. It’s not something that happens overnight, and will require consistent evaluation and adaptation.

The Pathfinder Brand Guide

Before we go any further, take a look at the Pathfinder Brand Guide.

A brand guide is for both internal and external use – ensuring that our brand is consistent. It also ensures that our team and our partners are on the same page with who we are and what we stand for.

Let’s Keep Going

Our brand guide was not developed over night. In fact, it took a long time… with many revisions, wording changes, research, re-evaluations, and in-depth conversations to develop it. The logo was probably the easiest part here.

It was what came next that pushed us all to look deep into what Pathfinder would be.

& Ask Yourself The Right Questions

Brand development means asking yourself the right questions – framed around not just you, but your customer. 

It’s finding the balance between your passions and skills and the needs and perception of your ideal audience.

If you only focus on what you want, then you’ll have a hard time catching the attention of your target customers. Conversely, if you only focus on what potential clients want, you’ll fail to create an identity that’s unique to your business. 

Here are some important questions to ask when starting your own brand: 

What Makes Your Company Unique? 

If you can pinpoint and effectively communicate something unique and distinctive about your business, you’ll have a much easier time standing out from the crowd. 

What Are the Core Values You Want to Embody? 

When customers work with you, they’re not just basing the decision on obvious factors that include price, proximity, and quality. If your brand identity exudes professionalism, punctuality, and quality, customers who hold these values in high esteem will be more likely to work with your business. 

Why Were You Motivated to Build This Business? 

Think about why you were initially motivated to start your business. Personal backstories like these are a great way to connect with your customers on a deeper level. Customers love to learn about the people behind a business. 

Storytelling, featuring important voices from within the company, is a great way to humanize a brand. 

What Problem Are You Trying to Solve by Offering Your Products or Services? 

All businesses find success when they can offer a solution to a problem their customers are facing. This solution can come in the form of products or services. Understanding the exact problem you’re solving, and how it can help people, is a critical part of brand development. 

The goal is to have customers come to associate your brand with a specific solution to a common problem. Even if the need is not immediate, you’re building a relationship that keeps you top of mind when the need does arise.

How Would You Want Clients to Describe Your Business? 

Imagine a group of people talking about your business. What words do you want them to use when describing your business to others? How do you want the public to perceive your company?

You need to determine which brand characteristics you want to stand out to potential customers. Focus your brand development efforts on highlighting these areas. 

What Do You Want People to Think and Feel When Hearing Your Company’s Name? 

One report found that 68% of men and 64% of women feel an emotional connection with brands. The way you portray your business through advertising, descriptions, images, and logos will influence what pops into people’s heads when they hear your company’s name. 

While it’s obvious you want these connotations to be positive, try to think deeper about the emotions you want your business to elicit. 

Share the logo. Develop the story. Unfold the brand.

Brand development is much more than just a logo and a catchy tagline. It’s the continuous process of creating and maintaining a unique identity for your business. 

A logo is an important part of developing your brand, but it’s not the only branding element you should concern yourself with. 

Creating a memorable brand requires consistent use of type, color, images, and language, but it’s worth it. When consumers instantly recognize who you are and what you stand for all based on a logo, you’ve become more than just a name and a symbol.

Brand development increases name recognition for your company. It is designed to evoke certain feelings and thoughts in your target audience when they think about your business.

Here To Help 

Need help developing or re-evaluating your Brand Identity? Pathfinder is here to help you tell your story the way it was meant to me told.