No One Cares About Your New Logo

I often see posts in the various Facebook business groups asking for feedback on shiny new logo designs, or “Help me choose which logo’s best” polls

I’m always tempted to reply “No One Cares”

As I’m too nice to say that on a public forum I always tell them that Number 3’s best…

If you’re a small business, unless you’ve thrown $$$ Gazillions $$$ at brand awareness you’ll be bloody lucky if your most loyal client can even remember what your logo looks like!

And that’s absolutely fine

Clients don’t give small businesses work because they like your logo

They give you work because they think you understand them and can help them and they like you and they trust you

Before I have an angry mob of graphic designers waving impeccably typeset Helvetica placards outside my house, I’m not saying you don’t need a nice logo

What I am saying is that for a small business it’s not really the first thing you should be worried about. Or even the 17th.

That last bit didn’t help calm down the designers, did it?

I know that a good designer will tell you that your logo should be the physical embodiment of your brand values and if done right can immediately communicate a whole host of subtle visual messages to your prospective clients

They’re right. It could do that…

I’ve worked with a lot of very good designers over the years who have produced very powerful logos that have encapsulated everything that’s great about their clients and really helped to transform their businesses

But if you’ve spent $5 on it from fiverr.com, I can guarantee it certainly won’t do all that

So rather than fussing or fretting about your logo, I’d urge small business owners to spend their time getting under the skin of their current clients or ideal prospects and working out exactly the problems they solve and how they’re uniquely placed to help them

That’s taking it far beyond the dull and boring list of bullet points “stuff that you do” on your website, and getting down to the nitty-gritty real reasons people buy from you and the real benefits they get

It’s not always easy to get this understanding…but it’s well worth it once you do

And a good graphic designer would want to know all this anyway

But instead of then spending time or money on ‘rebranding’ use that insight to create something that you can send to you prospects or current clients

That could be an email, a letter, an ad, whatever…as long as it’s something that demonstrates your understanding and your ability to help them with a particular challenge they’re facing

Then make them an offer

Your clients & prospects will thank you for this, and it might just result in a sale!

And if it results in a few sales, you could even invest some of your proceeds into getting a new logo, brochure or stationery professionally designed…

I think I might have got the designers back on side with that last bit…

Am I being a little harsh here?

I’ve nothing against good design I’m just more concerned about small business owners getting maximum return from their valuable time and limited resources – and in my humble opinion, if you’re an SME, wasting time and money on a new logo is going to make absolutely no difference to your business whatsoever

I’m interested in your thoughts, so please leave a comment below…