Nice logo, a shame about the company

I, like you have been duped before. As a visual person (I like pretty things) I have bought on looks most of my life. I like a wine for it’s label, I judge a book by it’s cover, no blind taste testing for me.

So I’ve bought from many businesses based on how a company looks. When choosing a printer, I don’t know how good they’ll be, how fast they’ll be, how easy they will be to work with until I give them a try. The ones I choose, to ‘give a go’, are the ones that look good to me. Sure, they all have portfolios of great work, but of course I never get to see the jobs that didn’t make the portfolio, so it really does leave me with one measuring tool. How they look and how I feel about how they look.

Like building a relationship with a good rep (who will eventually leave me), how I feel about a business or product will immediately result in a light going off in my head. Green, or red. This process goes on continually, every waking moment. I’m continually making a decision, or assumption, about how I feel about things, ultimately resulting in either a purchase, or a pass over. So if the rep is going to leave me, what is left for me to build a relationship with? You guessed it – their brand.

Let’s take this back a step. I mentioned building a relationship with a representative, or rep. Not such a quantum leap really. A rep is, after all, a human with feeling, personality, and selling skills. So how can this be the same with a brand? How can a little squiggle on a page have personality and selling skills? The truth is, it doesn’t. This ‘logo’ tells you an instant story about the company it represents, about it’s values, professionalism, and even what it does! Now, if the rep, or sales person, or floor sweeper reflects this same message, then you’re on the way to a successful brand. This is what they should be doing, as they should also have a relationship with the brand they are representing.

Before this gets too kinky, I’ll bring this back to my printer analogy. This is how the buying process works:

• First I identify that I need a print job done (the problem)
• I seek out existing and new printers. I make assumptions based on first if they can do the job, then if I think they will do a job up to my standards (printing and service – the solution)
• I talk to someone at the business. I make more assumptions based on how they deal with me
• I like that what I expected, as projected by their ‘image’, and how they deal with me, match up
• I get the job printed.
• At the end of the process, if the service, and product still fit with my expectations, they stay on the list for another job next time.

Of course, this can go totally the opposite way. In fact, at any one of the points above, if something doesn’t fit with my pre-conceived expectations, based on their logo then the are at risk of losing a customer.

Now here’s a funny thing. If their ‘image’ didn’t appeal to me, or didn’t look like it could solve my problem (in this case quality printing with good service) right from the outset, they don’t have much of a chance to even get to the next points of contact. So to turn it around, if they didn’t want me, as in I’m not a potential ideal customer, then they can also save their time by using their logo effectively to make me disqualify myself.

So in conclusion, if your company has a fantastic looking logo, but does not give the right message about your company, or you don’t keep up the expectations presented by your logo, then you business, and your brand, will not survive the test of time. Unless of course, your personal brand delivers a great message and you manage to land a sugar daddy/momma to finance you. But that is a whole other blog.