The look and feel of your company’s brand, logo, and marketing pieces are important.
The construction industry, while known for designing and building as a profession, can often fall short when it comes to their own branding. Often times companies won’t have a fully designed logo, but simply use clip art and some standard type-face on a paper.
Nowadays, your potential clients are paying attention and judging you for your appearance. Logos are using really nice, clean, modern typefaces and less “classic.” If you’ve had the same logo for three generations, you may want to simply modernize it while retaining some of the original elements, or you may want to redesign it. It’s good to review and update the logo and branding materials every five to 10 years. Above all, your branding should be tasteful, attractive, and help your company stand out from the crowd.
The first few action steps you can take to ensure your company branding is up to par is to:
- Look at what competitors are doing.
- Pick the brain of an expert to get a valuation and discuss options.
- Get three different quotes from three different companies to see what is offered for the price, including the number of revisions.
- Make sure that you will receive all the materials in the right file formats for whatever you need—web, print, company banners, signs, etc.
The logo and branding need to translate well into everything else you do, right down to the brochures and business cards.
- How will it look in color?
- When would you use it in black and white?
- How will it look on your website?
- How will it look on the embroidered polo shirts that your company team wears?
I strongly advise that you use somebody who’s a graphic designer or who has some design background. If you want the logo and branding to be good, it can’t just be thrown together. I’d suggest calling around, looking at samples of a company’s/designer’s work, and evaluating the other work they’ve done in your field.
I had a client who was using a design firm that sent a first round of logo revamps that was horrible, but the client didn’t let them know that “this isn’t what we’re looking for.” The designers kept giving them revamps until the client was in too deep.
When you work with our company, we sit down to determine the exact needs of your business. We give you 8 to 10 sample logos, you pick a couple that you like, and then we take them in a few directions until your needs are met.
Make sure the company you hire becomes your partner, understands your business, and that you feel comfortable with their past work. To work with us on branding or rebranding your company, visit our website.
Amy Zucchi-Justice
Karlyn Group
902 Broadway, 6th Floor
New York, NY 10010
karlyngroup.com