Importance of logo branding for MBAs
@Rumana Maner
What is Logo?
Logo is a graphical symbol or icon used by companies, brands, organisations or individuals to aid public recognition of their business or venture. Logos represent company brands and identities and logos on products enable instant customer recognition of the company or brand.
Importance of Logos
Logos can be plain graphical symbols or wordmarks composed of the organisation’s name (IBM). Brand symbols involving ideograms and symbols facilitate cross-language marketing and hence are more effective compared to those having alphabets in the native country’s language. An effective logo must have both an icon or symbol and a company name to emphasise the company’s name over the graphic. Some large corporations like MTV, Google etc have adopted dynamic symbols which change their settings over time.
Logos and their design can be protected by copyrights. In case anyone tries to copy an existing symbol or image, it is an offence called Copyright infringement punishable under the Copyright Law. Same colours can be used by different companies but the design or symbols cannot be reproduced.
Advantages of Logo
Companies these days put a lot of importance on having a unique symbol for their product or service. Some of the key benefits of the brand symbols & logos are:
1. They help identify a company's product or service when compared to a competitor. Since there are so many competitors in a market, a unique brand symbol helps to differentiate a company's product.
2. They help people recognize a particular product or service which they liked. A symbol directly helps connect with a product.
3. Popular products with easy symbols are associated with a strong recall & help better brand loyalty. People remember a good product & service with their brand symbol or tagline.
The Importance of Branding and Logos
Common logo uses
Websites: As part of brand recognition, having your logo on your site helps to identify your company and develop consistency with your web presence. When you create a website, make sure that your logo is visible and recognizable for your visitors. Logos are usually placed in the header and/or footer of your site, most often left-aligned and ideally linked to the homepage. Additionally, your logo can be used as your website’s the favicon, the small icon that appears in the browser window.
Business cards: When you design a business card, remember it is like a small memento, something for your potential customers to remember you by that they physically get to keep. Having your logo displayed on your business cards is a perfect opportunity to jog their memory, so they will come back to you later.
Products, packaging, merchandise: Big or small, including your logo on all your products and merchandise is key for recognition. It is also a great way to build trust and loyalty. Imagine somebody walking down the street carrying a bag with your company logo—it’s free advertising and social proof.
Customer communications: Your logo should appear in any kind of communication with your customers including emails, newsletters, campaigns and instant messaging. These exchanges need to be easily identifiable to your audience, so they can immediately know who they are speaking with. It is a reinforcement of the brand identity and adds to the trustworthiness of your company.
Social media: Having your logo across your social media channels helps develop a cohesive social presence. Since social media is all about sharing, you want to make sure your photos and visuals are branded. This applies not only to posts on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn or YouTube, and also other platforms such as Reddit and Quora.
Internal assets: Beyond external uses, your logo serves an important and necessary purpose internally—to promote your company culture. Things like company-wide presentations, emails or training sessions should always include your logo. Furthermore, if you ever create employee swag, you want your team to wear your logo with pride. And that is something you can be proud of too.
The Importance of Logo Branding is also About Creativity
1. An attractive logo is an effective marketing and promotion tool. Consumers will always be mindful of the services or goods whose design attracts them.
2. The quality of services is always accompanied by a good name: do not forget, a positive reputation is the result of the logo and customer service.
3. Identity gives the client confidence in the business (product), confidence in the quality, and a positive opinion about the services provided: a good corporate style suppresses any negative thoughts.
4. The logo contributes to the expansion of business opportunities: a corporate image as a magnet. It attracts the attention of not only clients but also interested investors and business partners.
5. The logo helps businesses stand the test of time – in a highly competitive market, consumers are always looking for alternatives. The correct logo will remain relevant and effective after 15, 25, and 60 + years.
Key Principles of Logo Branding Design
Developing a business logo is a long, creative, and rather time-consuming process that requires a maximum understanding of the matter. In this case, the resulting picture will differ depending on the direction and specialisation of your business. To properly develop a business logo, it is important to focus on several of its features.
It is important that the logo meets modern trends. However, you can make minor changes in the future without changing the concept itself. It is better to use universal design techniques and tools to maintain its relevance in the future.
The logo should be remembered at first sight. It depends on whether you recognize your company in the future. This, in fact, is the meaning of the logo, and otherwise, why create it? It is important that your logo attracts attention and causes positive emotions. The more it attracts your prospects, the higher your awareness will become. Do not forget also about the right associations – your logo should display the essence of your company.
Versatility. Your logo may be used differently for signage, product packaging, or advertising. Therefore, it should look good in different versions: like a voluminous inscription, black and white or colour, printed on paper or fabric. The simpler the logo, the easier the options for using it. Surely each of us met complex logos. Despite the external originality, they are almost impossible to read, they can also be misleading since they do not convey the essence of the business.
Making the logo original is not easy, but quite a feasible task. And you can handle it, too! However, it is very important not to play in originality, to the detriment of simplicity. Therefore, it is better not to weigh the design of the loo with numerous elaborate elements.
By
@Rumana Maner HR Manager
Rumana Maner [MBA] HR Manager
