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Does Your Logo Draw or Repel Clients?

Today’s article is from Suzy Sharpe - this one is especially important for Virtual Assistants as we work in the “unseen” world with little or no face-to-face contact with our clients. A logo that accurately represents you and your business is a very important part of your marketing toolbox.

Enjoy!

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Does Your Logo Draw or Repel Clients? How Can You Know? What Can You Do?

You walk into a room full of strangers. Your eyes scan the room briefly. You choose someone who feels likely to connect with you and walk over.

What has happened here? How do you know who to talk to? The usual term is “sizing up” and those who are good at it prosper in their business pursuits. In this sizing up process we rely on our intuition, our “gut feelings” more often than not. But what causes these gut feelings?

The Beach Boys weren’t wrong when they sang about Good Vibrations. Scientists have discovered the molecules of our bodies send out vibrations. We have the ability to sense the vibrations other people give off, even from across a crowded room. We respond to people whose vibrations are similar to ours.

Marketing materials also send out vibrations we judge subconsciously, and all of these subconscious judgments are made on an emotional level.

Don’t believe it? Try this experiment:

Take out a bunch of other people’s business cards, or the next time you are in a networking group, gather the business cards and look at them, one by one. Don’t read the writing on them. What is your gut reaction to the colors, the design and the logo? How do they make you feel? You will like the designs that resonate with your own vibrational level.

Why the Wrong Logo Will Cost You Clients.

Now the big question is how does your business card feel to other people? What about your website? Are they sending out the right vibrations to resonate with the kind of clients you want?

A business person naturally wants clients who will resonate with them because this resonance will bring increased business, but often a business card or website doesn’t quite “click” with the vision of the business owner. When there is an incongruity, say as an extreme example, a spa specializing in relaxation has a blood red spiky logo on their card and website. The difference will actually grate on the nerves. Our “gut” will tell us something’s not right, and although it may not be a conscious decision, we will not trust that business. We won’t want to do business there.

Usually the difference is much more subtle than our example. Sometimes you are sending out a certain vibration, but your business card is sending another. The incongruence will cause the potential client to distrust you.

An Unusual Pairing: A Therapist and a Graphic Design Artist Working Together Increase Their Clients’ Business.

Ania Brandysiewicz developed Isedo Therapy which is an intuitive method of emotional balancing. As her clients became more balanced, more in touch with their inner vision, their fears gone, they became more creative and effective. A side effect of this emotional balancing was their businesses suddenly started taking off. They gained new clients who were more in line with their business’ vision.

But because their marketing materials reflected their old selves, they actually became a detriment to the business. There was an incongruence between what was presented to their clients and who they were inside.

Tania von Allmen is a graphic design artist who has created over 1500 national and international business identities.

They had a mutual client who would see Ania and let go of the fears and negative beliefs holding her back from success. Then she would go to Tania to try to get her marketing materials to reflect her new identity. She would bounce back and forth between them like a ping pong ball.

Finally they got together and designed a new logo and website which truly reflected her inner self. As Sheryl McKeown, owner of The Accountables says, “I started doing personal work with Ania. My identity changed and it started to be obvious to other people. But my marketing materials didn’t match my new identity. My logo was reflecting not who I was, but how I wanted to be seen. My new logo changed who started showing up at my door. I was being more from my heart. I was not ready for and was surprised at how quickly my business started growing. I was like a magnet.”

Ania and Tania joined forces and started A Plus T Consulting. With Ania working on changing the inner beliefs that are holding their clients back, Tania then comes up with marketing materials which truly reflect their new selves. Their clients have said, “They tap the essence of a business and create a visual image of that essence.” Gary Yates, Clarity Technologies. “Ania gets you to talk and Tania develops what you say. It was unique, innovative, empowering and made me feel proud of who I am and my business.” Anita Radosevich, Career Ladders.

Is Your Logo Sending the Right Message?

How to Find Out.

Have you ever met someone and instantly you think, “I don’t know what it is, but something about that guy just isn’t right. It doesn’t jive.” That person is trying to show you an image of himself and not what is really inside. You sense the disconnect between the image and the real and it makes you uncomfortable.

Now think of your logo and advertising designs. Quite often an advertising agency or marketer will design a logo for you that is really slick. It’s sharp. It looks really professional and Madison Avenue. However, if those designs reflect an “image” only, you will attract picky, perfectionist people; people who feel something is missing and not someone who resonates with the real you. There will be a disconnect between you and the clients you want to come.

Ask the Right Question.

To see if your marketing materials are attracting who you want, you have to determine just what kind of customers you want to see walking through your door. Picture your favorite client. They are probably your favorite because you have a resonance, you are vibrating on the same frequency, you have the same outlook on life. This is the type person you want to call you.

There is an easy way to test out your logo and designs. Show your business card, or if you can your logo without all of the contact information, to some non-biased people. Someone who will tell you what they think, not what they think you want to hear. Especially show it to your favorite customers.

Now, the trick is to not ask them what they think. You will hear how pretty it is, or slick, or they like that color. What you want to know is how it makes them feel.

If the owner of the imaginary spa mentioned above asked people what they thought of that red spiky logo, many might have said, “It’s really eye-catching,” or “it’s bold.” But if she asked them how it makes them feel, she would hear, “edgy, excited, stirred up.” She definitely would not want to attract customers who will expect that kind of experience.

You vs. the Image.

It is common in our society to show a different face to the world, to project an image we think will make us or our businesses more popular. Politicians and celebrities often do this.

We are afraid if people saw the “real” us, it wouldn’t be good enough. These are the limiting fears and beliefs that will keep us from prospering. We design our marketing materials to reflect the image and not our true selves. This causes the disconnected feeling that repels the clients who would actually resonate with us.

Being authentic, conducting business from the heart brings amazing results. The amount of people attracted to this type of honesty and open-ness is astounding.

Experiment. Try it for one day. Talk to your customers from your heart, not trying to put on a mask. Be completely yourself.

Then, after you see the tremendous results, you can design your logo and marketing materials to reflect the true you. You will attract your perfect new clients eager to do business with you and not the image.

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