New Logo? Things to think about before we get started

Friday, September 19th, 2008 | Business tips, Design, Great website tips | No Comments

Do you need to like your logo?

Yes, it’s important that you like your logo. But remember, this logo isn’t to help you fall in love with your business, it is a marketing tool to increase business from other people …so what really matters is that your potential customers respond to it positively.

If you have a children’s clothing company, it’s not always the best idea to use your own kids or your kids drawings in the marketing just because they mean something to YOU.

Let’s face it – your logo is the first impression many of your customers you see. It may be on your business card, signage, packaging, clothing or may other brand related items. If you potential customer doesn’t respond well to your logo, you may have lost them forever. For thsi reason it’s very important to know your target market well and market directly to them. Are they professionals, creative, young, old, rich, poor. Where do they eat? Shop? What music do they like? The moer you know the better we can target the identity design towards them

Logo Dimensions

Think about the dimensions of your logo. Do you want a tall thin logo? Also, what if you decide to print your logo onto pens?

How about if your logo appears next to a collection of others – i.e. as a list of sponsors. It may appear smaller than it’s neighbours and get lost in the crowd. Often your brand is given a maximum width or a square to fit into so make sure your logo will get as much exposure as possible in these circumstances. How about if you ever need to squeeze the logo into a small square such as on a poster or a favicon?

What’s the message?

What do you want your logo to “say” about your business? What kind of impression should it leave about your product or service? What kind of look do you want for your logo (ie, techie, contemporary, old-school, artsy, eco, corporate etc.)

Very often clients want their logo to tell a story. Where the business came from, what it does, who is behind it. Don’t make the mistake of trying to cram too much information into a logo. Remember it’s about creating an impression, a feeling. A logo that says “Caring, Vet service, based in Christchurch, run by 3 men who love gardening” is probably going too far!

You hope that people will see your logo and immediately know what you do. But this may be asking your logo to do too much. Perhaps just a feeling of “professional” or “caring” is enough, so keep it simple. Together we can develop a logo that can represent the values and ideas your business stands for.

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Tags: brand, Design, identity, logo

Prevent your email newsletter from being trashed

Saturday, August 23rd, 2008 | Business tips | No Comments

In preparation for sending out an email to my clients advising of

• this Blog
• the ability to purchase domain names through our website via credit card
• the start of a quarterly newsletter

… I did a bit of reading about email newsletter ettiquette and ways to ensure your emails are firstly receieved (not deleted by spam filters) and secondly, read (not considered rubbish and manually deleted). I came across this really useful list of ‘Nine great tips to keep YOUR newsletter from falling prey to spam filters and ending up in the trash.’

A few hilights are

• Avoid using the words “remove” (unsubscribe is preferred), “free”, “limited time” and “money”
• Don’t send attachments
• Don’t write all in CAPS
• Don’t send unsolicited emails

I hope this is of some help. It sure is a pain when half your recipients don’t even get the email.

Tags: email, newsletter, spam