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How to Use a Logo
by Rob Frankel
If you bounce around the web as much as I do - and even if you don't -
you're going to run into one of the most basic branding issues out there.
It's that old favorite of how and when to use a logo.
To begin with, let's clear the decks with the notion that a logo and a
brand are not the same thing. A brand defines who you are, what you do,,
how you do it and why anyone would be a dope not to choose you. A brand
runs the breadth and depth of your operation. It flavors everything you
do, from the quality of your materials to the way you answer the phones.
Some people think that they can just slap a logo on to anything and
consider it branded. And don't think those are just little startups.
Huge mega-monolithic multiinationals do exactly the same thing.
But that's not
branding. That's called bad marketing and it's another reason why so
many bad brands fail.
That's not to say, howver, that licensing someone else's logo and slapping
it on your product doesn't happen. In fact, if you own a car, washing
machine or a VCR, chances are it was built by one of three or four of the
world's largest manufacturers, who paste on the logo of whomever pays
them
to do so. Looked under the hood of your Chevy or Ford lately? Half of
those parts are probably Japanese. But it's a testament to the power of
the Detroit brands that they're still able to rivet their logos to the
hood and sell them as Escorts, Omnis and Chevrolets.
But let's get back to you an your logo. How do you effectively use your
identity so that it really motivates your targets? Well, here are a
couple of pointers:
- 1. Make sure you have a well-defined, strategically sound identity.
- 2. Make sure your logo effectively communicates all those attributes.
- 3. Make sure that your logo is protectable. In my case, for example, I
use the "man in the bubble" graphic, which unless anyone else would be
strange enough to want to look like me, is eminently protectable.
- 4. Once you have the previous three, slap that sucker down on
as much real
estate as you can tastefully manage. You'll see my bouncing head in the
bubble all over the web, and certainly on every page of my site. It's on
my business cards, floppy disk labels and practially everything else that
can get sprayed with four color ink.
There's a reason for all this, you know, and this is it: when you
properly
brand your logo, you're creating real value. The kind of value that
customers recognize - later on down the line - businesses approach and
pay you for. If you're in a service business, that value might be a
high-paying endorsement deal. If you're in a product business, that
value
could avail itself as a manufacturer selling a ton more products because
your logo is sitting on their product.
And all this time you thought it was just to look pretty.
"Branding is not about getting your prospect to choose you over your
competition; it's about getting your prospect to see you as the only
solution." (sm) Rob Frankel
Copyright 1998 by Rob Frankel. Rob Frankel
is a business opinion columnist, speaker, web branding/e-commerce consultant
and president of http://www.robfrankel.com , home of Big Time Branding
(SM). He is also co-host of the nationally-syndicated radio show.
You can reach Rob directly at mailto:rob@robfrankel.com - see/hear samples
of Killer Creative, and subscribe to his FrankelBiz newsletter -- discussion
at http://www.robfrankel.com/frankelbiz/form.html
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Wanda Loskot - Success Connection
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Phone (941) 342-4203 - Fax (240) 358-7445
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All materials Copyright 1998, 1999, 2000 Wanda Loskot
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All Rights Reserved. Do not reprint, or distribute without
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