They are advertised everywhere…Get a $99 logo! $49 logo! There are even $5 logos out there!
What exactly are you getting with a cheap logo?
You’ll probably get a logo created by some “designer” in another country where labor is extremely cheap or one that works at a low-budget, low-skilled USA clearinghouse. Your company name is probably input in a program on their computer and multiple versions of a computer generated logo with some random shapes and colors are produced in a quick layout for you to review and choose. It takes them about 10 minutes and you have a logo. It’s a cookie-cutter logo that doesn’t represent your brand and is could be exactly like someone else’s logo…but it didn’t cost you much!
Why is a cheap logo not a good logo?
Here are the important things they probably aren’t doing when designing your logo:
Researching your industry and competition
Our team will research your industry to see what is standard. Your competitors logos are reviewed to make sure we don’t design something that might be confused with another business. It would be embarrassing and frustrating to show up at a tradeshow, only to see your logo is almost the same as the company three tables down. People might start confusing their business for yours. Having a very similar logo even opens you up to the possibility of a lawsuit if their logo was created first. A cheap logo could cause you to lose business and is a legal liability.
Researching your target audience
We learn about your target audience to make sure the logo we create will be attractive to people that you want buying your product or service. Things like age, gender, lifestyle, geographic location, and income level need to be researched when designing a logo. As you can imagine, a company like Brooks Brothers needs to have a very different logo than Tractor Supply. There’s a simple (and obvious) reason. The audiences for both businesses is attracted and responds to different elements. The logo designers researched their target audience and figured out exactly what those elements were. They able to then create two very successful logos. A cheap logo won’t stand out in a way to attract your target audience.
Learning about your business strategy
You should expect to use your logo for a long period of time. Planning the design with your goals insures that you have a logo that will last as long as your business. You may update it at some point in the future, but a solid foundation will allows future updates to be minor, less costly for your business, and less confusing for your customers.
Listening to your input
Your logo may come out the way you originally had in mind, but it does have to be something you are proud of. You and that logo are going to have to look at each other all the time. So as you handing that logo out on every piece of marketing marketing material you have made, you need to be confident it’s representing your business. Sharing it on your website and social media also needs confidence that it can do it’s job out there in the world all by itself. If you don’t think your logo represents you, after a while you will start to resent it.
Learning how you plan on using the logo
Is this logo only going to be used on social media? Will you be printing the logo on items that the number of colors count? Some printing processes for items like labels, screen-printing, or embroidering charge by the color. They also have limitations on size of elements. If you have a very detailed logo and reduce the size beyond what an embroidery machine can do, you are going to have to remove elements to get the logo on a shirt or hat. Once you start removing elements, is it really your logo anymore? Planning ahead will prevent you having to alter your logo for those items, or having to pay very high printing costs for the life of the logo.
What does it really costs you for that cheap logo?
Let’s say you paid $99 for a logo, or even the $49 for a logo…but your printing costs are in the thousands each month because it has elements make it cost more than a standard stitching job. Really, you didn’t save anything with that cheap logo if that’s the case. If your business orders embroidered shirts regularly, but the logo is too complex to embroider, you’ll pay to have a new version created just for that function. There are a lot of potential costs that could be avoided by having your logo designed by someone who does the research needed.
How do you save on logo design?
Discuss your needs with a graphic designer that you trust will consider the whole picture. A designer that listens to your needs, and does the necessary research, will create something you will be proud to share with the world!
Are you ready to discuss your logo needs?
Send us your info and we’ll get in touch with you to discuss your business hopes and dreams…and how your logo fits into it all.
[contact-form-7 id=”560″ title=”Blog post contact form”]