More than a logo

Last week I had a brief chat with Joanne Dolezal of Dolezal Consulting about ‘More than a logo’, which is a programme she is running with Horizons Life Coaching to help business owners develop a strong corporate identity for their company. Except it’s not. It’s more important than that. It’s about helping business owners truly understand their company, get into the nitty gritty of it, develop an action plan and know how to talk about it BEFORE they go ahead and commission their corporate identity.

I’ve written a very short post before about the kind of things I like to know about a business before I go on to create a logo, things like what the vision and values of the company are, what they actually do, what the objectives of the work will be. I’ve certainly felt that although my list of questions is good, and I’ve been told from various sources that they are and that clients find it helpful to be asked these things – the sheet I use could do with a bit of a re-vamp, more targeted questions, to help me really get my head around the business and ensure that I produce something that really works for them. Something I’ll be working on.

I’ve also been told that not everyone who produces design work bothers to ask these sort of questions. Which I don’t get. How can you design something effectively without understanding as much as possible where their business is going and what it’s about? Surely knowing the aims of the business, the objectives of the work and who the audience are, are crucial to designing anything so that it works for the client and does what it’s supposed to do?

How can a business expect to go to a designer and say “create me a logo!” if they don’t provide the designer with enough information? Of course I could design a logo based purely on what the business is, but in order to design one which really works for them, which shows their values and indicates what sort of company they are, I’d need to have a bit more to go on.

Of course, you might think that you understand and know your company, but just think about your business values. This seems to be the hardest thing for anyone to answer from my list! Some people just know, and their answer is wonderful, however, most people umm and aarr for a bit before coming out with the same answer as everyone else. “Quality.” It can be harder than it looks!

More than a logo covers the values, vision, goals, messages, tone of voice, branding and logo for each company that takes part, helping them to understand the ins and outs of their company and each of the six aspects identified so that ultimately, if they need to, they are able to give a thorough and complete brief to a designer which WILL be more than a logo, it will be, in the words of the programme, “the heart and soul” of their company.

What do you leave Santa?

This is my article in NEFollowers Online. Have you read the magazine yet? There’s some really interesting articles in this months issue, preparation for Christmas – cake baking, present buying, panto going, turkey roasting – and a whole load of articles about photographers, cycling, party bags, authors and how to live frugally. It’s a very interesting read.

My article is on page. 24 – it’s about what you leave for people to remember who you are. You must have business cards, do you have leaflets or brochures? Do you give out pens with your contact details on, or sticky fix it notes? It’s important to leave people with something memorable so that they don’t forget you. What do you leave?

Is your business a Flamingo or a Goose?

Last Thursday my daughter turned two. We took her to the Washington Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust to see the birds, because she loves birds. I thought she’d love the Flamingos in particular because they are pink (she likes pink), but they were really boring. They just stood about looking prawn-coloured and hauty, not living up to our expectations. They weren’t coming to see us or to sing happy birthday to our little girl, and actually she would have had a job seeing them in the first place as the grass bank sloped upwards. The Hawaiian Geese were much more interesting, eating out of our hands and following us about, very friendly with really interesting feathers. They were worth going for alone.

Is your business a Flamingo or a Goose?
Does your business look interesting but fail to deliver? Or is your business attractive (but not in a garish way), friendly and worth talking about later? Is your business a disappointment or a breath of fresh air? Do people recommend you or recommend against you? (OK, the Flamingos weren’t THAT bad!) My job is to ensure that a business looks fantastic, to create materials which effectively communicate the message and values of the business whilst appealing to the target audience. I can’t make the business fantastic, that’s out of my hands*.

If you have beautiful communication materials, what are you doing to make sure that your business is just as fantastic as they are?

*I’ve not felt that a client wasn’t up to scratch yet.

5 Ways your business image is like a wedding

On Friday I was at the wonderful wedding of my two friends Natalie and Gregg.  It was an absolutely fantastic day, beautiful weather, beautiful Bride (Gregg looked great too) beautiful venue, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful… I could go on, but that’s not the point of this post.

A wedding takes a lot of time and effort to come together. There’s so much to plan – where the ceremony will take place, what the menu will be, which cars to arrive in, what kind of flowers to get, buying the dress, what drinks to order, which band/DJ/ Ceilidh band to hire, which cufflinks to wear, writing the speeches, arranging the seating plan, buying the favours. There is SO MUCH to do.

Your business image shares a few similarities to a wedding, and requires an awful lot of consideration to get right too:

Invitations

These need to be sent out months in advance so that people can save the date – possibly book it off work, buy appropriate clothes and track down the perfect present.

For your business – how are you going to tell people about it?  Do you need a leaflet to pop through peoples doors or to place in a tourist information centre? Do you need a social media campaign? Where are your customers and how are you going to reach them? Should you be sending out invitations yourself to a launch event or do you need to advertise? There are a lot of options for telling people that your business exists, you’ve got to work out which ones are the best for your business, maybe test a few of them and ensure that you let your target audience know about your business in the most effective way.

Venue

The venue at a wedding is a huge decision. Are you getting married in a church, a registry office or a hotel? Where will the wedding breakfast and the reception take place? Will there be somewhere nice to take photos and how are you going to decorate it? It can take a lot of research to find the perfect venue.

Is your business a real live open-the-door-and-say-hello business, or an online business? Maybe It’s both. This is your venue. If people come to see you then they need to have a great impression when they arrive. It’s no good if they turn up to a shop that is in need of a good clean, where they can’t find what they want or where the staff are rude. Or if they visit your website and can’t find out how to contact you or don’t understand what you do. You need to use your venue to project the right image and to make it easy for your customers.

Photography

Do not stint on the photography. This is what you will have left after the wedding, this will hang on your living room wall forever, this is what you’ll bring out and look at on your anniversary every year to remember your big day. It will stare you in the face whenever you visit your parents or grandparents – so make sure you pick the perfect photographer for the job or you’ll regret it for the rest of your life.

Are you having a leaflet, brochure or website designed for your business? Photography is so important. If you get it wrong, it just doesn’t communicate about your business correctly. I have already written a blog post about this (you can read it here) so I won’t go into it again here, but if you want to look the business, then you need to invest in photography that will make sure that your product or service is shown in the best possible way. It’s worth it.

Speeches

Being a woman, I was very pleased that I didn’t have to make a speech when I got married! Wedding speeches must be dreadful things to have to prepare. Once you’ve done all the expected bits and pieces – thank yous and compliments – how do you make your speech stand out and be interesting?

In your business it’s important to get the words right. I would recommend asking a copywriter who can say what needs to be said succinctly and ensure that your business sounds fantastic. It’s a lot harder to do than you might think!

Decoration

There are a lot of flowers at a wedding. Bouquets, button holes, table decorations, other decorations – we had flowers on mantelpieces at our wedding and ivy down the staircase, my friends had a green leafy arch around the entrance to the reception (with fairy lights in it) – other decorations might be table centerpieces – candles, mirrors, favours, bubbles, menus, table numbers, place cards, the table plan. Anything that contributes to the atmosphere and makes it feel even more special.

Your business doesn’t just need a logo. A logo and a brand are two very different things. Your logo is the main element. It’s the visual identifier for your business, it helps your customers to recognise you and differentiate your business from your competitors, but it works most effectively when it becomes part of a brand – when your business values and vision are communicated successfully and consistently through every touch point of your business, through colour schemes, typography, images used, tone of voice – in every printed or online material, in every conversation or email. That’s just scratching the surface.

Natalie and Greggs wedding was organised so carefully and with so much passion and commitment that the day went completely perfectly, not one thing went wrong. It was a day to remember. If you plan your business image in the same way with as much care and consideration, then you will find that your business will be remembered.