Your Business’s Image May Depend on Your Corporate Logo
Corporate identity may seem like a high-level problem for medium- and large-sized corporations, but this cannot be farther from the truth. In fact, at the risk of sounding biblical, each business is created equal. In other words, big or small, each is considered its own, separate legal entity. Just as each individual has its own birth certificate, each business has its own Articles of Incorporation establishing its “birth.” And since each business is considered its own entity, would it not stand to reason that each business have its own face or personality? All Fortune 500 companies have their own face and personality, which appear in the shape of a corporate logo.
For small businesses and entrepreneurs, the idea of a corporate logo may seem like a daunting concept. Some small business owners have no interest in creating or designing a logo and rely instead on a steady stream of word-of-mouth traffic, arguably the best type of sale to book. But for these types of businesses, when those sales slow or cease entirely, all that will remain is a name stenciled in a window and a simple white pages listing.
The easiest way to build a business image is to design a corporate logo. For extremely creative owners, this might be a fun, distracting task. But if the owner lacks the technical and creative competence, the corporate logo may come across as amateurish. For owners that opt to create their own corporate logo, we recommend seeking the opinion of a third-party like past clients who have nothing to lose by being honest as well as colleagues with no affiliation or interest in your business.
For the business owner looking for a professional corporate logo, there are numerous providers available who will design your logo from scratch. The process normally starts with the business owner completing a creative brief. This document outlines the business (e.g. what it does) and through a series of questions the designer(s) get a feel for the company’s personality. Completing the creative brief should take a bit of time on the owner’s part as it will ultimately result in several sample corporate logos.
Next, the designer incorporates the information revealed in the brief and starts working on the logo. Typically, the designer will prepare anywhere from three to as many as twelve or more preliminary logos. Each logo will weigh more heavily on some aspects of the brief than others, which only emphasizes the importance of being honest and accurate when completing the brief.
Lastly, a decision for a final logo will need to be made based on the sample. With your final logo sample chosen, a few final tweaks might take place and you will then be prepared to incorporate the corporate logo in everything related to your business, from invoices to business cards to signage.
The quality of service ranges (just as do the prices). Low end corporate logos can usually run $50 to $250. Often, the quality is something most business owners can live with but as their company evolves, they will normally find themselves evolving their corporate logo and image as well. The second-time run may cost a little more as the business owner realizes just how important the quality should be. Higher end corporate logos can cost upwards of $2,000 - 5,000 (ouch).
Quote Stork Solutions recommends two logo design companies. One, at the lower end, is VistaPrint. With VistaPrint, you can design your own generic corporate logo with their help of their website. The benefit with VistaPrint is that their cost is quite low (Free if you opt to order stationery through their site). This option works best for companies that do not need to rely heavily on a corporate identity. Most companies, however, will rely on a corporate logo becoming the face of their business. For these companies, Quote Stork recommends using LogoWorks. At $299, LogoWorks will create a high-quality corporate logo that will have an enduring quality over time. While steeper in price than VistaPrint, LogoWorks’s gallery (see it on their website) matches the quality produced by designers who charge ten times more. Like VistaPrint, LogoWorks also offers stationery sales.
Tags: Marketing, Marketing
Related posts
Tags: Marketing
