Your own small business needs quality and effective advertising no less than famous corporations. Therefore, owners of small enterprises and retail outlets consider the creation of a logo to be a very serious task. They understand that the brand name will increase recognition, add value to the company in the eyes of customers, increase the number of customers, and, consequently, profit. However, how to design a logo for a small business correctly? Let’s try to figure it out.
What is a Logo, and why is It Important for Small Business?
The logo is an image, a corporate sign of an enterprise or trademark that is associated exclusively with one brand. To create it, a symbiosis of letters, words, and pictures that carry a certain sense and easily perceptible meaning can be used.
When starting your own business in conditions of increased competition, it is important to identify your product or service. This will allow:
• to create an effective advertising campaign;
• to increase profits through the growth of potential customers, moving to the real section;
• to organize an internal marketing team.
The answer to the question “How to make a logo for a small business?” should be included in the 10 priority tasks of any chief. Creating a unique, easy to remember, and interesting trademark will allow you to stand out among your competitors.
For the logo to fully fulfill its tasks, it must be:
• simple, so that even after one glance at a picture, an associative row is built in the brain of a potential client;
• universal, which will make it easy to make changes without losing contact with the original sources;
• correspond to the business theme, which allows customers to understand what the company is doing immediately.
How Much Money Does a Small Business Ready to Spend on a Logo Creation?
Thanks to a number of recent studies, it was revealed how much small businesses are willing to pay to create a brand name. About 1117 respondents took part in the survey. They were representatives of small businesses and people who were just creating their own businesses. The following data were obtained:
• 27% are willing to pay less than $ 30;
• 25% agree to pay about $ 31-100;
• 21% – 100-500 dollars;
• 4% will not regret paying from 500 to 1000 $;
• 5% will pay over $ 1000.
Also, 18% of respondents are not ready to pay even 1 dollar, deciding to do everything on their own. Such a logo for small businesses can be drawn independently or you can use the online services.
Types of Logos
The variety is so great that it is quite difficult for an ordinary person to understand this issue. To simplify and systematize all available information, the American journalist Hilda Morones has developed a classification. So, there are 7 types of brand names:
1. Words. Such logos accurately and clearly indicate the brand. They are great for companies with a capacious, memorable and short name. For example, the Disney logo, SONY, Coca-Cola, Facebook are excellent options.
2. Abbreviations. If the names are long enough, difficult to remember and build a fast associative series, then it is better to use capital letters: BMW (Bayerische Motoren Werke), NFL (National Football League), HP (Hewlett-Packard).
3. Commemorative signs, symbols. They are more suitable for large enterprises with a long history. In a small business, they can be misunderstood by buyers. Examples are the blue singing bird (Twitter), the bitten apple (APPLE), the green Android robot. They are so popular and famous that the user understands which company’s logo is in front of him at a glance.
4. Fairy-tale characters, talismans. Rather common logos with their own “pitfalls”. The image is memorable. The main thing is to choose it in accordance with the associative series leading to your company. So, the successful logos are the cat Matroskin, Mr. Proper, Colonel Sanders, the founder of KFC.
5. Abstraction. It is a good option for companies that are in the field of business that is difficult to imagine using standard characters and pictures. This category most often includes abstract geometric shapes. For example, the most famous is the Google Chrome drive, the tri-color Pepsi circle. The silhouettes chosen should not directly indicate the field of activity of the enterprise. They are suitable for entering the international market.
6. The combination of text and graphic elements. This is the most common option that most companies choose. Often, such logos go a long way in transformation, during which they lose or acquire individual elements. For example, NIKE, whose name is connected to the legendary “tick”, or Adidas, that stands out as a striking example, where the three different-sized strips are added to the inscription.
7. Emblems. The best form is seals, emblems, tokens, inside which words, letters, abbreviations can be placed. This is a very controversial logo since its creation requires a clear drawing of all elements and a high degree of detail. But there are quite good options in this niche: Starbucks, Harley-Davidson.
You can make any logo. The main thing is that the received corporate sign has to make what customers can get in your company.
What is Important to Consider when Creating a Logo for a Small Business
It is now clear that the development of the logo is quite creative, but at the same time, a complex and responsible process. To make it easier, here are tips that will help create a logo for small businesses. They are obtained on the basis of a number of studies and marketing rules. Consider the most basic of them.
Choosing an icon
Any image that you want to make a part of your corporate sign must correspond to the field of the business. For example, for a restaurant, the images of cutlery, dishes, a chef’s hat as more suitable, and for a hairdresser: a silhouette of a person, hairstyles, professional hairdresser tools are great decisions.
Font
It is another important detail that directly affects the visual perception and emotions that the logo will evoke. It should:
• be readable;
• correspond to the size of the icon itself;
• contain a minimum number of curved lines and intricate shapes.
Color
It can be another stumbling block on the path of new businessmen. It is important to focus not on your own preferences, but on statistics. After brand research of more than 100 leading world brands, it was found that the following shades are chosen most often:
• blue – 33%;
• red – 29%
• black and white or black – 28%;
• gold or yellow – 13%
It is worth noting that all shades can be divided into two large categories: cold and warm. The first ones are associated more with energy, the second – with calmness, security. When choosing, it is important to focus on the field of your business.
Best Tools to Create a Logo
Well-known design firms specializing in the creation of logos and corporate identity of enterprises provide quite expensive services. For representatives of small businesses who are just developing their business, it is more advisable to use special services. They allow you to create your own logo without even having certain skills in working in graphic editors. The best of them are the following.
1. Logaster
This is an online generator that allows you to create a beautiful and memorable brand name in a few minutes. You enter the name of the company, consisting of at least 3 characters, and click the “Create a logo” button. The generator allows you to choose the field of the business, the desired color scheme, style, and font size. In editing mode, it is easy to correct the shade, the location of the main elements, the contours.
The last step to get your own logo is to go through a simple registration on the site and download the finished product.
2. CoolText
It is a good option if you want to create a text logo. The catalog contains about 100 fonts and ways to design a company name. The generator allows you to create a logo in a few minutes and receive it in a convenient digital format. You will have to pay 60 $ to download the printable version for the Internet one 30.
3. LogoMaker
It is a bit similar to the previous site. To get started, you need to select a category, an object from the catalog, and write text in the editor. Work does not require certain skills, but the base of possible headings is quite limited. The advantage is that you do not have to pay for the Internet version. However, you will need to pay 49 $ for the printable version.
Conclusion
To create a logo doesn’t mean to create an artistic masterpiece. There are certain rules and requirements. Follow them, and you will get a great logo that fully meets the field of the business, customers’ interests, and the one that captures their attention. The main thing is to determine the goal and priorities.
Nicola Holder 