bizSimple

The simple way to start a business.

Sunday 7 September

“Only 50% of your advertising will work – the difficulty is working out which 50%!”

Your business identity

Your logo should be used on everything that you do in your business, so it needs to present the right message every time.

What ever you come up with, try it out on friends and family first and ask them to be honest!

FAQs

I've found some great free clip art on the web. Should I use this in my logo?

You could, but be careful that you are either not infringing someone else's copyright or using something that a lot of other people will also use. Some clip art is great – a lot is just awful and smacks of 'free clip art' when you use it.

Should I ask a designer to design a logo for me?

Unless you are really good at design, or have a budding designer in the family, it often pays to pay someone to do it properly for you. You need to weigh up how important your brand identity is to your target market and how it will be judged alongside your competitors, against the cost and make your mind up from there.

How much will a logo design cost?

This is a difficult one to answer because it really depends on the company that you approach. It's best to go to three companies and give them all the same brief. This gives them all a fair chance to come up with a guide price, but be warned – it could vary considerably!! You could try giving them your budget and asking them to work within that, if they can.

A realistic budget for a logo for a small business is probably around £2-300, but if you start adding in stationery, websites, brochures and flyers this price will quickly go up.

Can I protect my logo?

Yes. You can register it as a trademark or put a small © (press ctrl + alt + c at the same time) plus the name of the owner and the year it was created, next to your logo which shows you own the copyright or a ™, which shows it is your trademark (although not registered).

The UK Intellectual Property Office has an excellent website that has loads of information on how to protect your brand image and any intellectual property that you own within your business.