When starting a business, your attention will often be on finding the right location, getting financing, and opening your doors to the first customer. It is understandable why you would want to have these things in your mind.
But equally important is the brand image you portray to your audiences. Getting a good logo for your business is critical to creating a positive brand image. If you are unsure why a logo should be a priority, the benefits highlighted in this guide can help you see why.
It Grabs Attention
The key to creating a logo for your small business is going for a good one. This way, it will serve one of its primary purposes; grab attention.
In today’s information age, attention span has grown pretty thin. Brands have two seconds to convince their audiences that their brand is worth looking at.
A well-designed logo can be that one thing that captures your audience’s attention long enough to communicate your values. So don’t go for just a logo, but instead, an attention-grabbing one.
It Makes an Excellent First Impression
Like grabbing attention, you only have one chance of making an excellent first impression. Most small businesses use plain text in their branding. While text can help create a great first impression when used well, it cannot come anywhere close to what a logo can do.
They communicate your efforts at standing out, which inspires customers’ desire to look at what lurks behind the logo.
It Sets You Apart
The key to succeeding in business is standing out from the crowd. When used right, logos help you stand out from your competition. This works best if you match your logo with quality products or services.
With time, your customers start associating your logo with quality and use it to pick out your products or services from the competition.
If It Forms Your Brand Identity Foundation
Brands with the most recognizable logos, such as Nike, McDonald, Adidas, Airbnb, Apple, WordPress, Shell, etc., did not start where they are today. They began with nobody knowing them, to having global recognition.
While you could be a minor player in your industry, looking at the bigger picture of where you want to be in the future is essential. If you dream of growing into a huge brand, having a logo today becomes your brand identity’s foundation.
Trademarking Your Logo
Once you start using your logo to market your products and services, your customers will start associating it with you. Bad experiences with products or services bearing your logo can impact your reputation negatively.
So, you want to ensure that only you can use your logo to market products by registering it as a trademark. When trademarking your logo, you will want to pick a mark that is unique, memorable, and, more importantly, registrable.
In other words, your logo must not be in use by another entity, a registered trademark, or closely resembling another for it to be considered original. Besides passing the originality test, you will want to for registration through your country’s intellectual property office. In Canada, all IPs are registered with the Canadian intellectual property office.
Scope of Protection
If you are successful, you get exclusive rights to your logo and the power to stop others from profiting from it. You also get the right to sue for infringement and recover damages.
However, your protections may be limited to a geographical location. For example, if you register your logo in Canada, there is nothing much you can do to a China-based infringer unless you register your logo as a trademark in China.
But you do not have to register your trademarks in every country. You can register it once under WIPO to enjoy protection in all member countries. It is also essential to understand that trademark protection lasts for a renewable term of 10 years, meaning you can retain your rights for as long as you wish as long as you pay service fees.
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