The following is the fifth in a 12-part series by Fairfield County Venture Mom Holly Hurd. If you have articles you would like to submit, send them to cdonahue @thedailydarien.com.
When you see the swoosh, you think of Nike. When you see the golden arches, you think of McDonald's. When you see hear, "Leave the last S off for savings," you know it's Sleepy's. You need your clients to think of you when they see your logo, colors or tag line.
This week you'll need to come up with your Venture's branding. First, work on a logo. It doesn't have to be professionally done; you can design something using various fonts and clip art. But your logo should represent who you are and what you offer through your venture. When I was designing the VentureMom logo, I wanted to use the initials and I thought of how the letters would fit together. I also thought brown represented strength with style and pink represented moms, and that's how I came up with the VM in brown and pink.
Remember, it doesn't have to be perfect. You must complete this task this week. A fabulous example comes from the VentureMom I covered, Darcy Ahl. She designed a phone application that stops a phone from working when the phone is traveling more than 5 mph, except parents' numbers and 911. This is to prevent teens from talking or texting while driving. The idea was to keep their "eyes on the road." So the name of the product became Izup , and the logo symbolizes two eyes.
So what is your venture selling or providing? Browse through clip art of all kinds to see whether something would work. Experiment with different fonts and styles to see what fits with your venture. And if you plan to use a tag line, try different sayings. A tag line should be short and to the point. The VentureMom tag line is "The only destination for moms with ventures." I hope that tells you what the website is all about.
Another great example of a tag line is from You & Me Cookie, "For the cookie connoisseur." VentureMom.com featured the You & Me cookie moms who bake and distribute their grandmother's fabulous jumble cookie and the tag line is on their packaging. What do you want your tag line to say about your service or product? It's not imperative to have a tag line, or you can have one to use in different places such as your website, your packaging or your business card.
Now, you'll need business cards. Use your logo and tag line together with your contact information. If you don't have a website domain yet, (that's next week's assignment) print only 20 cards. You can order from a website such as vistaprint.com. Don't stop because you want everything to be perfect. You'll need business cards when you start telling everyone you know about your new venture.
So get busy with your logo, colors and tag line. It's important to brand yourself and your venture, so like the golden arches, when people see your "symbol" they know it's you. Just like the brown and pink, VentureMom rectangle.
Holly Hurd, [email protected]
What logos and tag lines have you come up with? Tell us about them in the comments below!
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