Recently I have dealt with a number of businesses that when asked for their logo, either don’t have it in any high res versions, don’t know the specific colour of their logo, don’t know their font and certainly don’t have a style guide or any logo usage guidelines. Aside, of course, from the top company and business brands, I find brand strategy and brand management in many businesses is still lacking.

In the world of marketing, your brand is the very first and most vital tool in your toolbox. It impacts on every part of your business and should be the first point of call in your marketing plan. I understand that for many businesses they just don’t get around to organising their logo and business branding properly or hesitate to spend the money to have a marketing consultant put in place a proper brand strategy and brand guidelines.

However in most cases it is a false economy, poor brand management can impact on your brand awareness and brand identity, marketing and advertising costs, lead generation and sales, and customer retention. Not to mention time lost by yourself or your staff searching around for all the logo information every time you want to get something printed or use your logo. Spending a small amount up front to make sure your logo is designed strategically, you have a variety of high res and low res formats and a clear style guide will save you time and money in the long run. As well as provide a good foundation for your business branding and marketing.

Here is a few quick tips for brand management so you can get your brand logo in order;

1. Make sure you have a good high resolution version/s of your logo. File formats might be .ai, .eps, .tif, .pdf etc. At least 300dpi (don’t worry your graphic designer will know what that means). If possible get the actual artwork file eg .ai so you can get changes made in the future if you want. A PMS/Pantone version as well as a CMYK version is also useful. Not to mention transparent background, black and white, reversed out etc.
2. Make sure you have a few good quality low res versions that your business can use on a regular basis eg for posting into word documents. The most used format for this is .jpg but .tif or .gif etc are still ok.
3. Get a version for the web – typically .gif in RGB colours. Get a few sizes eg 100 pixels, 250 pixels, 300 pixels, 500 pixels wide etc
4. Know what font your logo uses and if possible get the font file
5. Define your colours – know what the PMS or Pantone number is for each of your logo colours. Also get the CMYK, RGB and hex breakdown for your brand colours.
6. Wrap it all up in a style guide or brand guidelines – at a minimum get a style guide developed that outlines your logo usage ie how your logo can be used/not used, your colours including all breakdowns and your font. In future you can continue to add to this with a secondary colour palette, types of imagery used in your branded materials, your brand style etc.

Your brand is the first thing people see. It is the visual representation of your company and can tell a prospective client a lot about you. So it is important that you take charge of your brand management and control your brand identity. Take a fresh look at your brand logo and your brand management today. Action our marketing tips above or work with a brand marketing management team like Blaze Marketing, to define your brand strategy and brand identity, develop quality useful logo files and formats, determine your logo colours and pull together a style guide.

Defining your logo and business brand, and ensuring brand consistency will help your marketing efforts well into the future. Not to mention give your employees a brand they are proud to work for and your clients a brand they like to be associated with.