Building Brands with Brittany – Don’t Let your Logo hold your brand hostage

I recently got a call from a distraught entrepreneur who was starting a new business.

She told me that after a year of trying she wasn’t able to settle on a logo design that she felt gave her new business a professional look and feel. After several attempts of trying to do it herself, she decided to try a few discount online graphic design companies, yet still had no luck.

I explained to her that her problem had little to do with her logo design, and everything to do with her brand development.

Before jumping into a logo design for a new business, or a logo redesign of an established business, make sure that you do the basic brand work that will set your brand up for long-term success.

Get Curious

This stage is all about discovering what service or product you want to provide in your business, and who your ideal customers, and competition are.

  • Reflect on what you want to offer in your business, and WHY you want to offer it. What difference do you want to create in your area of the market?
  • Identify who your ideal customers are and interview them. Ask questions that reveal their pain points as it directly relates to your product/service. Listen carefully.
  • Research your competition that is both direct and indirect, local, and global.

Get Clear

After going through the step above, you should be able to write a basic positioning statement which is no longer than a paragraph that includes the following information:

  • WHO is the customer that you help?
  • What you do to help your customer with their pain or problem? and
  • HOW do you uniquely help your customer with their pain or problem?

Get Inspired 

With the help of your research from the past two steps, use Google and Pinterest to search for logo and colour samples that you are intuitively attracted to. After you feel you have a great selection of logo and colour samples, narrow your selections further by asking yourself these questions:

Is this logo or colour sample:

  • too similar to your competitors’ visual branding?
  • in alignment with how you want to make your customers feel?
  • close to your final expectations of your visual brand’s look and feel?  

After completing these steps, you can now hire a graphic designer, and share your insights and research with them to begin the logo design process.

If you do not feel completely confident with your DIY brand research and discovery work, it may be best to work with a branding strategist who can expertly guide you throughout the entire brand development process.

Working through these foundational branding steps, is a crucial part of crafting an effective logo design, and visual brand that you can feel confident about.

by Brittany Pickrem

Brittany Pickrem is a brand designer for 6 and 7-figure leaders and changemakers across the globe. Brittany provides leaders with a world-class brand strategy and style from their website to their wardrobe.