Unlock The Power of Branding: Here Are 8 Reasons Your Small Business Needs A Custom Logo

Everyone who has watched television, driven past a billboard or visited a retail store in the last 60 years has encountered the power of the logo. It seems every product and service now has its own custom icon, picture or animation that distinguishes it in the marketplace. When buyers and the general public see those logos, they recognize the companies behind them. In short, that little picture or animation delivers a message.

What escapes many business owners and entrepreneurs is the necessity of the logo. Not only is it a means of identifying your company, but it can also be a way to identify a popular product or service. Here are some reasons to consider establishing a custom logo for your enterprise.

Logos are Intellectual Property

A custom logo that is unique to your business becomes an asset of your company. Not only is it protectable under copyright law it can also be employed as a trademark or service mark, both of which can be registered and protected under federal trademark laws. Your copyright can be exclusive to you for up to 95 years or more, and if it is defended appropriately, your trademark is perpetual.

Registered Trademarks

If you decide to use your logo as a trademark, and you register it with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, you will be authorized to use the recognizable “Circle R” glyph next to it. This can give your company credibility with both customers and vendors and can become an extremely valuable asset over time. A registered trademark gives your company a measure of prominence. It also causes your products and services to be perceived as more valuable by the marketplace. Read more about how to incorporate trademarks and properly identify your company.

Packaging and Trade Dress

Not only does a logo allow you to protect your company’s symbol directly, but it can also be a useful method of protecting your product’s presence in the marketplace. Consider the average soft drink. While their logo is recognizable for any venue where their product is available, their cans are unique and include the logo. Those cans are using something called “trade dress” which incorporates their registered trademark and makes their products not only unique but also makes it illegal for other companies to imitate them too closely.

Reassure Your Customers

When your logo becomes your trademark, you are reducing confusion in the marketplace. The reason is because that is the purpose of a trademark. It tells customers in no uncertain terms and in legally defended terms the source of the product they are about to buy. Public policy dictates that customers are entitled to know where products come from so they can make informed buying decisions. Without this protection, customers would be forced to try and discern between many products all of which might look alike. This would lead to confusion and a situation where buyers wouldn’t have certainty about what they are getting for their money.

Merchandising

One of the most powerful advantages of intellectual property is your ability to create what are called “derivative works” with it. A logo, once registered, becomes a trademark of your company which means you have the right to adapt it to other forms. For example, only you can put that logo on a product like a t-shirt or a poster. You can create custom packaging with it. You can use it in advertisements, videos and other creative works. Each one of those new works based on your logo can be sold at retail. Because each one includes your logo, each one becomes a mini-advertisement for your brand that doesn’t cost you money. Instead, it makes you money.

Licensing

Since you have the right to create derivative works yourself, you also have the right to authorize others to do the same. Most business owners would be astounded to learn the scope and breadth of the licensing business just here in the United States, to say nothing of the worldwide market. Licensing is one of the key means of exploiting a valuable asset like a trademark. The reason is that licensing and merchandising are relatively weightless businesses. You can simply collect a license fee or a royalty from your licensee and let them do all of the legwork. Think of it as a way to create a miniature franchise.

Product Launch

Very often, businesses will use a product launch as a platform for a number of new initiatives. Among them can be the introduction of a new logo. The “new era” hook is a magnificent way to generate buzz and media coverage for a product and a business. It is also an ideal time to introduce new ways to identify products and services for your customers and the general public.

If you are strategically-minded, the combination of a new product and a logo to go with it can create enormous opportunities for future marketing. In some cases, the logo and product can become linked together in the minds of buyers, which instantly makes both the logo and product marketing vehicles. In fact, each package, sticker, business card and the display becomes a miniature ad that doesn’t cost you a cent.

Emotional Anchor

Always remember your logo is your message. Its purpose is to identify your company, your brand and your unique offering in the marketplace. The ideal situation is when your logo helps convey the positive emotions customers associate with your company. That is when your intellectual property becomes your message and you end up with the most valuable property a company can possibly own. You want your future customers to see that logo and know that they can expect the best product and the best service.

All of these things and many more are possible when you take the time to creatively identify your product or service. Generally speaking, this is a task best performed by a professional artist. The results can be worth many millions or even billions of dollars if your work is shepherded well and properly defended in the marketplace.