No subject
Tue Mar 4 16:45:48 EST 2008
How To Change Your Business From A No-Go
To A Go-Go With A Logo
There is nothing more synonymous with your identity than your logo. It
is one of the best promotion and advertising expenditures you will make.
Whether it is a picture, a name, a word or phrase, a logo is the feature
that distinguishes one business from another. Your logo can do for you
what Smoky the Bear did for the Forest Service! Use your logo on road
signs, packaging, letterhead, containers, business cards, brochures and
direct mail pieces, as well as all advertising that you do. Soon,
customers will associate the logo with the experience of shopping at
your market, or eating your products.
Considering that the logo is something that you will use over the
entire lifespan of your business, it is a good investment, and it may be
worth it to spend a little extra to get graphic design help for your
logo. Although you might spend from $500 to $l500 for logo development
at an advertising agency or design studio, there are less expensive ways
you can get graphic design help. Look for a talented artist at a junior
college or high school art program, or a newspaper staffperson. (Be
carefulpaste-up artists at newspapers are often not skilled in graphic
design.) Ask to see samples. Try to barter: one flower grower helped pay
for her logo development from an advertising agency by supplying the
studio with fuchsias in exchange for half her bill.
Try to capture the essence, or feel, of your farming operation in a
simple visual statement that is unique to your farm and fits your
identity. Apple baskets can be found at every market, for example, but
perhaps the stream below the market or the big oak tree by the road are
more symbolic of your market.
Before visiting the artist, sketch or write out some rough ideas; put
together a list of the most important things you want your customers to
know about your business, and show these to your artist. Take a series
of snapshots of all aspects of your farm operation to show the graphic
artist. Things you have lived with and never paid any attention to will
jump out at you. Then give the designer the freedom to simplify,
reorganize and structure your basic idea.
The logo may include an original cartoon character or spokesperson for
your operation. Slogans or jingles can also become a sort of audio logo
for radio use, providing continuity and a recognizable image in your
advertising. Keep them shortfive to ten words.
Keep your logo simple, clean and crisp. Logos with lots of details can
distract a customer and cause her to miss the real message or theme you
are trying to convey. Also, simpler logos are more likely to reproduce
well in advertising. Design the logo so it looks good in one or two or
more colorsthis gives you some flexibility in choosing how many colors
you want to print it in, depending on the cost to reproduce it.
--
Eric Gibson
Publisher/Co-Author "The New Farmers' Market"
(888) 281-5170
More information about the Market-farming
mailing list