Logos and Taglines and Choice, Oh My

It’s all about getting chosen

Make this your mantra for every marketing decision you make.  Keep repeating it, "It’s all about getting chosen.  It’s all about getting chosen. It’s all about getting chosen.  Keep saying it, write it out a hundred times, but don’t forget it.

Here’s why.

If you’re reading this post, you already understand the empowering and educational role the Internet plays in your buying decisions.  Customers don’t need to be reminded to "beware", they are more AWARE than ever.  By the time your customer physically contacts you to be "sold" they are basically sold, you can either take their money and thankfully service them, or lose the sale.  The fact that you are in conversation means that they are already sold.

That means it’s up to you to start and influence the selling process.  One subtle way of doing that is with you logo and tagline.

Chris Brown had a wonderful post this week about re-vamping your logo.  I don’t have much to add to that since she is truly the brains behind practical and profitable branding strategy.  In addition to her points on logos that I’ll post here:

Logos need to go through updating. Just like a person needs a haircut or a new look from time to time, if you don’t update your logo, your business will appear out dated.

Usually logos include stylized type and an icon to help give a clue about the industry, character of the company or a factor in its growth.

Specific colors help to strengthen the branding. If you change colors of your logo with every use, you weaken the ability for people to recognize it in an instant.

I’d like to share some of points of my own on how to create a logo and tagline that attracts your ideal customer to you.

Creating a Logo that Attracts Attention

1. Think about who your ideal customer or decision maker is – as a person; not a title or an industry or some other generic designation, but as a person.  What kind of decision maker do you work best with?  Are they analytical and detail oriented or are they more free thinking and whimsical?
2. Now think about who YOU are as an organization.  What feeling do you give your customers when they interact with you?  What is it about you that they value?  Is it your creativity and energy, or do you give them a sense of calm?
3. Get out on the web and start collecting images that your ideal customer will find appealing and that represent the feeling, strength and value that you give them.
4. What benefit do you provide your customer or client?  In what ways can you translate that benefit into a graphic icon or representation?
5. NOW you’re ready to find a designer, or to hit any of the on-line logo companies to help you come up with a logo that attracts your ideal customer to you.

Coming up With a Tagline

Unless you have tens of millions of dollars in your bank account, stay away from esoteric, vague and minimal word-multiple-meaning tag lines.  Honestly, unless you’re Nike or Apple, it just looks and sounds and comes of silly.  So, stop yourself.

Also, keep away from those schmaltzy 30-second obviously "small-business" taglines that are a witty play on words – keep those for your networking meetings.

A good tagline is clear, simple, descriptive and instantly qualified and connects to your ideal customer.  But how do you get there?  Let me tell you, it’s not easy.

1. Do a brain dump.  Use any method that works for you.  You can start with a mind map with the following bubbles: what solution you provide, how you provide that solution, and for whom.  Then just start brainstorming from there.
2. Ask some clients to simply tell you what value you bring or why they chose you or what they think of when they think of you and your business.
3. Think about words or things that you say ALL THE TIME.  This is a wonderful source for a headline because it’s something that you say naturally in conversation and doesn’t sound hokey or put on. For example, I always find myself saying the words "It’s all about getting chosen"  so that would be a good tagline.

Don’t rush through the process, plan a change and take your time.  One last point.  This process should be fun.  If you find that your ideal customer is so completely different from you – meaning that a logo that resonates with them – doesn’t connect with you, then that is a clue that you have some re-defining to do.

So have fun creating a logo and tagline that gets your customers one step closer to choosing YOU.