By April Ashley
Gohstwritten by Wendy Scheuring
One year ago I wrote a blog on branding and why it is important to your business. This blog is a redux of part of that blog in order to help you understand the importance of the relationship between your vision, your mission, and your logo in branding your business.
So, let’s get started.
What is Your Company Vision? What is Your Company Mission?
Before branding your company, let’s make sure your company’s vision and mission are firmly stated. Condense what you do and what you stand for in one simple statement. That sounds hard. But it’s easier than you may think. To get started, you can establish a niche category in your industry that will not only set you apart from the rest of your competition, but it can also help you to solidify your company’s vision and your mission.
Here is one example. Let’s say you are an electrician and you want to focus on servicing single-family homes. Your underlying concern is that people may be unsafe in their homes due to faulty wiring, older homes no longer meeting code, or unlicensed people working on their electrical systems. Simply stated, your vision is to keep people safe. Now what is your mission? What is your goal? Is it to reach each and every person in your city or county? If so, is there a way to do this? One way would be to offer low-cost electrical inspections. Why is this important? Because people do not call an electrician until there is a problem in the home. Now, you may be thinking that by offering a niche service you will not be able to reach all of your potential customers. However, establishing a niche in your industry makes you different from the competition, which will actually bring your more work and more business. You will come to be known in your community for your niche service.
Here’s another example. Let’s say you are a veterinarian. You have opened up a clinic in a subtropical climate and you have noticed an increase in heartworm in the dogs that you are seeing as patients. This concerns you. Due to the warm environment most of the year, the mosquitos are out and buzzing, biting dogs and infecting them with heartworm. As a veterinarian you may want to establish yourself in the area as a preventative service provider, offering educational resources and preventative testing throughout the community. You might do speaking engagements, host a podcast, write a short ebook which you can distribute to dog owners, and/or offer testing at a minimal cost at your clinic. Your vision is protect canines from a preventable illness and your mission is to reach everyone in your area. Of course, you are going to offer your regular preventative services and perform checks on dogs with acute problems. But your care and concern for prevention will prevail about all else, setting you apart from the rest.
So Let’s Talk about Logos
So, how does all of this relate to your logo?
The first thing you want to do is make sure that your logo shows what your company does in a simple, discernable, and attractive way.
Logos are art. Logos are also part of your packaging. People buy on impulse and often make decisions based upon packaging. People may be attracted to a certain design or a certain color. Certain designs and certain colors also elicit distinct responses from potential customers and clients. For these reasons, your logo should be simple. If people cannot tell what your logo is or what your business does, they will not be attracted. The point is to not make your logo complex or colorful, which ultimately can confuse and distract the consumer.
Let’s go back to the example of the electrician whose goal is to keep residential homeowners safe by doing electrical safety checks in the home. The name of the company could be called Safe Electric and the logo could be a bright yellow lightbulb. This is simple logo which shows what the company does. The name of the company says it all. Safety first.
As for the veterinarian who wants to prevent dogs from getting heartworm, a possible name for the business could be the Pup Protector. The logo could depict a brown, happy pup with one eye closed and a smile with a tongue hanging out. Happy Dog. Happy Dog Owner.
One more thing about logos. Not everyone can make a logo. It takes an artistic eye, an understanding of psychology, a knack for advertising, and a graphic artist’s touch to create a simple logo that says it all. There is so much more that goes into the creation of a logo that there is too much to write. Our graphic artists would be happy to consult with you about your vision, your mission, and your logo.