How to Use a Logo to Set Your Business Apart

If you’re looking for a way to set your business apart from the crowd, a cleverly designed logo can be an especially powerful marketing tool. Some of the best-known brands around, from McDonald’s to Mac computers to the American Red Cross, are as well-known for their logos as they are for their brand names.

If you have any doubt about the power of a logo (and the way you package your business in general), look no further than the debacle that ensued when PepsiCo’s popular Tropicana orange juice brand got a dramatic overhaul of its logo and packaging only to revert to its old, tried-and-true look after the juice-buying public revolted and sales plummeted.

The corporate logo is so powerful that it transcends language and culture. Coca-Cola, Kentucky Fried Chicken, and MTV are as recognizable in Istanbul as in Indianapolis.

Obviously, establishing a logo is not a trivial thing; it serves to give your customers instant identification with your brand, and (as in the case of Tropicana) it is not an overstatement to say that it can literally make or break your business.

Of course, the art of the logo is one of the most important areas of corporate branding and graphic design; many years, millions of dollars, and reams of market research are devoted by corporate America to the creation of the perfect logo. But you needn’t spend millions to come up with a pleasing, powerful graphic flourish that defines your business.

The cheapest way to create a strong logo is to adapt an existing graphic that you already own or to select one from a clip art catalog online. You can also create your own custom logo by using a professional design tool such as Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator, a challenge to those without artistic gifts but not impossible if you or someone in your company has a bit of computer knowledge and design skill. You could also work with an outside graphic designer to create a custom logo for your business. This is a more expensive proposition but can be the best way to get a memorable logo that will distinguish your business.

Beyond that, scores of online logo-design services (many of them carrying the stamp of approval of the Better Business Bureau) have popped up in recent years, among them, LogoMojo, Infinity Logo Design, and Logo Jeez. Typically, these services offer a very quick turnaround at a very low cost.

For example, Infinity (which bills itself as the “Wizard of Logo Design”) offers a variety of packages, from the creation of four logo concepts by two designers for your approval, with unlimited revisions, for the bargain price of $195, to 10 possible logos to choose from for $695. (We’re certain Coca-Cola paid more for its logo.) Infinity, which specializes in industries including real estate, technology, financial services, and construction, offers a one- to three-day turnaround.

Your logo can be the single most important way of identifying your business, on signage, in advertising, on business cards and stationery, and in Yellow Pages listings. And it can be a useful way to set it apart from the competition. There are important considerations, including issues of copyright (we are fairly confident that if you own a restaurant, you may not use a gold-colored arch as your logo, unless you want to get a swift, not-very-supportive reaction from McDonald’s). Likewise, you do not want to choose as your corporate identity a graphic that is too similar to a competing business. The idea here is to differentiate your enterprise. If you have a construction company and your biggest rival uses your city’s skyline in all its ads, on the side of its trucks, and on its letterhead, you are better off steering clear of that motif.

Color is also an important factor to consider. Much research has been done over the years to identify the feelings that overcome us when we see certain colors (red is famously a popular color for grabbing attention, which would explain the choice of color for the stop sign). Also, certain colors have, all on their own, come to be quite representative of a particular mindset: the color green for things associated with the environment or vegetation or money, for example.

So whether you do it yourself or engage a graphic artist to create your company logo, keep in mind you are communicating a lot of information in that very small space. Think about what it is you want to say as you go through the design process.