Effective Logo Design that Reaches Your Target Audience

Filed Under Design, Successful Blog | 2 Comments

Guest Post
by Christopher Wallace

The Best Logo for the Best Customers

In today’s fast-paced, competitive environment, getting your business noticed is not only a top priority but also a critical one. The marketplace is getting more crowded all the time and every business is in competition for the most precious commodity out there—customer attention. And when you think about it, what better way can there be to get that attention than an effective logo?

Next time you see the Golden Arches or the Playboy Bunny, notice how these images instantly convey messages about their brands that a thousand well-written words could never come close to matching. What about your favorite sports team? Try watching a game without seeing the team logo. You can’t. Instead, count how many times you see that logo displayed—on the players’ uniforms, in the stadium, on the programs—just about everywhere. Are logos important? You bet they are!

So what makes an effective logo? People have their opinions. Some favor simplicity, while others insist that pizzazz is king. Some think letters, numbers, and symbols are all you should see. Others favor pictures and drawings. Some insist on including the business name, while others prefer to let the audience figure things out for themselves. Which of these is the right approach?

Well, the plain fact is that there is no one-size-fits-all answer. It all depends on your business and the demographic you are targeting. A dynamic, eye-catching, attention-grabbing, and memorable logo can do wonders for your business. But it can also be useless if it doesn’t attract the customers you are trying to reach. Here are some common things to remember when trying to find the right logo for your business:

1. Make it adaptable. Think about all the places your logo will need to be displayed—and then make sure the logo is designed in a way that makes it stand out in every setting. A few things you should consider: Does the logo still look good when you shrink it down? Will it retain its appeal when the colors are removed and it appears in greyscale or black and white? Can it stand out against the backgrounds of the different places where it will be showcased?
2. Make it original. You may have the best-looking logo on the planet. But if somebody else thought of it first, then it’s not really yours at all. Before you go with it, do some research! Is there already a logo out there that looks a lot like yours? If so, you run two risks: (1) the possibility of a lawsuit; and (2) the likelihood of confusion between your brand and the other one. Before settling on something, do some checking online. One good resource to use is Tineye. Another is Google images.
3. Make it timeless. Avoid saddling your logo with trendy images that will soon be out of date. An ideal logo should be able to withstand the test of time. If you have to change your logo every couple of years, then your brand will never have a chance to cement itself in people’s minds. Ask yourself this: how many logos do you see today that include images of bell bottom pants or cassette tapes? Remember that today’s trendy craze is usually tomorrow’s old news.
4. Make it relevant. You know what your business does. But that doesn’t mean that others know. Your logo needs to communicate your product or service. You want it to become your calling card for brand recognition and loyalty. If customers look at your logo and scratch their heads because they can’t figure out what you sell or what you do, you will very quickly be forgotten. Make sure there is a recognizable tie-in relating your logo to your business.
5. Make it meaningful to the right people. The important thing here is to completely understand your target audience. This means understanding not only your target demographic (i.e., gender, age group, household income range, marital status, etc.) but also what makes them tick. You want to understand how your target audience approaches life, what traits they exhibit, and what their attitudes are. Are they risk-takers? Do they like to spend money? Are they tech-savvy? Only after you know answers to questions like these will you be able to design a logo that reflects both their profile and their feelings.

In today’s business climate, a sharp and distinctive logo is a must. It will make your business stand out but it can also do a lot more. It can inspire trust, create brand loyalty, and generate instant recognition of your business. But it will only do these things if it is designed with a lot of care and forethought. That logo may look like just a little piece of art but in reality it can make a huge difference to your bottom line.

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Christopher Wallace, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Amsterdam Printing, has more than 20 years experience in sales and marketing. At Amsterdam, a leading provider of personalized pens , promotional pens , and other personalized items such as imprinted apparel and customized calendars, Christopher is focused on providing quality marketing materials to small, mid-size, and large businesses.

Thank you, Christoper! Your list is thought provoking! Great timing for this.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

Reach Out and Touch Someone with Your Company’s Blog

Filed Under Content, Design, Strategy, Successful Blog | 5 Comments

In the small business blogging world, there are good blogs and there are not so good blogs. That being said, how would you rate your blog?

As a small business, what is your goal behind having a blog in the first place? Do you use it as an opportunity to promote your company’s products and services? Is it more of a forum for you to get things off your chest or talk to other business owners? Or is it just something you felt you had to have given your competitors have one?

Like many small businesses that sport blogs, the initiative to grow the blog is often there, but the time doesn’t seem to be. What ends up happening is the blog takes a back seat to other more important matters, the content becomes stale, and next thing you know you have a blog whose hits become less and less.

 

Growth is Possible

If your company’s blog is collecting dust on the Internet, there are means by which to grow it and enhance your company’s online profile.

Among the initiatives to employ are:

• Who is my audience? – If you haven’t already answered this key question, you’d better. You can spin your wheels on your blog if you don’t know the answer to this question. In order to make your company blog stand out, you need a niche, something that sets you apart from the competition;
• Determine the time factor – It is important as a business owner with a company blog to determine how much time and effort will go into it. If you have a marketing person/team in place, the blog typically falls to them. If not, and you are the one primarily responsible for the blog, set time limits each week as to how much time will go into the blog;
• Good copy is imperative – Whether you are writing your company’s blog or a staff member is it is imperative that it offers good copy. Your content needs to be interesting, useful and timely. Make sure that the blog provides both current and potential customers with information that peaks their interest, is important to their lives and is up to date. Also, keep the blog postings relatively short, given that the time demands on readers are greater than ever;
• Just as important as good copy is, your blog needs a clean look. How many blogs have you visited where the design is cluttered, hard to follow and looks like a kindergartner laid it out? If you’re not a design guru, find someone who is so that the blog looks and acts professional;
• Reach out to others – Another key is linking to other blogs and commenting on other’s posts. When you scratch someone’s back, they will hopefully do the same in return;
• Respond to comments – In the event you are getting comments on your blog, by all means respond to them. This shows the reader that you are engaged in the conversation brought by others, along with getting you noticed more throughout the blogging community;
• Know your metrics – If you’re writing a daily or weekly blog but not checking the statistics, what’s the point? Company bloggers want to know how many people are clicking on the blog, what demographics do they represent, when are they clicking on the blog etc. Find the right analysis program to track your numbers and see what your traffic reports look like.

 

While these are just a few of the areas you should zero in on, remember, YOU control the look and sound of your company’s blog.

Don’t expect the company blog to itself bring in a ton of revenue, but look at it more as a component of your overall strategy to reach out and touch someone, in this case, customers.

Photo credit: thefosburyflop.com

Dave Thomas is an expert writer based in San Diego, California.  He writes extensively for an online resource that provides expert advice on purchasing and outsourcing decisions for small business owners and entrepreneurs at Resource Nation.

Blue ‘Vette, Pink Flamingos, and Customer Relationships

Filed Under Comments, Design, Inside-Out Thinking, Marketing, Motivation/Inspiration, Productivity, Successful Blog, Survival Kit, Tips, Writing | 2 Comments

How a Car Made a Conversation

I had the lovely experience of spending two hours with @connieburke in a Chevy Corvette Grand Sport while we were at SxSW. It wasn’t because I’m anything special. Chevy had two ‘vettes, two Camaros, and the Chevy Volt ready for Ride and Drives so that folks could have the experience.

On Sunday when my SOBCon partner, Terry Starbucker walked by the cars, we stopped to say hello and talk to Connie about how ride and drive was going.

All I did was ask.

“Hey, Connie, you know I used to live in Austin. We could take one of these ‘vettes to go see the house we built. I could show you hill country and why folks really love it out by the lake.”

All Connie did was ask.

“I’ll put in for a car on Tuesday. Let’s see if we could make that happen.”

As it turned out, Tuesday it was raining … our GOOD luck because it meant we got the Blue Grand Sport for a couple of hours.

Connie and I hit the road at around 11:30 a.m. As we started, she was driving. Google maps wasn’t much help getting us to where I wanted to go. We ended up having a conversation with Onstar.

Seemed kind of weird having OnStar in ‘vette, just sayin’ … Good weird though because it got us to the “pink flamingos” at Pots and Plants the Nursery at 360 and Bee Caves Road in Austin.

The flamingos enticed us to pull in and park.

But I think Connie was most partial to the old Chevy truck.
Or maybe she was just taking pix for my dossier.

I took the wheel as we left. Going up the on ramp to 360, I slowed for a car to pass. Connie quietly said, “Ya know, you have the acceleration.”

Oh yeah! I was driving the ‘vette.

While we took 360 out to 2222 old route then to 620, I told stories of ’69 ‘vettes — one that my best friend, Nancy, raced in gymkhanas and another that my husband raced in the Grand Nationals.

When we reach the house I once lived in I looked over the fence to see the red oak I planted in the clay caliche soil in the dry Austin heat.

On the way to Austin’s famous Oasis restaurant on the lake, we told stories about how our kids grew up. We talked business and possibilities.

At lunch we did about 10 minutes trading our favorite Stephen Wright jokes. Who knew that about either of us?

And at the end of lunch, I bought t-shirts for my son and my husband who’ll remember many meals we shared there.

That’s how a car connected Connie to my best friend, my husband, my son, a house we built — all parts of my history — and a hillside full of pink flamingos.

I became a person during that conversation. So did she when she told me some of the same things.

You can bet that I’ll be showing up if she calls. Proof to seal the deal is that I’m not sharing the conversation on the way back into Austin down 6th Street.

It’s not so outlandish that blue ‘vette and some pink flamingos would lead to good business … The car connected us in a mutual experience. Our trip wasn’t about the car it was about the people in it. The car started a conversation that led to a relationship. I can’t imagine how much longer it would have taken to cover the same ground without it.

This wasn’t a free ride without purpose. It was building relationships one person at a time. Back at the convention center, our meeting with Mark Horvath went even better because we knew other just that little bit more.

We’re already ready exploring some ideas together. A natural one is Chevy: Your Mission. Our Drive. People who would like to make a difference in their community (with the help of Chevy vehicles and volunteers) can fill out a short, online application on our Facebook Chevy Missions tab or follow progress on @ChevyMissions

Every business is relationships and relationships are everyone’s business. Companies who reach out fearlessly with trust in their customers are the ones who can win.

You must have a story about how a product connected two people in business. Will you take a minute to share it now?

_____
Thank you, Connie and Chevy for that … looking forward to how we’ll be helping folks in North Central region with the new initiative.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

Look Who’s Entered to Win a FREE SOBCon Trip — OR Get a $250 Discount

Filed Under Comments, Design, Marketing, Motivation/Inspiration, SOB Business, Successful Blog, Writing | 1 Comment

150 People to Fine Tune Your Web Presence

Suppose you could take a weekend retreat away from the noise of the Internet …

• to focus on your business with the support of a mastermind team
• to get quality time to interact with the top people in social media
• to get the best information AND time to discuss how you’ll apply it
• to work with sponsors who are doing the same thing
• in a room limited to 150 people — all focused in the same direction
• without worry because the food and the wireless are outstanding.

Imagine a weekend work retreat with these people totally invested.

Here are the entries to win …

1. Jon Swanson @jnswanson wrote How Becky McCray Changed My Life
2. Leia Ferrari @lferrari2 wrote My BlogCrush confession
3. Cynthia Smoot @ohsocynthia wrote Getting Back to Basics …
4. Kristin Rielly @geekgirls wrote Opportunity Can Be the Greatest Motivator
5. Ria Sharon @RiaSharon wrote How Our Relationships Matter
6. Deb Brown @debworks wrote The Virtual Meets the Concrete
7. Ellen Nordahl @ElleLaMode wrote Inspiration to Embrace Uncertainty
8. Laura Maly @laura_maly wrote Online Thoughts Crash Into Reality
9. Esther Crawford @faintstarlite wrote My Internet Addiction
10. Glenda Watson Hyatt @glendawh wrote Lives Change When the Virtual Meets the Concrete
11. Jasmin Tragas @wonderwebby wrote Virtual Adventures and Girl Scout Cookies
12. Ken Trump @safeschools wrote Inspiring Person: Liz Strauss
13. Paul Merrill @paulmerrill wrote How Chris changed my life
14. Teri Conrad @tlchome wrote The Doctrine of Stephen Jagger
15. Susana Molinolo @foodplayground wrote #SOBCon2010
16. Lynne Jarman-Johnson @LjjSpeaks wrote Work + Fun = Passion
17. Erno Hannink @ernohannink wrote Als online ondernemer doormodderen of in stroomversnelling – SOBCon 2010
18. Stephen Sherlock @SherSteve wrote Hitchhiking with Aloha
19. Hope Bertram @windycitysocial wrote SOBCon2010 – Getting to know Hope
20. Connie Roberts @ConnieFoggles wrote Connecting Is The Easy Road To Blogging
21. Carole Hicks @carole_hicks wrote SOBCon2010 – The People Who Have Made a Difference For Me
22. Deb Hildreth@adlex wrote I am …
23. Hollie Pollard @commoncentsmom wrote They Don’t Even Know
24. Chris Burdge @b_WEST wrote #SOBCon2010
25. Pieter van Osch @pyotr wrote Online Creativity Accelerated by Off Line Event
26. Lisa Grimm @lulugrimm wrote Reflection: Inspirations From the Web
27. Dave Murray @DaveMurr wrote #SOBCon2010 – To Everyone, Thank You for Being Here and for Helping Make This Ride All the More Meaningful
28. Nathan Hangen@nhangen wrote 3 People/Places that Have Inspired and Educated Me for Online Success
29. Nerissa Marbury @OneEpiphany wrote The Person I Secretly Admire (or use too)
30. Lynn Reidl @lynnreidl wrote Peace of Mind: a Concrete Reality
31. Phil Gerbyshak @philgerb wrote Big C Communities Matter: #SOBCon2010
32. Tamara @unexperiencedmom wrote Liz Strauss Labeled Me an SOB!

And this just in from

33. Jordan Cooper, stand-up comedian @NotaProBlogwho wrote Nigerian Spammers Changed My Life

Would you write a blog post to get a chance to win a FREE SOBCon Weekend?

An Expense Paid Ticket!! AND the BlogIt EarnIt Discount

Here’s what they did to enter …

Now, we’ll put all of the entries in a random drawing and choose one lucky winner. We’ll announce the winner at the Webinar on February 15th. The winner will receive:

1. a free ticket to SOBCon2010 – $895.00 value
2. airfare and three nights at Hotel 71 – up to $1105 in hotel and airfare

A total package value worth as much as USD $2000 – nontransferrable, nonrefundable.

And remember as a thank you for sharing a story, we’re sending everyone who enterred a special code to take $250 off the $895 FULL conference rate – that’s over a 25% savings!

If you can’t make to SOBCon2010, you could “pay it forward” and pass the discount on to one of your friends — or offer it back to us as a gift for us to pass on for you.

Don’t Miss the FREE SOBCon Webinar Monday

Join us at noon EST on February 15th), to kick off a special SOBCobn2010 Webinar with Chris Garrett, Chris Brogan, Amber Naslund and Liz Strauss

We’ll be announcing the FREE SOBCon Trip contest winner and a new special limited time offer!

SOBCon2010 Webinar
Mon, Feb 15, 2010 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM EST
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/197073915

We’ll be talking strategy and tactics for our online business.

We’re doing everything we can to bring you all the value, the experts and expertise, and the time to work and network that you need to make your business outstanding and extremely profitable in 2010.

What could you do with a weekend of the time, expertise, and support you need to focus your business?

We’re all coming for the same reasons.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Register Now!! for Make the investment.

The Only Way to Attract a Vibrant, High-Trust Community

Filed Under Comments, Community, Design, Inside-Out Thinking, Liz Talks Corporate, Marketing, One Way to CC It, SEO, Successful Blog, Tech/Stats, Tools | 35 Comments

Last summer at AdTech, a VP at huge corporate brand extended her arms completely — way out in front her — and used her hands to gesture as she said something close to this about her goal for building a community:

I want to build a community in which peers are talking to peers openly.

I’m sure she didn’t mean it the way it looked … Her hands were so far away from her. — or sounded … peers talking to peers?

I couldn’t help thinking … Where will YOU be? Studying me? Is that what you think of me? I’m not a peer. I’m a person. I only do well in places where people “get” me.

Users. Consumers. Buyers. Customers. Leads. Eyeballs. Peers. Those are faceless, flattening labels. They come from the time of one-size-fits-all.

People are individual human beings complete with aspirations, intentions, ideas, opinions, habits, behaviors, thoughts, and emotions.

Which community would you join?

More Communities and More Time for Them

Online social communities aren’t a new thing. People have been linking and sharing via blogs since the 20th century. Organized social networking sites, such as Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, and LinkedIn have become a part of our lives.

Our communities are becoming more about communicating and being creative about what interests us. It’s all about making it relevant to the people we want to attract. As this Pew Internet Slideshare describes …

Social Media – Making it Business Relevant

View more presentations from Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project.

We’re participating more. We’re spending more time in communities. We’re building more of them. How do attract people to the communities we’re building that are perfect for them?

The Only Way to Attract a Vibrant, High-Trust Community

Just as a building is not a business, a community is not a collection of profiles or a url. People won’t visit our community because it’s pretty. People will come because it offers them something they value.

From two people to more than plenty, a community is a social structure that shares personal values, cultural values, business goals, attitudes, or a world view. What binds it is a culture of social rules and group dynamics that identify members. In the most concise terms, an online social community is a group of like-minded individuals connected by relevant interactions and protected by a high-trust environment.

A high-trust community is an agreement, a pact or contract, like love or friendship. We can’t order, build, or wish our way to one. What we can do is attract people who want to join what we’re doing. The only way to do that is clear passionate commitment, obvious generosity, trustworthiness, and a touch of intentional serendipity … which looks something like this.

1. Be a person (or people) who likes people. People work with, talk with, and relate to other people not a business.
2. Articulate a clear and passionate vision worth investing in. Live your commitment. Get your hands dirty.
3. Seek out people who would love what you’re doing. Find them where they are already gathering and talking. Join THEIR conversations. Get to know them.
4. Be a beginner, but keep the vision. Learn from everyone who’s been anywhere near where you’re going. Learn to sort wrong from unexpected or different. Ideas that jar you could be the best ones.
5. Invite everyone who “gets” the vision to help build this new thing. Look for ways to include their skills and their passions.
6. Keep participation efficient and easy. Curb the urge to add cool things that get in the way of conversation and sharing.
7. Let trust sort things. Model the standards of behavior. Keep rules to a minimum.
8. Be visible authenticity. Lean toward full disclosure, but avoid over-exposure. Most of us look better with our clothes on.
9. Protect everyone’s investment. Forgive mistakes. Ignore little missteps. Eradicate what is destructive. Know the difference by holding thing up to trust, values, and the community vision.
10. Stop doing what isn’t working. Be lethal about keeping things easy, efficient, and meaningful.
11. Promote your members … and honor your competition! Secure communities need both to thrive and get new ideas.
12. Encourage mutation. Let the environment change to meet the changing needs of the people it serves.
13. Celebrate contagion. Make it heroic to share what’s going on!
14. Be grateful and always about the people. The community wouldn’t be a community without them.

An online community isn’t built or befriended, it’s connected by offering and accepting. Community is affinity, identity, and kinship that make room for ideas, thoughts, and solutions. –What Is a Social Community?

We create vibrant, high trust community by letting other folks raise the barn with us, by being their first offering trust and a passionate vision, and valuing the trust and energy they give us.

What attracts you to a community? What keeps you coming back again?

-ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

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