Life is exciting and business is going well (congrats)! The fact that you’ve stumbled upon this post means that you might even be looking to elevate your brand with a new logo… Before you get too knee-deep in the never-ending Pinterest and Etsy searches, here are a few things to consider before purchasing or designing that new logo.

1. Know your ideal client intimately. Who do you serve? 

Believe it or not, when service providers hit the ground running with their business, this question often gets overlooked. But it’s important. Yes, we all serve lots of different types of clients, but detailing out an in-depth profile on your dream client is crucial to some of the points coming up in this post. The more intimately you know your client, the more effectively you can speak to them, connect with them, and ultimately serve them. When you know whom you’re serving, your design choices will be about them and not about your own personal preferences + tastes. When you don’t know whom you’re serving, you’ll make the mistake of designing for “everyone” (which means, sadly, your brand won’t resonate with ANYONE).

2. Understand what problem you solve.

Again, if I had a penny for every time a client hadn’t previously thought about this question… Let me give you a hint: The problem you solve for your clients is rarely about the actual service you provide. Let me say that again: Yes, you provide a necessary, tangible service. But you solve a problem that is much deeper for your clients.

I’ll use my own business as an example. For years I thought it was all about the design. One of the greatest epiphanies I’ve had in my business (and life!) is when I realized the design is not about the design! The service I provide is simply a vehicle for a much deeper, much greater transformation.

When a client comes to me for a logo, I’ve come to realize it’s NEVER just about the logo. It’s about the hope they’ve staked ON that logo. They’re ready to grow their business or transform it, or take things a new direction. In their minds, a new logo is the path to a more professional looking business. But NO ONE wants a more professional looking business just for the sake of having that. The thought trail continues… If I had a more professional logo, I’d look more professional. More clients would come to me. BETTER clients would come to me. I could charge more. I could look like the premium entrepreneur I know I am and attract next-level business. Then I could grow my business and hire staff so that my own time would be freed up and I could spend it with my family. Or travel like I’ve always wanted to.

You see? The logo isn’t about the logo. But if that’s all I deliver for my clients, I miss the chance to serve them deeply and their business won’t change. A year from now, two years from now, they’ll be back online looking at logo “ideas”… Instead, I seize the opportunity to help them understand that in order to get from point A to point B in their business, we have to design the logo around some important foundational strategy. Only then can the logo do its job and live up to the (great) expectations placed upon it.

Think about your business with the lenses of what problem you solve. Go deeper than the service you provide to the actual, felt NEED that is met when someone hires you and works with you.

3. Determine what lasting impact you want your business to have.

What is the vision you have for your business? Just like when you were thinking about the actual needs you meet for your clients, I want you to go deeper here too. The service you provide – on its own – is NOT enough to get you out of bed in the morning, day in and day out. The thing that excites you about what you do is never the service itself. It’s all part of a greater vision for how you get to impact the world by being uniquely you. Your service is a small piece of that puzzle. But what’s the greater vision? What “ripple effect” of lasting impact are you having on those you serve?

4. Nail your messaging.

Once you know whom you’re serving, what need you’re meeting, and what impact you want to have, you can then craft your messaging around that. You can’t talk to your audience until you know who they are. And you can’t craft a visual aesthetic until you know what you’re trying to communicate.

I like to tell my clients that a logo is like a roof on a house. Ya can’t build a house roof first! Can you imagine asking a builder to build you a house and then telling him you think you really only need the roof and could he please do that first? It’s laughable! You first need a foundation and walls and insulation… The underappreciated stuff that no one pays attention to but is so, so necessary for the roof to… STAY UP. lol

So get off Pinterest and Insta and stop looking at other people’s logos. Get out a notebook or a Google doc and start answering the questions above. The strategy behind having the “right” logo will be centered around serving your clients intentionally, and the aesthetic direction will be so much more clear when YOU’RE more clear on these things.