Your Logo Is The Face of Your Business
What is the purpose of your logo?
Let’s think about it for a moment. What would you say the purpose is?
When I have asked business people, owners and even customers this question here is the general ideas that they try to relate.
Do a little research and ask some people….
Some people say that a logo is really just the name of your company. A mark that lets people know who you are. Or, that it’s a representative of the ideas and values your company stands for. Some might even say that a logo is a symbol that brands your company into the minds of your marketplace.
That it let’s the marketplace know if you are professional and can be trusted.
The answers vary, but the majority of business people really don’t have a solid idea about the objectives and serious nature of the effect of logos in the marketplace.
Yet, it’s the very first thing that most every business executive attempts to create right after they come up with the business name.
After all, we have to put something on those new business cards. (read sarcasm)
The logo is the face of your business.
And if we think of the logo in that way, then ask yourself this question, while thinking about a person’s face, “What can we surmise by looking at this person?”
What determinations and assumptions are instantly and instinctively being concluded?
There’s a whole laundry list of attributes that the mind starts checking off. Is this person trustworthy, nice, kind, safe, etc…
Really what the mind is checking for is three main things:
• Is there anything familiar about this person?
• Is there any kind of disconnect with this person?
• Could this person be any kind of threat, or could this person be dangerous?
It’s what the mind does 24 hrs a day, 365 days a year, automatically. This three-pronged psychological program is always on and never turns off.
This is the minds job and it will never fail you. It is always on the lookout for these three situations.
So once again ask yourself, “What can we surmise by looking at this persons face?”
Pay attention the next time you look at anyone (someone new – first time seeing them) and notice what you notice, or what conclusions your mind draws before you even realize it.
This is important to understand for two reasons:
One – because it is the minds process for reaching decisions about what is good and bad. The same process for people is the same process for everything we come in contact with, including logos.
Two – Because this is what determines the actions that we take next.
For example:
If the mind concludes that this person is familiar then we would probably have some semblance of trust and most likely have some interaction with them. Maybe have a conversation or at the least acknowledge them and say “hi.”
If the mind concluded that there was some kind of a disconnect, or something just wasn’t quite right or something is just out of place; then we would probably have doubts about interacting with this individual and most likely try to avoid any interaction with them. We may be polite if there was contact, but we would be guarded, reserved and looking for a way to escape.
We have all had situations where we have met or been around people like this. Most definitely we would feel suspect about anything this type of person says.
If the mind concluded that this person was definitely threatening or dangerous then we obviously would avoid interaction with this person at all costs.
Remember that these conclusions and assumptions are being made instantly by the limbic system (see my book Only The Brands Will Survive) before any cognitive thought takes place.
Understanding this process of your mind, it’s instant reflex reactions and your subsequent action is critical to understanding the potential impact (good or bad) of your logo in the marketplace.
Your logo is the face of your business.
Your business has so many sides, so many facets. You have different departments, functions, policies, products, services, number of locations, staff members, buildings, vehicles, etc.
There’s operations, customer service, field and tech support, sales, marketing and advertising. Just to name a few.
Not to mention that there are so many competitors and so many different industries and so many different decisions that a consumer has to make every single day.
Just like a person has a lot of different sides to them, they also have different attributes, traits, talents, skills, jobs, relationships, personal rule, etc.
They can wear different clothes, be in different places, and in different moods.
It’s their face that we all look to tell us the most about them. Like you have heard before, “The eyes never lie.” “The eyes are the window to the soul.”
In other words if we look at someone’s face we can truly cut away the fluff and stuff and see who they truly are. We can peer into their soul, to see them.
This is really the same thing that customer are subconsciously doing to your business. They are trying to peer into your soul. They are trying to see if you can be trusted, if you are trustworthy. Are you in essence Credible (see my book Only The Brands Will Survive).
Their mind is automatically sizing up your company. Are you Familiar, Disconnected, Threatening or even Dangerous? Remember the three things?
And the logo is essentially the face of your business.
Your logo IS the single simplest representation of your business. It reflects who you really are as a company. It can communicate to your marketplace instantly that you are familiar and trustworthy, or that they should be wary or hesitant, or that they should avoid you at all costs.
This is the significant impact that your logo has on the marketplace. I don’t really think that business people remotely give enough reverence and deference to the power of their logos.
This is why most all logos are terrible and terribly ineffective. Well, that’s not totally true. They are effective, just not effective for you.
Poorly thought out logos (most likely like the one you have) do nothing to help you but actually repel customers and stop them from running to your doorstep and turn them into regulars for your rivals.
