An unprofessional logo can destroy trust among potential customers and keep customers from buying your products. Full Post on DuctTapeMarketing.com >>

Rob Marsh at DuctTapeMarketing is posting a series of small posts on the importance of logos to small businesses.  The quote above caught my eye, as well as this one from another post:

One expert has estimated you see as many as 5000 logos every day. How many of them did you notice?...And getting customers to notice or remember a bad logo can be very difficult.

So here’s what I wonder:

• If people do literally see 5000 logos a day, then how important is a logo?
• If it’s hard to get people to notice or remember a bad logo, how hard is it to get people to notice or remember a good logo?
• Is the average consumer able to tell the difference between a “good” logo and a “bad” one?
• Can a small business really expect to create a logo that’s going to somehow stand out from a crowd of 5000 logos, many of which are owned by companies with huge advertising and marketing campaigns that serve to drive their logo into the consciousness of their target audience?
• Have you ever not done business with a company because you felt their logo wasn’t good enough?

A recent “lunch and learn” type session put on by the local Chamber of Commerce and featuring the “leading local expert on branding” had essentially the same message—people are saturated with marketing and advertising.  And the experts advice?  “Choose a different color than your competitor.” “Make your materials stand out.” “Be memorable.”

So, color me skeptical (yea, I know—big surprise).  Let’s set aside the fact that the people telling us how important logos are also happen to be employed by companies in the business of.......creating logos.

I can’t help but think that a logo is only important to companies with enough size and budget to really back up the logo with regular advertising and promotion.  If your business is small, it most likely purrs along on word of mouth, networking, and referrals. 

If that’s the case, then maybe you don’t need a logo at all.  I haven’t really had a logo in the 3+ years of doing business as Boyink Interactive.  All I’ve done is been consistent in how the business name is presented - using the same font, colors and presentation between my website, letterhead and business cards.  And I seem to be busy enough...

But who knows...maybe a smashing logo would help me get rich beyond my wildest dreams.  What do you think?

Update 2/2007—yes, I went ahead and invested in the “pogo-guy” logo.  The investment wasn’t that significant, and the pogostick idea of playing off my last name has been popular.  We’ll see if having a logo helps “build trust"…