Who needs a logo?

If you are struggling with whether or not you actually need a logo design for your company, your blog, team, band or service the short answer is probably yes. If you are offering something to the general public in the form of a brand, one of the best ways that you can expand on this brand is to have a graphic for recognition. Logo design services are becoming more widespread than ever before and having a physical image that you can attach to the idea you are selling, offering or raising awareness for is important. Before you get started on whether or not you actually need a logo or it’s a justifiable expense for your project, you should ask yourself a few main questions:

• What long term, short term and mid range goals do you have for the product/service/company/cause that you are working with/developing?
• Is there any direct competition in your marketplace or anyone else in your local community trying to do the same thing?
• Do you need to convince prospective clients and change their mind about your product/offer?
• Do you want to get people’s attention and inform them about what you are doing for your project?

If you answered yes to any one of these questions you definitely should consider logo design for your project. If your company or your project is still in the beginning stages and you are looking at it as more of a basic hobby, you could probably put a logo on the back burner or do without one entirely. A logo is really a sign of professionalism and if your project is more casual effort or something that you simply want to spread through word-of-mouth, you should hold off on professional logo design especially.

If you have decided that it’s time to get a logo it’s important to remember that you have some options available to you. There are also some top considerations to make when it comes to the type of logo that you need and how immediate your need for a logo may be. Here are some other main points that might influence your decision for a logo:

 

What do you need the logo for?

When many people decide that their project needs a logo they don’t consider how often that they might actually use a logo for their purposes. If you are running a small accounting business out of your basement you may only need to have a logo for a small sign and letterhead. If the vast majority of the business for your company is actually completed through word-of-mouth advertising or a small newspaper ad, you could probably get away with using just a simple logo template. When you need to compete with many other people in the industry and you rely on large scale advertisements as a means to capture an audience however you should strongly consider using a professional logo design.

Advertising needs a logo:

If you do advertising for your business or your project you need to have some type of logo design in place to increase brand awareness. Even if your plan is to develop a few brochures or to send out your business plan to a few potential investors, advertising of all types needs to have some kind of logo for your brand. Depending on your level of competition you should consider getting a full-blown professional logo especially if you are advertising in a major magazine, regular classified ads or in online advertising. Setting yourself apart from the competition and really getting noticed usually requires an extremely professional logo. Using a template design in a national advertisement will only work against you. You may be surprised at the number of leads that you can generate with a professionally created logo over something simple that you made in an online template.

Put yourself in the viewer’s perspective:

A brand without a logo or brand with poorly made graphics can give you a feeling of unease in a particular idea. If you want people to have confidence in what you are doing you need to have access to a professional quality logo. A poor logo is like having multiple spelling mistakes in your business proposal, it just doesn’t instill any confidence in your company, your brand or your idea.

Another big aspect of putting yourself in the viewer’s perspective is that most likely people will be looking at your project with fresh eyes. You need to be able to convince strangers that what you are doing is professional and that they can trust you. If you are able to emulate the style of other professional organizations and have an official logo for your brand it can make you seem more established and more professional even if you have only been working for a month.

 

While not everyone will need a professional logo for their brand immediately, in order to establish a brand identity and to experience growth/longevity a brand needs to establish a logo for the future. Take a look at what you want to accomplish for the future and see if a logo can help you to accomplish those goals immediately.

Check out these tips on how to give your brand personality.