Once you’ve started your company and you’ve decided that you are going to market it online there are a couple of major things that you must make sure to take care of before sending your Web site live: your logo, and how your company is branded.
Most people are familiar with certain logos, or ways that companies have branded themselves. We are all familiar with the Golden Arches of McDonalds, and the Marlboro Man who is the most rugged and manliest man alive, whether you smoke or not. When we see words written in blue, red, yellow and green, how we automatically think of Google.
James Chartrand explains the importance of branding the best in his article “What (bad) Cigarettes Can Teach You About (good) Branding”:
Branding is the all-encompassing mental image that people perceive of your business. It collects the experiences and associations attached to your product or service. Branding creates the recognition, expectations and reactions of consumers to set your business apart.
There are things that you must do before choosing how your company will be branded; it is not something that should be decided over a cup of coffee:
- Research your target market and find out who your ideal customer is
- Brainstorm ways to show your company in a positive light
- Choose a color scheme or layout that can relate to your company and/or type of business
Something important that you must realize is that with the power to leave comments on the Internet people will do just that. And since they don’t know you, nor do they care, they won’t always be kind but they will be honest.
Take for example recent comments left on an article on TechCruch about Sazell. Now, it seems to me that some of the people commenting do not even know what Sazell is used for, because they are too caught up with ripping apart the logo found at the top of the page.
With comments such as…
Now if I could just remember where I’ve seen that logotype before…
and
Forget the colors, 2000 called and wants it’s inner bevel back
…it’s easy to look past what the company is actually trying to do. Let it be observed that stealing a color scheme from a world wide, well known company is probably not the brightest plan.
It would be wise for this brand new company to take what they are reading and use it as constructive criticism. The company is new enough that if they change their logo now people will not get upset; they will most likely be glad. However, this is not always the case, especially with long-time logos.
Recently WalMart has decided to make a logo change. After 17 years of the bold, capitalized logo, hyphened by a star WalMart has seemed to go with a friendlier approach. People are torn on the new logo, some loving it while others hate it, and guess what, they’re commenting!
It is common for people to not be very fond of change, and this might have something to do with the negative feelings towards the new logo. WalMart is the same company, and are even trying to clean things up a bit due to negative press, so a simple logo change shouldn’t matter as much as it is.
To sum it up there are a few key things to remember: creating your branding techniques and logos are very important to the lifespan and quality of your company. You want to be unique in your creation and draw positive attention to your site. You also might want to come up with something that will stick through the long-run, to keep your customers on your side.
Would you like to learn more? You may:
- Fill out our information request form.
- Review information found on our Web site.
- Or contact me directly at 216-674-1600 x
Copyright © 2008 by IdeaStar. All rights reserved.
July 14th, 2008 at 11:09 am
[...] can read the rest of this blog post by going to the original source, here [...]
July 21st, 2008 at 7:53 am
[...] you have your business plan put together, and have come up with a logo and a way to brand your company there is one very important step that is vital to the life of your business. You must decide who [...]
July 28th, 2008 at 12:25 pm
[...] up with a logo and brand that makes your company stand out and grabs the attention of online navigators. You also want to [...]