A good logo as your signature should be simple, professional and informative. You can effortlessly implement this on your signature without making it look dull and boring. Presented below are some of the ways to use to make your email signature cool with a logo.

Don’t include too much information

One of the most common mistakes people make with their email signature is to thing that they are mini autobiography. They end up jamming them with lots of unnecessary information and links which ultimately make them look dull and boring. When you create your signature with a logo, there is no need to include too much information.

The essence of the logo is to market your brand, and if people can take note of it, they will definitely head over to your website where they will find the rest of the information you are tempted to include in the sign. Therefore, try and keep the signature clean and to the point by not cramming it with the logo in addition with lots of other information.

Consider the color of your logo

As noted earlier, the signature will be the last thing the reader will see after reading the email. When you use a logo as the signature, it is important to consider the dominant color of your design. There are instances when the color may appear a little dull when used in the signature and in such cases, it is advisable that you tweak the colors and probably use some bright pallets to attract the reader’s attention to the logo. Obviously, when the color of the logo doesn’t contrast that of the email, then decipherability will be hampered and the logo will not be as effective as it would have been.

Use just the right size

For proper organization and better display of the logo on the signature, the size ought to be just the right one. A large logo size will not just be boring and annoying to the reader, but it may also affect the rendition of your email and make the structure and the organization disjointed. Additionally, if the signature takes more space than the actual content of the email, you may appear as imposing your brand to the recipients and it may make them change your perception about you.

Use smaller font pallets

Too many fonts are not a disaster for your logo alone, but also for your signature. Ideally, it is advisable not to use a lot of fonts in your logo and if this is the case, you will have to do some tweaking when using the logo in your email signature. This is a nice way to keep the logo simple and clear as the name and thus making it more effective in your branding efforts.

Let the logo be in the right format for small screens as well

It goes without saying that the logo should be able to render properly in computer screens before you use in the signature. Some businesses not fond of using communications may just pick any logo format and use it as the signature. You need to ensure that the logo is in a format which can be rendered across multiple devices, and especially on small screens, without its quality being affected. This is very important given that the number of people accessing emails via mobile device keeps on increasing and if the image in the signature can’ be displayed well on mobile devices, it may be a blow to your marketing and branding efforts.

Full width email signs

For most people using emails in their signatures, they follow the conventional format of position the signature at the bottom left section at the end of the email. Whereas this is the position which has been in use since time immemorial, sometimes a little creativity is needed to stand out from the crowd. For instance, you can modify the logo size to have an extended width to make it larger and more conspicuous.

In this way, it will draw in a lot of attention from the reader, besides making the email appear aesthetically appealing. However, you should consider this approach only if the logo can adopt a landscape layout without compromising its quality and overall visual appeal.

For better results with the logo as the email signature, there are other common mistakes that people fall for when designing their email signatures. For instance, there is no need for you to put all your phone numbers and email addresses on the signature. Watch out for such mistakes and you will never get it wrong with your email signatures.

Learn more about building a logo for a beauty company here!

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It is through an effective vision that the company will find the guidance to forge ahead during tough times. Turbulent times require decisiveness and taking fast action to ensure that the crisis is well managed. During such times, an effective vision will be like the North Star that all the staff can look at and remember where the company is headed to and help navigate the big business ship out of the turbulence.

For many people, the vision of a business refers to some hypothetical words used for branding purposes. This is a misleading notion because a business vision is more than just words and does more than merely help the organization in branding. The vision statement needs to be clear and should always be in a visible place within the business premises so that both staff and employees can see it as many times as possible.

This is how the message of the vision will be passed into the subconscious mind of those who see it hence make it more effective. Such a vision, essentially, should be a combination of ideas and should reflect the following-:

• The purpose of the business and its reason for existence
• The core values of the organization and what it is aiming to become
• The value proposition: the unique things that make the business different from the rest and why others should consider doing business with it
• The Strategic intent of the business as well as its future aspirations

It is no arguing, therefore, that the vision has great importance to the organization, and it is one such component that should never be ignored at all times. So, how then do you ensure that the business logo reflects the vision of the company?

Does the logo reflect the vision?

The business logo is a visual representation of the company to the outside world. It is the link between the business and the current clients, and it is also what the business uses to attract potential clients. A logo is the first point of contact between the company and the outside world hence it should be designed in a manner that will portray a good image of the business to the target audience.

Due to this importance, it is imperative for the logo to reflect the vision of the business so that people can know in an instant about the company, what it stands for, its value proposition and make a choice immediately on whether or not to do business with it.

For the logo to reflect the vision of the business, there are certain design aspects that must be taken into consideration at the design stage. Remember, the logo doesn’t provide you with a lot of space to write a whole paragraph of the vision. The only way, therefore, is to use the various components of the logo to communicate the same message that is contained in the vision statement. This can be achieved by the following-:

Using the right image – images in the logo are not just meant to make the logos appear beautiful. They are supposed to convey a specific message to those who will be looking at the logo. To ensure that your logo reflects your vision, therefore, it would be prudent to use relevant images which will convey the spirit and the meaning held within the vision.

Choice of colors – colors in a logo also are not just to make nice looking graphics. People have a powerful way of connecting to colors and will always give colors different meanings. Therefore, the use of colors in the logo should be in such a manner that it will help in reflecting the vision of the business.

Uniqueness – no business wants to be a copycat, and there will be no two businesses which will ever have the same vision. This should be the same with the logo. It should be distinct to signify it uniqueness and pass across a message that the business is there to offer unique solutions.

Professional designs – when designing the logo, it should be done by professionals and not by amateurs or free logo design software that won’t bring out the vision of the business clearly.

Simplicity – finally, the logo should be simple and one which the target audience will easily understand and find it easy relating to. This is the easiest way to reflect the vision of the company in the most subtle manner. A complicated logo might make potential customers and clients think that you are a complicated establishment, and they may not be open to doing business with you.

The above, if used wisely, will make the logo reflect the vision of the business and, as a result, help in articulating the goals of the company.

Learn how to manage a confused client here!   

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The same concept can also be applied to marketing in business. If you are a small business, it is possible for you to adopt the branding and marketing strategies used by the Giants for the success of your business. The good news is that the marketing strategies working for the big brands are like an open book.

You can simply observe what they are doing and add your tweaks to suit the needs of your business, and you will be guaranteed of nearly similar results. However, this is not to insinuate that you become a copy cat and try to ape to the tee what the big brands are doing. You don’t have the resource and the kind of market penetration such brands are enjoying.

Here are some of the top lessons from the big brands that every small business can learn and apply for their success-:

Use emotions in building brand identity

Memory is essential to marketing, and a close observation will reveal to you that the successful big brands are leveraging this to build their brands. A good brand should make use of emotions, not just for reason, but also to create a connection with the target audience for a memorable identity.

Your branding will become very successful when you manage to spark positive emotional resonance with the customers and the target audience. The more customers are likely to remember your company or logo, the more they are likely to buy from you. This won’t just give you an increase in sales, but also enhance the effectiveness of your branding.

Proper understanding of who you are

A Proper understanding of who you are is another critical lesson from the big brands that small businesses can learn from. Unless you understand who you are and what you stand for, it will be very difficult for you to establish a good brand. Your branding efforts should be geared towards addressing the question of “What is our main reason for being in this market?” The answer to this question should be the basis of the business’s branding and marketing as well as its corporate culture and the way it interacts with the consumers.

Additionally, the company’s mission must define what the company wants to be, and then look for all the possible ways to clearly, efficiently and consistently pass this message to the consumers. This is how big brands like Apple, IBM, Google, and Coca-cola amongst others managed to establish the kind of fanatic followings they enjoy at the present.

Always be consistent

Consistency is another important lesson from the big brands that small business can learn and apply to their marketing and branding strategies. Consistency in marketing is achieved through visual brand identity. This is where you will need to use the services of professional logo designers to come up with the right logos that will project a positive image of the business to the potential clients. The same consistency should also be ensured across all the marketing materials for the company.

It might take some time to create such a consistency, but the payoff will be extremely rewarding if you manage to create an identity that meets the needs of your company. For instance, Apple used the lowercase letter I for their new digital products and it is consistent in all the products manufactured by the technology giant. Such a consistent application has been very instrumental in their overall success as a company.

Set your part aside with real differences

For most small business, setting yourself apart means undercutting the competition. This is an awful approach because it will work in the short but won’t be sustainable. Do it like the big guys have been doing it by setting yourself apart using real differences. Apple, for example, has set itself apart from the competition through innovation, superior customer care and by using branding and marketing strategies that stroke the right codes with the consumers. This is another crucial lesson from big brands to all small businesses.

Become a leader and not a follower

The other lesson from the big brands for the small business is to become leaders in the market and not just followers. All of the top brands in the universe are leaders in their respective industries. You don’t achieve this by following what the others are doing. You have to be in the forefront, work with the basics but introduce completely new things that no one else is offering.

Every small business that adopts these marketing strategies from the big brands is guaranteed to see a positive change in their marketing efforts and overall success of the business.

Learn if your logo design is adaptive here!

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Your business logo is a powerful marketing tool that people use to relate to your products and services. With proper marketing and brand awareness, your logo will make people recognize your business instantly whenever they see or hear of it. But to you to have good results with anyone’s logo, it is vital for someone to take keen consideration on where anyone places it.

The ideal location is where it will get maximum exposure to both your target audience and the general public so that it can be recognized widely by even those who are not interested in your products. Below is a suggestion of 9 fantastic places where you can put your logo for maximum exposure of your brand and consequently business-:

Correspondence Templates

Every template you use to communicate or stay in touch with your clients should always have your logo on them. These include letterheads, email signatures, purchase order templates, invoice templates, company magazines and many more. Including your logo in such places makes its marketing power to become subconscious in the minds of those whom you are corresponding with and they will always have your brand in their minds for most of the time.

Online Pages

With the massive power of the internet, it has become a perfect place to display to the whole world your business logo and brand. Your logo should be in such places as your website, social media platforms and company blogs. Your brand awareness will be boosted if your customers will occasionally bump into your logo when they are going about their businesses on the internet.

Giveaways

Whenever you offer marketing giveaways like t-shirts, pens, caps, bags, etc. always ensure that they have the business logo. In this manner, you will be creating mobile billboards of people who will spread your brand to wherever they go or use such giveaways.

Business Cards

Business cards should not be used to share the contacts of the employees alone but also to spread the brand of the company by including the company logo on it. Whenever you give out cards to new people or potential customers, you will be increasing the reach of your brand as compared to sharing a card without any logo on it.

Product Packaging

The product packaging is another awesome place where the logo should never miss. Having logos on your packaging won’t just reinforce your marketing efforts, but also advertise your brand to others who might have not yet interacted with your brand.

Other than having your logo on items directly related to your business, there are other interesting places where you can put your logos and expose the brand to a large number of potential customers. Such places include the following-:

Bikes

People use bikes a lot for moving from one location to another. When you have your logo on a bike, it will be exposed to people wherever you go. This could be an effective strategy for brand awareness if you were dealing with a health-related product that promotes a healthy lifestyle. However, it will still work if your desire is to expose your brand without any bias to whoever sees it.

Cell phone cases

The number of people using cell phones is incredibly high. As a matter of fact, every adult has a cell phone, and they will always have the phone wherever they go. If you can manage to have your business logo printed on the cell phone then make them as part of your company giveaways and also give them to your employees, you shall have created an ingenious tool for brand awareness. This is because the users of the various cell phones and those around them will always see your logo each time the phone is in use.

Picture Frames

The combination of a picture frame and your logo forms an excellent marketing opportunity for showing your brand to everyone that looks at the photo. You can do this for your photos at home, or you can include the logo in a nice team photo in the office to continue marketing your brand in a passive way.

Water Bottles

Bottled water is incredibly popular and due to environmental concerns, people are not discarding their used bottles but instead are reusing them. If you can get your logo on the back of such reusable water bottles, then you shall have opened a whole new front for marketing your brand. Alternatively, you can decide to stamp your bottle water then give them to your employees as well as customers. If the bottles are of good quality, they will always carry them along, thus advertising your logo to all the places they go.

These are just a few of the fantastic places that people usually leave empty, yet they can be utilized for displaying business logos and increasing the brand awareness at the same time. Try them out and see the kind of results you will get as far as exposing your logo is concerned.

Check out the best color combinations for your brand before you find out where to put them!

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One thing you will notice about any business that has recently taken off is that they have successfully managed to get their customers to connect, relate and identify with their brand. The ability to create such coherence between the customers and the brand is usually irrespective of the services or the products that the business is offering.  Understanding how they achieve this is not rocket science, and you don’t need a Harvard degree to get the principles of building a brand identity for any business venture.

Knowing the basics of how to create a brand identity has the potential to catapult a company to great success with a minimal budget. Examples are all over of businesses that became successful overnight by simply developing a strong brand and growing an enormous community around it. For instance, Black Milk got over one million followers on Instagram, leading to the immense amount of user generated content and a customer based group with audiences all over the world.

So how exactly do you become successful in building a brand identity that will connect with your target audience and give them the inspiration to engage with your brand? Presented here are three basic but very fundamental steps you need to take if you want to create a brand that will drive your business to the next level of success-:

Know Your Market

The first process towards building a brand identity is to know who your target market is. It comes before you even think about defining your brand’s personality or planning your positioning strategy. It is at this stage where you spend a considerable amount of time researching on your marketing, carrying out SWOT Analysis and evaluating the competitive environment to identify the weak links you can exploit in your competition.

In market research, you will consider conducting activities such as secondary research, investigating pre-existing data for more insights into the market, carrying out online surveys with target groups to let you know more about them and to ensure that you position your products and services appropriately to meet their needs, demands and expectations.

A SWOT Analysis, on the other hand, is to enable you to understand better the strengths and weaknesses of your brand as well as your business. It will also reveal to you the opportunities that currently exist in the market as well as the potential threats that may hamper your process of building a brand identity.

Positioning Strategy and Value Proposition

Once you have a thorough comprehension of your market, the next step in building your brand identity is to determine how to acquire a unique position in the market and also a value proposition that will make the target audience interested in your products or services. Most of the businesses that thrive in the current environment are those that have something unique to offer to their clients. This is what sets them apart from the rest and make customers coming back to them. It is thus of paramount importance to find a unique value proposition that will relate to your target market and give them a reason to look towards your direction.

On positioning strategies, many businesses are fond of using more than one strategy to get into the market. This type of approach is never advisable because it will imply that you will have multiple marketing strategies, and these might end up cluttered and confusing to the target audience. As much as it is true that you may multiple value propositions, it is advisable to pick one positioning strategy and stick to it. Besides giving you the focus you need in building a brand identity, a single position strategy will also create coherence amongst your target audience, and it will be easy for them to relate to it well, leading to faster growth of your brand.

Always use Human Elements

At this stage, you have a clear picture of what your target market looks like and you have also identified how to position yourself competitively so as to address the needs, expectations and the wants of your audience. The next task now is to have your audience resonate with the products or the services you are selling to them. To effectively do this, you must have in mind that the target market is comprised of human beings. Hence, you must infuse human characteristics in your marketing campaigns. Consider the following elements when building your brand identity-:

The Brand Essence – the brand essence refers to the intangible benefits or the particular emotions that will be invoked in your target audience whenever they see or hear about your brand. This should always be toned down to one word. For instance, Disney’s essence is “Magical.”

The Brand Personality – brand personality refers to the characteristics of the brand. It refers to how the brand thinks, speaks, acts, behaves and reacts to the audience. To identify your brand’s personality, you must personify it and make it a living human being. This must be portrayed consistently across all the contact points with your customers. It needs to be a personality that the customer can like and relate with, or else, you endeavors of building a brand identity will go down the drain.

Whether you are brand new in business, or you have been struggling for a while in creating a brand identity, these steps will give you the headway you need in establishing a quality brand that will be loved by your market and ultimately bring lots of success to your business.

Learn more about Brand Strategy in our previous post!

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