If your first thought of branding when you started your business was your logo, you’re not alone. A lot of small businesses start and finish with their primary logo until their business is a little more established. While a brand-new business may not feel like it yet has a strong enough foundation to develop every aspect of its branding, we’re here to tell you that ANY business that is ready to find success absolutely needs full branding.
What is a secondary logo?
A secondary logo is usually your primary logo that has been arranged differently, so it will fit better on certain types of media. For example, your primary logo may not fit well on social media, so you may have a secondary logo that fits perfectly in profile pictures. Think about Amazon’s logo – we don’t often see the full logo, with the text and the arrow (and smile) pointing from the A to the Z. In most cases, we see their secondary logo, which is just the arrow, or their submark, which is just an “a” with the arrow underneath it.
Your secondary logo makes it easier for customers to identify you if your primary logo isn’t clear at a smaller size.
What’s the difference between a secondary logo and a submark?
A secondary logo is often still a sizable logo – while it may be smaller than your primary logo, it is not your logo in its simplest form. That’s what a submark is. Think of the McDonald’s logo, we can all picture it in our heads, but the golden arches are just as recognizable alone.
If you look at the favicon of a website (that’s the small picture that shows up in the corner of each tab in your browser), you’ll often find a business’s submark there. Depending on the company’s needs, it may also appear on merchandise, letterheads, and more.
Can my business just have all the necessary logos, or does it need full branding?
When we think about whether or not our business needs full branding, we’re often thinking about branding from an expense standpoint, rather than thinking about how branding benefits our business. The truth is, branding can take an average business and make it something people flock to. We’d even venture to say that there aren’t any truly successful businesses out there that don’t have strong branding.
Your visual branding (often called a visual identity) is the visual representation of what makes your business unique. If your business is a law firm and presents a serious, supportive nature, having branding that’s bubbly and bright will not convey your brand correctly. However, a black-and-white brand with clean lines likely will.
Your visual brand sets the tone for what a customer will expect from you. If you don’t have any branding (or not any you chose on purpose), you also won’t be attracting any one type of customer. You’ll likely attract people who are looking for a bargain or who don’t really know what they want. A strong brand attracts the customers you most want to serve (and often deters the ones you don’t).
While a business still trying to learn exactly what it offers and which customers it wants to focus on serving can make do with basic logos and a color palette, any business with a strong ideal customer avatar must also have strong branding. You simply cannot attract the right customer without it.
There’s a lot that goes into a full brand identity for a business, and so anyone who is not a professional designer will need the help of one to create their business’s brand identity. If you’re looking for a friendly, supportive business to guide you through the process and create an outstanding brand identity for your business, we’re here to help. You can see some of our past projects here.
When you’re ready, contact us to book your free consultation and we’ll help you create a brand that attracts your ideal customer.
