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Business owners go to great lengths to select the ideal names for their business. They know that a name plays a key role in creating a first impression about the business, and is an important consideration in making that impression both positive and memorable.

There’s a visual first impression that’s every bit as important as the verbal message delivered by the name. A company’s logo is a unique symbol that identifies a business or other organization. It represents the business in advertising, on wearables, on signs, and in every other way the business connects with key stakeholders. As people become familiar with the logo, they associate it with the company’s characteristics.

Successful branding begins with a well-defined brand that is RELEVANT to your market. You might think that since you have a logo, tagline, and business card, you’ve completed your branding. But, unless you’ve carefully considered and defined ALL five of the key brand elements—position, promise, personality traits, story, and associations—you still have work to do.

And, until you’ve infiltrated your brand into every level of your organization and built the discipline of CONSISTENCY into every behavior, action, or communication—both internally and externally—you are not yet on the path to a successful brand strategy.

Five Key Brand Elements:

I often get asked to develop a small business’s logo as a symbol-only logo. But for many small businesses, this isn’t the right choice for a couple of reasons.

Designing a symbol-only logo is a much more complicated (and often more expensive) process, because the symbol has to:

- Carry a lot more meaning - there’s no text to help explain the business. It’s important that your logo has some meaning and a role in explaining your business - and that’s a lot for a little symbol to do all by itself.

We work in a unique industry – one in which insurance agents are like toasters. Let me explain…

Everyone owns and uses at least one small appliance at home. It might be a toaster, a garage door opener or a microwave oven. No doubt it’s something we use every day. And yet, we can’t recall the brand name of the appliance. We all know what it looks like and how it operates, but generally can’t remember who the manufacturer is… until it breaks. When it breaks, we check to see what brand of “widget” it is and whether repair or replacement is covered. We decide whether we want to purchase the same brand or try a different brand altogether. It takes a problem to draw our attention to the brand – and until that time, since we aren’t really aware of the brand we’re using, one brand is as good as another! Insurance agents are essentially like toasters. We’re generally not thought of by policyholders until something breaks – that is, until there’s a claim.

A tagline is a short and zippy phrase that describes what you do for your target client. Taglines are essential to a well-rounded brand. I have often seen a well-designed company identity without a tagline and therefore without a message. Taglines add value by communicating your message to your target client and work to enhance your business image.

Think about some of the taglines you’ve heard and remember:

Nike Just do it

American Express Don’t leave home without it

Allstate You’re in good hands with Allstate

Burger King Have it your way