Businesses and organizations come to me and my company, Factus Creative, asking for “a new brand.” They often want to change their logo, or an icon, or a redesigned look and feel for their existing name.
Lots of people think that brand begins and ends with a logo and they can just stick it in their email signature, plop it on their website, and, suddenly, they have a new brand. This notion, to be blunt, is ignorant to the power a brand actually holds.
Branding is so much more than a name or a logo. Brand is broad, and broad is the brand.
According to the Harvard Business Review:
Brand is your strategy
Brand is your people
Brand is your customer service
Brand is how you call your customers to action
Brand is the way you speak, both verbally and the written word, the whole array of your communication tools
Brand can be your actual building or storefront, the environment, inside and out if you have a physical business
And for me, as a consumer, brand is the passion and level of just how much an organization gives a damn. What does a brand stand for? Can a brand reach me on an emotional level? Can a brand show me that they share my values?
Like it or not, how your logo looks might be the very first step in a customer's decision-making process whether they click on the link to learn more on your website, or your competitors.
The godfather of brand, Marty Neumeier, says,
"Brand is a person's gut feeling about a product, service, or organization and when enough people arrive at the same gut feeling, only then a company can be said to have a brand."
And don't get me wrong, your brand ALSO includes your logo and visuals, too. But notice it's at the bottom of this list.
Not because it isn't important or a critical ingredient, but it's not the only thing. By far. So many things have to be established prior to a logo being created in order to represent everything before it.
Usually, the hardest part, and maybe the most unfair responsibility of a brand, is the logo.
Potential customers having no idea about your company are Googling and shopping around and comparing similar products or services. And like it or not, how your logo looks might be the very first step in a customer's decision-making process whether they click on the link to learn more on YOUR website, or your competitors.
Perception is everything.
Your product or service may be far superior in all aspects, but if your logo looks unprofessional or "cheap" you could lose them in just a matter of seconds to the competitor who merely has done a better job of making a good first impression.
Even though their offering might be mediocre.
It's my passion, with Factus Creative, to combine smart strategy with unique creative, to develop a rich, sustainable visual identity that embodies your brand.
If you're interested in finding out more, or working with me because your company gives a damn about your brand's impact in the world, let's chat.
BOOM.