The Best Method for Carrying Oyster Cards in London

A Travel Card Holder suffices umpteen substantial roles. It is one of the most practical, extraordinary and a ideal item of utility and the one that exists really long, thus permitting you to build a strong repute for your business organisation. It represents as the most effective mthods to spread your society content across a substantial area to target your audience, thus assisting you to win in a hostile international marketplace. Oyster holders offer up more tractability for advertising, and is less time consuming than umpteen of its other opposite numbers. It plays a important role in getting your company brand out there and allows for a lot of chances for advertising your brand name. It gives an perfect marketing tool for any metropolitan area and is always treasured by many people because of its usefulness and durability.

1) It feels really elegant and indestructible and is crafted from the most indestructible PVC plastic. Card holders are perfect for supplying a bit of style for your society logotype, which can be embossed on the front. They are also available in individual colours and designs that are pre-made.

2) They create an ambient medium to present your advertisement subject matters, efficaciously. Card holders can be created with your brand and easily create popularity for your society or administration. They can be embossed and printed with your brand or logo and create an outstanding gift for your customers or treasured ones.

3) It is a fantastic value promotional item for your aimed audience and ships in a large range of assorted colourings and conceptions. It is anti-fade and prepared of moisture repellent and H2O immune materials. Oyster wallets will create a great impact, when handed out to your work fellow workers, clients, relatives or even admirers on their special social occasions.

4) The Oyster card holder is trendy, inexpensive item, which will appeal to the wide-ranging appreciations of many people. It arrives in long-term shiny PVC plastic, and is perfect for your important travel card. You can entice and energize individuals with this merchandise, by employing some intriguing displays.

5) An Oyster holder is attractively hand made in the most operational PVC plastic. You can add initials of each receiver, or expertly boss your society logo on top of it. It is made by applying full quality prints and makes a extraordinary corporate gift that survives eternally. It is perfect for your freedom pass, train tickets, or Driving License. This Oyster holder provides sufficient space for your unique purpose or company logotype.

Can You Create Sharp Speech Everytime You Converse?

Talking properly is hard (as long as those duties aren’t critical to the job, an available place for the employee to go to be alone for quiet time to help alleviate the demands of the job, rest breaks to prevent stimulus overload and fatigue, job restructuring, part-time or modified work schedules, reassignment to a different position, acquisition or modification or workplace equipment or devices, training materials or policies in baille or a simplified language, provision of readers or interpreters (disability rights center). Many employers are willing to work with former employees hoping to return to work after brain injury, particularly if they were in good standing prior to their accident/injury. Often times, an agreement is reached which will allow the individual to return to work on a gradual basis as their strengths and abilities increase. For example, if the individual is having a problematic time remembering what tasks to do, it may be recommended that they carry a notebook to write down what is asked of them. This allows them to perform the tasks of their job and gain confidence while alleviating the frustrations and burden from the employer.

Clear Speech: Exercise

• Speaking clearly is often more clever than talking cleverly. Unfortunately well-established, poor communicators legitimise bad communication. Poor communication in high places is copied by less experienced communicators who think that what they hear and see is “best practice”
• Speaking well was in part associated with pronunciation. Its the correct use of vocal cords, mouth, tongue, lungs and your head
• Indistinct speech can result from slurring words, speaking inside a muffled voice, running words together, dropping endings and just failure to enunciate words and phrases or groups of words
• Two other processes can result in indistinct speech. With all of these examples, should you understand the induce, you may know precisely the answer and master the ability to converse well

Tense Voice, Big Pitch

• One is when we are tense; our vocal cords like other muscles in the body tighten up. The result may be a higher pitched voice. Although ours may be a technically clear vocalization, the stress when felt by the audience results in distraction from your message.
• It is when you converse with the throat muscles tensed and the voice is projected from lower in the neck. It happens when there is not enough air in the lungs to make the speech organs work properly.
• If you want to hear and feel it for your self, start talking or reading out loud. Keep speaking until you run out of air and would take another breath. Once you are out of air, continue to converse forcing the residual air in your lungs to come up, enabling your continued speech
• What does it sound like? What does it feel like? That is a distressed voice. The solution is simple, just breathe. Breathe adequate for your speaking. Clear speech requires adequate lungs

Corporate Logo Design – 6 Keys to Success

A corporate logo design should be highly instrumental in building your corporate identity and should successfully exude the company’s attitude. The viewers must have some idea about the disposition, character, or fundamental values of your company through your logo.

Following certain basic principles can ensure that your corporate logo design is professional easy to remember and creates a great impact on its viewers while successfully expressing the nature of your business.

Go for Professional Logo Designers
You might save a few dollars doing your own logo or getting it done from the next door boy who knows the basics of designing but if you are serious about your business you should always go for a professional logo design firm. Your corporate logo is your identity, your customers recognize you by your logo, so the more professional and sophisticated your logo is the better will be your customer’s impression about your company.

Though most of the logo design companies charge exorbitant rates to create a corporate logo design but the industry is changing. These days there are companies that offer excellent professional logos for nominal charges (e.g., http://www.mycorporatelogo.com)

Simplicity – Keep it Simple

An ideal corporate logo design should be simple and memorable. Corporate houses spend thousands of dollars to ensure that customers remember them at all point of time and a simple logo is the key to that. Think about the Nike logo, it’s simple and memorable—once you see the Swoosh, do you ever need to think twice about the company name?

Colors

Colors you use for your corporate logo are a very important factor in your brand establishment. If you already have your corporate colors ask your logo designer to use those colors for the logo. If you don’t, suggest the colors that you think might give your prospective clients some idea about the type of business you do. For example, a company working in the fields of forest conservation might like their logo to be in green. At the same time, you also need to consider which colors will go well with your corporate stationeries as well.

Black and White version

While emphasizing the colors we must also remember that it is important for a corporate logo to come out well in black and white. A corporate logo design is used in all corporate communications including fax and photocopied document where they will be in black and white and the logo design must be such that it holds the same impact even in black and white.

Minimize Colors

This is more important from an economic and usability point of view. Corporate logos are often required to be printed for stationary and corporate literature. Using a one or two spot color logo can save a lot of cost compared to printing a full color logo.

Logo Format

It is advisable to always use a vector format for your corporate logo design. A corporate logo may be required to be reproduced at any size for different purposes in the future. A logo design done in vector format can be expanded to any size without any loss of image quality, where as a corporate logo in raster format will loose image quality, if scaled up. Also it is easier to convert a vector logo design to bitmap than vice versa.

If you get a professional logo design firm to do your corporate logo and brief them about this basic tips (most of the knowledgeable firms are well aware of these principles) you are sure to get a satisfactory corporate logo design that would go a long way in helping you establishing your brand.

Use your Logo:

Once you are ready with your corporate logo start giving it maximum exposure possible. Not only on your business cards and letterheads but also on your packaging, uniforms, pens and all possible goods should contain your logo. This gives wider exposure to your logo and people gets familiar with the corporate logo much faster. With all these you are on your way to establish your brand.

Ray Smith is a marketing Expert with years of experience in different industries and specialized knowledge on branding and internet marketing.
Corporate Logo Design.

118118 - Directory Assistance Service in Great Britain

118118 is a United Kingdom provider of directory enquiry facilities, helping everyone to get hold of telephone contacts amongst other useful info.

118118 make use of The Number UK Ltd’ to supply directory assistance information - the Number UK Ltd is a child company of US Business InfoNXX - the largest independent directory enquiries supplier on Earth.

Directory enquiries used to be obtained by phoning 192 (Great Britain), but, the market was deregulated in ‘02 and in August 2003 192 terminated.

As well as offering up a directory enquiry facility, 118118 also offer a facility whereby you could ask 118’s staff a question, including’ Where is the highest building in Mexico’ and 118 118 will supply the answer to your question, over the mobile, or through a text (terribly valuable for a quiz!)

118118 presented a number of remarkable ad campaigns in recent years, making both twins sporting droopy ‘taches, well known for promoting 118 118’s resource. The guys who have appeared in several peculiar circumstances, such as a parody of ‘The A-team’. 118 118 are, now, an incredibly familiar component of the 118 brand across the United Kingdom, and are readily recognizable.

10 Secrets for Free Media Placement

Why pay a high priced PR agent when you can get free media placement to promote your product, service, or book?

Follow these top ten tips for 2005 and it will
be your most profitable year yet!

1. Write an attention grabbing headline.

Realize that your headline must immediately
“hook” a busy producer or editor at first glance.
If your headline doesn’t hook them, they won’t read
further.

2. Be certain that your book is appropriate for the target audience.

Do not send a media release about your romance novel to a radio show that interviews only nonfiction authors. Wishful thinking is well and good, but realize that shows KNOW their target market.

3. Realize that there is a difference in format when sending a release by email and by fax.

A faxed release and release sent by mail can be
identical. However, an email release requires careful
crafting to get right and is an art onto itself. The key
concept to remember is twofold. First, the subject line spells the difference between the release being opened or deleted. Second, you must target delivery of the email release carefully, or you risk being banned forever to the recipient’s “bozo” file.

4. Be certain to include key information in a book
release such as your ISBN number, publication
date, page count and binding, and if you like
a small .jpeg of the cover.

5. You can increase your chances of
being booked on a radio station if you offer
to give away books on the show in your
release.

6. For media releases aimed at reviewers,
include information on how they can
get a book to review by email or fax.

7. Do not follow up to see if the recipient
received the release. If this is a show or
publication you are keenly interested in,
call them with “new information”
designed to create more excitement
in featuring you.

8. Keep a notebook with you and
jot down names of appropriate media
contacts as you read publications and
hear radio interviews.

9. Journalists and producers need you
and your news, but will lose respect if
you hammer them with releases that
don’t apply to their market or beat.
Discriminate.

10. Keep a “swipe file” of
clever advertisements or headlines
you can refer to when you need
a creative boost.

—

Publishing Guidelines: You can publish this article in your print or electronic ezine as long as you include the resource box/signature line below. If you are using this for your web based ezine, please hyperlink to http://www.BuildingBuzz.com and send a courtesy link to mailto:mdvari@deg.com

Marisa D’Vari is author of the new book Building Buzz: How to Reach and Impress Your Target Audience (Career Press, 2005 .
Access a complimentary 76 page reports on free media placement, as well as additional articles, at http://www.BuildingBuzz.com and can be reached at mdvari@deg.com

What Word Do You Own?

When I hear the word pyschology, I think of Dr. Phil.

When I hear the word motivation, I think of Tony Robbins.

When I hear the word marketing, I think of Seth Godin.

And when I hear the word closeout, I think of my Dad.

Why?

Because each of those people are individuals who, in MY mind, have the most expertise about, and most association with a particular word. That’s called word ownership.

In terms of personal branding, however, word ownership is a great advantage to your business. It differentiates you from your competitors, keeps you in the minds of the people you serve and positions you an expert. Ultimately, it’s a fundamental key to entrepreneurial success.

Origination
In Al Ries’s famous book, 22 Immutable Laws of Branding, he explains that if you want to build a brand, you must “focus your branding efforts on owning a word in the prospect’s mind. A word that nobody else owns.”

He also and said, “Forget about the laundry list of wonderful attributes your product has. You can’t possibly associate them all with your brand name in a human mind. The key to getting into the consumer’s mind is sacrifice. You have to reduce the essence of your brand to a single thought or attribute. An attribute that nobody else already owns in your category.”

With that in mind, the first question to ask yourself is, “Do I already own a word?”

If so, congrats! You’re way ahead of the crowd. If not, that’s cool too. You’re reading the right article. (Odds are, you already DO own a word, you just don’t know it yet!)

To discover which word you own, ask yourself the following questions:

*If you looked up the word _______________ in the dictionary, you’d see a picture of my company

*If you googled the word ________________, the first ten pages would be my company’s website

*If was about to give a speech to 10,000 people and one of the audience members came back stage and asked, “So, what’s your speech about?” I’d probably say ____________________

*In my marketing materials, the one word you will find that no other company uses is ______________________

*If CNN called me for an interview, they’d want my expert opinion on _________________

*After people get to know me, they’ll never think about the word ________________ the same way again

*The reason my customers love me so much is because I always help them with _________________

*If people were talking about me behind my back, they’d probably call me “The ____________ Guy”

Obviously, the goal of this exercise is to arrive at the same answer for every question. Now, if can’t do that yet, here’s what to do. Ask those same questions to 20 of your closest friends, family members, customers and coworkers. They might match with some of your answers, they might be way off, they might even think of words that never occurred to you! But at least it will give you an objective perspective on your degree of word ownership.

Hey! That’s My Word!
Ok, now that you’ve explored some possibilities as to which word you own, you need to maintain that ownership. After all, that word is yours, baby! Nobody else in the world deserves to own it besides you! Here are some suggestions to make sure you keep it.

REGISTER IT: just for kicks, see if www.yourword.com is already taken. If not, get it! Domain names are like currency these days! If not, register a name with your word in the URL, i.e., www.thebotanyexpert.com or www.perfectfamilyphotos.com. This will better position you in search engines.

RESEARCH IT: find out everything you possibly can about your word. Search for books on Amazon with your word in the title. Go on Google, type in your word and spend an hour a week reading every entry you can. Look up the etymology of your word’s origin. Do anything you can to increase your knowledge because, after all, you’re the expert on that word!

RECORD IT: write and publish articles related to your word. Think of yourself as a syndicated columnist, whose weekly articles always have something to do with your word. And if you don’t like or have trouble writing, don’t worry. Just go online and search “article” + “your word.” Thousands of articles on your word will come up and that will stimulate your creativity.

REVEAL IT: once you’ve developed and positioned your expertise on your word, tell everyone! Use it your lateral materials, website, newsletter, public appearances, client meetings, face-to-face networking or any of your other marketing channels. Shout it from the rooftops! Over time, customers and prospects will recognize the connection between YOU and your word. And they will know that whenever they need help on (insert your word here,) there is no person in the world they’d rather call than you!

What’s Next?
Ok. You now own a word. The world knows it. Your customers know it. Even Google knows it! So the next question is: how will this word change your business?

I’m glad you asked.

Here’s a personal example of word ownership at its finest. It all started with a voicemail waiting on my cell phone as I walked off the airplane into the St. Louis terminal.

“Yes, Mr. Ginsberg, I’m one of the editors of Cosmopolitan Magazine. I’d like to set up an interview with you for an upcoming piece. Please call me back at the following number…”

When I returned her call, she enthusiastically replied, “Oh great! I’m so glad you got right back to me – my deadline is tomorrow!”

“So, what can I do for you?” I asked.

“Well, have you ever seen those little ‘quizzes’ that Cosmo runs every month?”

“Oh, right. My girlfriend used to take those things in college.” I replied.

“Exactly! Well, as the editor of the section, it’s my job to seek out experts to help create those quizzes. And in our upcoming issue for January 2006, we’ll be running a quiz called ‘How Approachable Are You?’”

“Reeeeeely,” I said.

“Yes. And in my research for possible contributors, I went on Amazon to search for books about approachability. And guess what? Your book was the first and only title that came up! So, we’d like for YOU to write the quiz. After all, you are the expert. Would you be interested?”

Um, are you kidding?! Me, write a quiz for one of the most widely read publications in the word?! I thought.

“Yes. Yes I would,” I said.

Word.

© 2005 All Rights Reserved.

Scott Ginsberg is a professional speaker, “The World’s Foremost Expert on Nametags” and the author of HELLO my name is Scott and The Power of Approachability. He helps people MAXIMIZE their approachability and become UNFORGETTABLE communicators - one conversation at a time. For more information contact Front Porch Productions at http://www.hellomynameisscott.com

The ‘Brand of One’ - You

In Network Marketing so often you hear the word – Duplication. You must duplicate yourself. Well, I don’t know about you, but I do know it is impossible to ‘duplicate’ myself!

Have you had the same life experiences I’ve had? What about your education? Your skills? Is it possible to really duplicate that? NO of course not!

Yet this fallacy is so often taught that it really creates confusion as to what duplication really is.

Brand Yourself

You need to be a ‘Brand of One’. You are unique, your skills, your life experiences, your personality and your circle of influence.

Now, if you heard that little voice go off in your head saying things like “I’m not special” “there is nothing really unique about me” and all those other negative thoughts that flood through your mind. STOP! Now!

Stop and make a list right now, of all your successes you have had in life up to this point. How many special people do you have in your life? ‘They’ are your circle of influence. Those other success’s you’ve had are a result of your ‘unique’ talents and abilities. These things make up the ‘essence of you’ your unique ‘Brand of One’.

Then Market ‘That’ Brand

Instead of going out there and ‘marketing’ your ‘wonderful company’, ‘your wonderful products’ and ‘your wonderful comp plan’. (just hear me out before you throw me out the door!) Market ‘yourself’. How? Let’s take a look.

By ‘being’ known in your community, known in your circle of influence for the ‘Brand Of One’. If you are knowledgeable about a specific topic or for having a special ‘skill’, this in itself builds the ‘know, like and trust’ that is ‘essential’ for building your network marketing business.

Continue to ‘be’ the person you have always been, learning and growing as that person. So when the time is ‘right’ to share:

• what you ‘found out’ in regard to a way to clear those long standing debts,
• or a way for young mums to stay home and still earn an income,
• or maybe you share a way for people to maintain their health and vitality so they can enjoy quality of life in retirement
  As you ‘share’, people will be ‘willing’ to ‘listen’ because you have built that ‘brand of one’.

Duplication

Now for the ‘duplication’ – you duplicate and encourage each person to ‘be unique’ developing their own skills, talents and circle of influence. Then duplicate the ongoing use / consumption of products - finding two to four other people willing to continue ‘being’ themselves, using the products and finding two other unique individuals willing to do the same.

THAT is the ultimate in duplication.

Delmae Bower writes from Melbourne Australia and has 25 years experience in Direct Sales and Network Marketing. http://www.my-homebased-business.com/brandofone

Quick Tactics To Brand Your Business And Make More Sales

This may come as a surprise… to you, but Branding is more than just Logo and Business or Product Name recognition.

Branding is “The total emotional and intellectual involvement your prospects and customers have with your business and products.”

This article addresses 5 basic problems and questions about Branding:

How Are Brands Created ?

=> Branding by “Personal Experience”

This creates the strongest bond between your customers and your business and products.

Your customer service, front and back end offers must be of high quality, in order to create exceptional “Personal Experience”. This starts a virtuous cycle.

Exceptional “Personal Experiences” lead to general public and market acclaim spread by word of mouth and other publicity. In turn, this feeds into a still stronger Brand, starting the cycle all over again.

However, always remember it is easier to create a negative Brand than it is to create a positive one, by offering low or poor quality and value products, services and customer support.

=> Branding by “Indirect Experience”

For many direct marketers, “Personal Experience” Branding is difficult and not easily achieved because sales that lead to “Personal Experience” are not easily made !

The “Indirect Experience” strategy relies on creating a consistent, repeating association to the product in your prospects mind.

Marketers use a variety of tactics to achieve this aim.

* Jingles in audio visual media

* Using Slogans

* Advertising through classifieds, display, press releases, and give away products and information.

* Sponsorship of media, cultural, sporting and other events

Brand Building On The Internet - The Issues

The Internet has re-defined Branding models of the past because it has levelled the playing field, for both consumers and businesses.

Prospects and customers are more involved with businesses and products than they were in the past.

Research of products and services, before purchase is easier.

Consumers have so much choice now they are no longer easily “taught” loyalty to a particular Brand.

Consumers are less willing to form bonds or create “loyal” associations with products and businesses.

On the other side of the coin, businesses have much more competition and must be more customer focussed than ever before.

Companies that thrive and stay in business recognise building lasting relationships with existing customers is more profitable, than always trying to find new customers.

A World of stronger consumers who by-pass your direct and indirect experiences with a click of the mouse, is difficult for Brand builders.

On the Internet those that succeed make profits, the rest fail.

The Cost And Value Of A Brand.

Brand building has a cost in time, money and effort.

The cost of Brand building is easily quantified in Dollar terms.

The value of a Brand is harder to establish because it involves measuring emotional and intellectual associations that might not necessarily translate into cash sales.

Not understanding the value, but clearly understanding the cost of Branding, some marketers decide to get round this problem by competing solely on price.

This is a short sighted tactic because it invites “price wars”, and if you get involved in a “price war” against an opponent with deeper pockets you are bound to loose.

A better strategy is to compete on high product value and build quality Brand recognition over time.

Brands Are Not Eternal

Brand building is an ongoing Business strategy.

The emotional and intellectual associations and recognition that together make up Brand loyalty wear off if not re-energised frequently.

Brands are subject to fashion, fads and change, and understand recognition is not the same as popularity.

Your market may recognise your Brand, but that may not translate into sales if the association is unfashionable.

The temptation, in such circumstances, is to spend less on Branding, cut prices, or , drop the business line altogether.

These are knee jerk reactions to uncontrollable events when taken in the short term. A measured initial response is to re-invent the Brand, freshen it up and market it to a new generation of consumers.

Many businesses re-invent, and re-brand themselves and go on to achieve new consumer acclaim.

Strategies For Brand Building

Here are a few short to medium term tactical measures you can start using today to kick start your Brand building program.

* Get a professional web site with customised headers, footers and logos - Make your “visitor experiences” happy ones.

* Advertise regularly using paid channels where you can. If money is a problem, use f’ree advertising, but advertise regularly !

* Write useful articles and publish regularly. Invite visits to your site through your resource box.

* Syndicate your articles and build personal name recognition using a tool such as Name Branding Syndicator available from http://www.highprofitsoftware.com/syndicator/

Visit http://www.simplyeasier.com/mbd to see how you can get this tool for F’ree as part of a product bundle.

* Brand your business by associating and complimenting other succesful products - Develop a quality reciprocal link and partnership strategy.

Try products like Zeus (http://www.cyber-robotics.com/) and Arelis (http://www.axandra.com/index.htm) for this tactic.

* Use a good autoresponder service and communicate frequently with your customers and prospects giving useful, and personal information.

There are many good tools for this tactic, but try Getresponse (http://www.getresponse.com) or Aweber (http://www.aweber.com) for a start.

* Use Zip Brander available from Russell Brunson of http://www.zipBrander.com/ to put your products, affiliate programs and other offers in front of your purchasers easily and frequently.

Branding your business and products is a key part of your success strategy.

You want people to associate your business name and products with high quality, and high value.

Successful Brands make money - just ask Microsoft, Levi, Ford, Coke.

Start Branding your business and products today, and generate maximum lifetime customer values.

(c) 2004 Charles Kangethe

About The Author

Charles Kangethe of http://www.simplyeasier.com is a leading new wave Netpreneur and a published author from England. The “Simply Easier” brand name is your guarantee of high value, quality Marketing Products, Services and Resources.

charles@simplyeasier.com

Nike / Sears / Kmart

The Sears-Kmart merger hopes to fabricate some sort of silver lining for
both retailers but instead seems to embody the inevitable philosophy of “going down together.” Kmart, an already sinking ship, certainly worsens conditions for Sears, and Sears does not have a strong enough current to keep Kmart afloat when there are enterprises like Wal*Mart and Target constantly blasting holes in the stern with brand messages of “smart and classy.”

On the opposite end of the branding spectrum, Nike sits at the top of the todem
and watches the plethora of other brands struggling beneath. Nike is the only brand
of shoe for which people are willing to pay two to three times more just to bear the
swoosh emblem in the gym. Nike is the only athletic brand creating new and original
advertising (i.e. the Nike Pro Apparel “Warriors” campaign) while Adidas, Reebok,
Puma, New Balance, and countless others attempt to “be like Mike” and copycat
concepts to boost their market share. In reality, Nike only becomes more powerful
and valued despite the efforts of brand emulation.

Before Sears merged with Kmart, Sears carried several Nike products, shoes,
clothing, a few sporting goods…etc. However, when Sears announced the
agreement with Kmart, Nike announced to Sears that they would no longer be
needing their shelves. If Sears was opening up to Kmart, Nike was closing off to
Sears. There is a simple equation and contingency of Nike’s brand conservation.

Kmart is known for “lower quality, but dirt cheap,” and Nike is a premium, high
quality brand that can inflate prices based on brand equity and reputation.

What can brands like Sears and Kmart learn from brands like Nike?

Unfortunately
not much can be accomplished at this point because when it comes to brand, this
market does not allow much time and space for second chances let alone acts of
desperation. Nike “got it” from the beginning, and continues to grow their market
share by being the father ship. Consumers can see themselves inside the Nike brand
and feel a sense of pride and confidence. Sears and Kmart cannot even even make
consumers feel like consumers. Being loyal to these brands feels more like a public
service.

Molly Sunderdick
Brand Strategist
Stealing Share, Inc.

Good Logos Make Great Sales Tools

Every day, the average person is exposed to millions of visual stimuli including hundreds of company logos.

A logo is a unique visual image that represents a company or its products. It aims to create a positive and memorable impression in the minds of the people who see it. In addition, a good logo can make a sale by saying something about the company to customers when there is no sales person present.

Choosing a logo for your business requires much thought and it is essential that you work closely with your graphic designer. Logo design needs your input as well as the designer’s creativity.

You have to start with an idea of the image you want your logo to portray, i.e. what you want it to say about your company. Beware though of turning the logo into a metaphor for something. The most memorable ones are usually the simplest – think of McDonald’s golden arches, the Apple Computer logo or Nike’s ‘swoosh’. Less is often more as far as logos are concerned.

Secondly, you will have to decide whether your logo should be an illustrative representation or abstract graphic that represents what your company does, or whether it should be font-based. Alternatively, your logo could be a combination of these options.

Logo colour is very important. Bear in mind that the colours you choose will impact on all your corporate materials. Your logo should also look good in black and white for use in mono print applications or on faxes for example.

Size is also a consideration, as your logo needs to look equally good on a business card as it does on the side of a truck or building. Similarly, make sure your logo is designed for print first and the web second. Do it the other way round and you may find that a design that looks good on a web site appears mediocre when scaled up for use in print.

Choose your logo design carefully as it will have a powerful impact on your business. A great logo lasts and should look good years from now. It also stands out from its environment and from the competition.

As well as building brand-awareness and speaking for your company, a great logo helps you make great sales… provided of course that you have the product and service quality to back it up.

Copyright © 2004, Christopher Smith, Mano Design

About The Author

Chris Smith is a partner in Mano Design ( http://www.mano-design.com ) - a Vancouver Design and Marketing agency.