Glue Marketing & Promotion | Marketing that sticks | Leeds, Bradford, West Yorkshire

Logos; The Front Cover To Your BrandTuesday, 4 May 2010

Thomas Eales

It is commonly accepted that as a company/organisation you should have a logo, but why?

Just how significant is this image to the success of your/our companies? and just how key is it on a day-to-day basis?

When speaking with clients about the importance of their logo I like to give the following metaphor to illustrate just how key they are to their overall brand image;
Imaging your company as tall office building; within the office building there are conference rooms, hospitality suites, spa’s, etc, these are the services you offer to your clients. Delve deeper and you find the vents, boilers and copper guts supplying the building, these service channels are your company architecture, they supply power to the buildings occupants each day, keeping everything running.
However before a client can engage with the services you offer within your conference rooms and hospitality suites and well before they can learn about what makes your company tick they have to pass through the lobby;
Imagine your logo as the lobby to your brand, gleaming, sleek, leather bound and inviting; your logo is the first touch between your brand and any potential clients.

Of course while potential clients initially enter through the lobby, they will hopefully also leave through here too and not the emergency exit, in many cases your logo is not only the first touch point with potential clients but also the last.

Successful brands use their logos to communicate values and messages directly to the viewer, these must be communicated and understood with minimum time and strain on the viewer if your company is to succeed over your competitors.

In the office building that is your company there may only be one lobby, however as your logo will appear so often and in so many places across your company then its messages must be clear, refined and protected.

Consider the following as food-for-thought;
If your logo is speaking to your audience, what is it saying about you?
What do its colours say about your brand?
What does its shape say?
What does the typeface say?

Although you may consider the choice of typeface to be irrelevant, when all these elements come together they form a visual language/make up of your brand, now altogether is what they say truly communicating your brand and its values in the most effective and efficient manner?

If not, what are you going to do to make this change?
A logo should be consistent with a brand and a brand consistent with a logo, if not then the brand becomes misrepresented and in many crowded market places this can be very damaging.

With all of this in mind, the logo therefore can become a powerful tool, or the most powerful tool in the branding tool box, it is something therefore worth investing either a proportion of your own time correctly in, or employing a designer to ensure it conveys your brand in the correct light when held up as a flag.

Your logo is the flag your brand flys within the market place.
Make sure it’s working for you.

Labels: brand architecture, brand image, Brand Reputation, branding, logo, marketing

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The Art of Marketing Through Blogs - Adam RobinsonWednesday, 21 April 2010

Blogs are an extremely powerful form of communication. Not only are they free but used correctly can spread news about your business across the globe.

I was inspired to write on this subject today due to the recent success of a social media campaign conducted at Glue for Plus Minus Solar’s new product - The Solar Pebble. (www.plusminussolar.co.uk). This innovative little lantern was launched onto a select few blogs and with in the space of a single week now dominates the first 10 pages of google and has had hundreds of tweets! Give it a search now and you will see what I mean.

So what was the key to our success with this project? For a start the Pebble itself is extremely engaging and emotional product which greatly helped, however I think the following five well planned and considered activities helped support and control the growth of popularity.

Define your target market and desired outcomes - This is essential, there are thousands of blogs so diverse that you would be hard pressed to find a subject that no one is interested in so you must ensure you know who you want to target and what blogs they might read. Also what is the aim of the blog? is it to demonstrate interest? connect with potential customers? increase company awareness? build brand image? Depending on your goal, the blogs you target, what you blog about and your blog entry will vary greatly.

Write your blog entry with these targets in mind - Make sure that what you write is of interest and in line with the target audiences expectations. If you are trying to demonstrate your expert knowledge of a subject and reach potential clients a playful, simple writing style may not be as suitable as an informed technical approach. Remember when writing your article to include links back to your website, facebook group or an other social media tool you employee so people can contact you.

Support your entry with interesting, exciting and informative images - Words are boring! People like seeing what your talking about and a diagram or image can help explain and shorten your entry.

Submit your blogs to the correct sites - There are thousands of blog sites as with everything some are more popular then others. Try to identify the most popular blogging sites for your target audience and submit you article to these. An easy way of doing this is to google a similar subject and note the top raking results.

Follow your blogs growth and react to comments and discussions - This is a very important stage and it is one many people forget. Once your article is out there and generating interest you will receive positive and negative comments. To control community opinion of your post, it is essential that negative feedback is address in a clam and friendly manner.

Be warned though, blogs represent community opinion and once started are close to impossible to stop. Ensure that you are not only ready to let the world know about what your discussing but also that a positive response can be achieved.

A brands reputation is painstakingly built and easily lost.

Remember the best articles are interesting, engaging and punchy! Happy Hunting.

Labels: Blogging, Brand, Brand Reputation, Plus Minus Solar, Social Media, Solar Pebble, Tweets

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