Logo schmogo

A corporate brand is many things to many people. But it isn’t a logo. This is often confused but knowing the difference might help refine your corporate branding efforts.

A logo is basically a graphic design mark which identifies your company. If it incorporates text, it’s usually called a logotype. (Think Virgin for example). So what’s the difference between this and your corporate brand? In my view, your corporate brand is a mix of several things. The brand is much like a corporate personality. It takes into account the type of business you’re in, the style of service you offer, the sort of image you want to project about your business. Clients and customers interact with your business in many ways – by phone, in person, through your corporate and business communications – and all these are touch points where clients or customers will get a sense of what your brand is all about. 

Some big brands like Virgin do this very well. Virgin, despite being a large global business of many decades operation, is to this day a brand of defiance, of youth, and of energy. Whether it’s a credit card or an airline or a music label, the ‘Virgin’ brand is consistent. You know intuitively that what you’ll get is not ‘establishment.’ That’s also reflected in their bold use of colour (red).

By contrast, there are establishment brands which are all about stability, tradition, and dependability.  Banks are typical of establishment brands. And very often, they lean to blue as a colour signal of the type of business they represent.

The logos themselves are ideally a reflection of this brand personality. Which means that usually the brand position and strategy should come first - because the style of corporate brand is how your business projects itself while the logo is the visual personification of this.

So what, you’re asking? The answer is that corporate brand strategy is just as relevant for small and medium businesses as it is for large institutions. You obviously don’t need to invest the sort of money nor effort as majors but there are some simple things you can do to help define your brand thinking.

First, decide your personality. If for example you’re a design based business aiming to make a reputation based on leading edge design ideas, your brand should reflect this. You may want to project as an edgy, contemporary business which challenges conventional attitudes. This personality should shine through all your corporate communications, your website, brochures and even down to the culture of your staff.

Alternatively, if you’re a conservative profession which is associated with evidence or science based advice and opinion (think engineering or valuation for example) you may want to project a more conservative image.  This can be particularly important in economic downtowns where clients become more risk averse and seek out conservative, dependable reputations. Once again, this personality should be reflected in the style of your corporate communication. Every time a client has contact with your business should reinforce this personality.

Think about the content that will support your brand. For the design based example above, if you want to position your brand as edgy and contemporary, you’d support that with content that illustrates that capacity. Likewise, building an evidence-based brand built on conservative, dependable values would logically mean providing content to your target market which supports that claim. Otherwise, it might be a bit like the creative artist wearing a grey suit, or the accountant wearing the latest ‘out there’ fashion.

This doesn’t mean you can’t zig when all your competitors are zagging.  Sometimes, breaking the mould can be hugely advantageous, especially if you’re in an industry which has a recognised stereotype with significant downside perceptions. Think of the stereotypical lawyer for example, and how some firms have projected their brand as ‘plain English’ practices with ‘real people’ who empathise with your needs (as opposed to aloof hair-wig wearers with superiority complexes who view you as riff raff).  Extreme example, but you get the point. Defining yourself by describing what you are not can be very effective.

A warning though: none of your branding strategy will ever work without leadership from the top.  If senior executives are at heart conservative traditionalists with little appetite for ‘breaking the mould’ there is no point adopting a mould-breaking strategy. It will fail, if not at the first hurdle, certainly in time. The strategy itself may be sound but if for the senior leadership of the business it’s an ill-fitting suit, it simply won’t work. This can involve a bit of difficult navel gazing and self -reflection, but you’re better off being honest about who you are. You can’t act a role forever.

There are a few other elements important to successful corporate brand positioning but for now, it’s worth considering that all the aspects mentioned above don’t involve your logo. By the time you’ve decided on your brand, you should be ready to brief a graphic artist on your logo.

PS: For some fun on the subject of logos, have a look at this showcase of the ’15 Worst Corporate Logo Fails.’