An email arrives from your client. It’s the creative brief for their latest marketing campaign. The low resolution PDF sits attached at the bottom—as red as a promise. Will this brief take your breath away?
You cut through the email and realise your client wants 1 thing – to make their logo bigger.
Some marketing ideas are best left as exactly that – ideas.
If you want to have a laugh, head onto Sharp Suits exhibition to look at a few outrageous marketing ideas turned into colourful posters. And while many of these posters are downright funny (“our target audience is male and female aged 0 and up”), consider this if you are thinking of making your logo bigger:
- How much logo is brand ego: We all like to believe that our customers think our brand is important. They might be, but making your logo bigger does not make them love you more. Furthermore, making your logo bigger sends a range of other messages to your customers.
- Changes will cost you:Even if you have a fixed price arrangement with your designer or agency, the changes you make late in the process will cost you time or money.
- Emotional connection creates cut through: We are constantly bombarded with over 5000 images and messages per day. So, how is making your logo bigger going to cut through the noise you get every day? Focus on building an emotional connection with your customers as a priority and leave the logo alone.
- Customers trust their friends more than they trust you. For years, Edelman has been measuring levels of consumer trust. These days, consumers trust each other more than they trust your business, your branding or your messages. Re-establishing or building trust with your customers mean understanding and delivering on customer needs first. Making your logo bigger sends the message that you are more interested in yourself and your business than solving a problem for your customers.
- Social sharing drives purchase. A great piece of creative advertising that goes viral from social sharing (think Gangnam Style) can bring you business. Recent research by Google shows that while 44% of people research and buy products online, 51% research online and visit store to purchase. The lines are blurring between offline and online shopping experiences, and a key element to this is the use of social sharing. Using reviews, infographics, videos, quizzes, banner ads, product blog sites and a range of other content items, you can build trust and create engagement with your consumers. Putting the customer needs first and producing content that helps them make a purchase decision in your favour can be accelerated through social media.
While your logo is important from a recognition point of view, it’s the content and context that your strategy delivers that makes a difference. Remember, focus on emotion, create trust, deliver value and promote sharing.