Why a logo is the beginning, but your story is everything

I’ve been presenting a bit lately about what we’re up to at Yellow and our mission to help every business thrive.

 One of the common mistakes businesses make when they’re starting out is spending too much time and effort on a logo and not enough time developing their story. The ‘why’ after all, is the one thing that no other competitor has. Your story is your most important asset. The creative execution is just the start of the visual brand that you convey to your customers. Here’ some of my top tips.

1. Be true to who you are

At Yellow, we’ve spent a lot of time – over 60 years helping passionate Kiwi business owners to be found. Our ‘why’ remains the same today. Our mission is to help every business thrive, only our story has evolved. We can now help Kiwi businesses be found in more ways than we used to. Thanks to the advancements in digital advertising, we’ve been able to create new and exciting pathways for Kiwi businesses to connect and be found by their customers. Our story and our ‘why’ haven’t changed even though our logo has, but the essence of Yellow endures. Get your story right and your visual brand identity will always mean something. It will always convey who you are and what you stand for in your customers eyes because they understand your why. 

2. Know your strengths

At Yellow we are well known in an older demographic for the Yellow Pages. But the critical piece about our heritage is around what our customers value from the past. We created a space for SMEs to talk about their business. Our research tells us that the abundance of marketing channels is daunting and confusing to most business owners, who are already wearing too many hats. Our brand identity and trust was built beautifully from the past but now we have shown that we can transition the SME needs and provide them a safe passage to the digital space. What better advisor than a business that was traditional and print based, that has been successfully able to navigate and transition itself to digital business.

3. Get some good friends 

Yellow is one of Google’s largest NZ premier partners. We have a team of hotshots who are really good at Search Marketing and Google awarded us for our abilities there. It’s just one example of partnering up with the right team to get the best result. Use these partnerships and endorsements to add value to your brand.

Something we’ve also embraced since our rebrand is bringing our customers to the forefront. Testimonials from real customers who love you, speaks volumes. These people are also your friends and will do a far more convincing (and informed) job of promoting what you do and why you can be trusted than anyone.

 4. Don’t assume you know what the customer wants and needs

Don’t forget to keep asking questions, keep learning and most importantly listen to what your customers are telling you.

The general themes we get back from our customers is that the digital world is an unknown and it’s hard to know where and when to spend their money. They get sold a website but don’t know how to optimise or promote or even tell their story. They often get ripped off. So for us at Yellow, our brand identity has to build on our trust, and focus on solutions that help our customers navigate this digital world. We ask questions “hey how do you get online? How do you get more customers? How do you tell your story? Then you put marketing solutions that suit their need. 

If print is the best solution for results then it should be considered. It is not always an “or”. Print is dead so go digital. For us it could well be print “and”. The Yellow pages in NZ still get 9.5 million look ups a month with 78% of those going through to an enquiry and 68% completing a purchase. Sounds like a pretty strong argument for “and” to me! 

 5. Your story begins from the inside out

Culture. Jeff Bezos says your brand is what people say about you when you are out of the room. People get excited by a culture of high performance, excellence and passion to make a difference. Culture is one of the best marketing tools in your arsenal. Once someone has heard your story from you or your staff, you’ve created a connection and that is something that a solitary logo can never do.

 I'm a mission guy at heart, as my career path shows. If we get the mission right in the Yellow space, we are helping businesses to thrive in their communities, employ more people, spend more money - making Yellow's visual brand identity synonymous with business success. What could be better?