The Clip Art Logo: If You Don’t Care About Your Business Why Should Anyone Else

This blog is about proper logo design. Notice that I used the word “proper”. This is not about just jacking something up onto piece of paper and running with it.

Obviously, and many times, unfortunately, your budget will dictate how you approach logo design. The issue I have encountered most of time is that the “perceived value” of logo design from the client is not realistic. I don’t mean to bruise your egos out there but most of you business owners don’t have a clue what actually goes into the proper design of a logo. All you know is that you want it done fast and cheap. Many times you guys don’t really need a graphic artist you need a psychic. Getting the details, goals, target markets and other things are the most important parts of logo design and for some reason that is what most small business owners don’t want to pay for. Some of you out there are getting ready to drop your life’s savings into your new business and yet are going to balk when your graphic artist wants $500 and a couple weeks to design your logo.

How much should you pay for a logo: $50, $500, $5000? Your local marketing agency may want $3000 to do it, the print shop around the corner from your office may want $350, your neighbor’s kid, who is a talented artist, will do it for $150, some web site will do it for $99, but then again your sister-in-law just made herself some really nice brochures in Word for her scrap booking club and will do it for free. Which do you choose? Is it even really a question when you can just get it done free? It really boils down to how much you actually care about the image of your business.

Throughout my career I have assumed many roles: the kid creating logos for my neighbors between parties, girls and weed while still in high school, the newbie at the print shop designing logos for business cards (back in days of manual color separations for those of you old enough to remember the print industry pre-computer), the struggling graphic artist hacking logos out of my butt for one of the systematized cheap logo web sites, the hired gun brought in by marketing agencies as a freelancer to assist in creating a brand, and finally as a college educated consultant with a marketing firm helping to develop brands from scratch. (Actually, I was already college educated when I was hacking them out of my butt too but it made for better copy to pace it the way I did. Don’t you agree?)

Logo design really does go much deeper than just being able to draw. At one point someone, either you or a professional, will actually need to put some time and thought into the development of your brand. There may be hours and hours of research put in before a pencil ever touches paper. If you can do it yourself or get someone to do it for free good for you. If not, you’re going to have to pay someone to do it for you. Does your business target men, women, children, teenagers or seniors? Do you want to portray strength, security, technology, wholesomeness or sex appeal? Will a poor color choice be counter productive to the audience you are trying to attract? Does your logo need be scaled down to fit on a pen or pin? Do you need to be able to have it embroidered? There many more questions that need be asked before the artist begins working on a design. If you don’t have a clue as to what they are then consult with someone who does. This can be a graphic artist, consultant, business coach or a fellow business owner. Just make sure that it’s someone who actually knows what they are talking about.

I’ll tell you this right now, if you bring in someone to design your logo who doesn’t ask you any questions beyond what colors you want to use watch out. Your neighbor’s kid may be a great artist but does he know anything about marketing? Does he realize that using certain color combinations may turn people off? Does he know how to figure out which market this logo is meant to target if you don’t? Are you willing to put your companies image in the hands of someone who doesn’t know anything about branding or business. Do you want your logo to be hacked out within 24 hours by someone who doesn’t know anything about you or your business goals because it will only cost you $99? Is your sister-in-law’s idea of a great logo some cool clip art with your name slapped on it (which, for those of you not in the know is an oxymoron because there is no cool clip art).

You also need to watch out for someone who’ll just do whatever you ask them to. Especially if the thought put into it on your part amounts to having your companies name swirling around a triangle. Oh yeah, and that it also needs to have purple in it. And never, never, never just go to someone and say, “I sell widgets, see what you can come up with for me”. We are talking about the first impression most people will get of your business. Your logo is a graphic depiction your business. Put some thought into it beyond just getting it done because you need it for the fliers you’ll be handing out in three days.

Here is something remember.

• Give the designer time to do it properly. Sometimes logos can take weeks and even months to properly develop. Don’t make them rush through it because you didn’t plan properly.
• If your marketing expertise tops out at knowing that you need business cards and stationary then consult with someone who understands marketing. This can be a business coach, consultant, marketing agency, graphic artist or even a fellow business owner.
• Don’t make your decision strictly based on price, base it on what will give your business the proper image. This is likely your livelihood we’re talking about here.

I’m not saying that everyone out there needs to hire a marketing agency to design their logo. There are plenty of professional graphic artists out there that understand the process of logo design is more than just being able to draw. Just realize that there is a process and that you will need to give the process the amount of time it takes to do it properly. If you are not equipped do it yourself then face it, you are going to have to pay someone who is and the lowest bidder may not be the best choice for your business. If your mortgage payment, kids college fund, insurance and retirement are going to be generated by your business then take your branding as serious as it deserves to be taken. Who would rather have perform brain surgery on a loved one, someone who watches ER every week, your family’s physician or an actual brain surgeon? Is your business’s image and identity going to be put into the hands of a professional, teenager, soccer mom, or the lowest bidder? The choice is yours.

Stop Selling and Start Meeting

How to be more effective at business networking functions.

A couple weeks ago I was at a business networking function thrown by my local Chamber of Commerce when a scenario played out that had done so many times before. Things where moving along as they tend to do at those things when I met a young woman who happened to sell vitamins. Well, let me correct that. They weren’t just vitamins, they where a nutritional supplement that no person on this Earth could possibly be living without. As a matter of fact, anyone reading this blog that is not taking these life altering pills must be on borrowed time because, according to her, we’re all basically going to die if we don’t buy her stuff now. The most impressive thing was that she got that whole spiel out in about 30 seconds after going through the perfunctory motions like she actually wanted to get to know me. If it wasn’t for the fact that she caught me while I was in line to get a beer, she wouldn’t have lasted 10 seconds. I told her that I’d keep her in mind and watched her as she hurried off to continue her verbal spamming attack on my fellow Chamber members.

Now, I may have over exaggerated just a little bit but I think you all get the point. How many times have you had a similar experience while out networking? How many times have you had, what seemed at the time to be, a productive conversation interrupted by some marketing rep pitching you in between nibbles off the veggie tray.

Networking is about meeting people with the purpose of developing business relationships and that’s it. It’s not about collecting the most business cards and then relentlessly spamming, oh wait, let me rephrase that, relentlessly following up the next morning with the stock email template you typed out the day before. It’s not about making your sales pitch to as many strangers as you can within an hour. It’s not about handing out as many of your fliers, brochures, CD-ROMs, DVDs or whatever other kind of promotional crap you have. There is a place and time for all that and networking functions are not that place.

When you meet someone new start thinking about how you can help them. Ask yourself how many people you know that may need their products or services. Do you know of any events, leads groups, Chambers of Commerce or anything else that can be useful to them? Is their anyone at the event you are currently attending that you could introduce that person to who may be able to help them out with whatever it is that they do? Can you put them in touch with someone else who has a product or service that they may currently be looking for like business cards, a web site, embroidered shirts, insurance, etc.?

I’ll leave you all with this. The key to successful networking is allowing connections to happen through you rather than having it be all about you. Start putting others before yourself, you’ll be pleasantly surprised and financially rewarded when it comes back to you.