Anytime brand identity design enters the chat, people automatically think of iconic consumer-facing corporations like Nike, McDonald’s, and Starbucks, but brand identity and logo development are just as critical for B2B companies as they are in the B2C world. In fact, a recent BCG study recognized that B2B brand elements are responsible for a 74% higher return on brand marketing investments and hold a 46% larger market share than weaker brands.
B2B brand elements include everything from logos, typography, and colors to content tone, animations, and brand values, and it’s a huge undertaking to evaluate and restructure an entire brand identity design – so let’s focus on one piece at a time. Today, we’ll dive into logo design for business success. Logos are the first impressions customers get of your company, and investing time and money to craft an optimal design is well worth the effort.
If you’ve been toying with the idea of updating your visual identity for a B2B audience, the (matter) team is here to share our best practices. We have decades of experience helping clients market less but matter more. Let’s take a closer look at the importance of logos in B2B relationships, tips for developing a strong brand identity design, and steps you can take today to set yourself on the path toward successful logo design.
The Importance of Logos and First Impressions
Despite overwhelming evidence and data-backed studies like the BCG insights mentioned above, some companies still don’t recognize the importance of brand identity design elements like logos. For quick reference, here are the benefits of creating a well-defined brand identity:
A thoughtful logo serves as a visual representation of a company’s brand identity, values, and tone. When done right, it paves the way for a good first impression and affects a company’s reputation for years to come. The (matter) team wants all our B2B clients to build the strongest visual identities possible, which means they’ll need logos that can stand the test of time and adapt to changing market trends.
How To Develop a Strong Visual Identity for B2B Marketing
B2B businesses with strong visual identities have a better chance of being perceived as industry leaders – a goal that every company is fighting to reach. You can throw out just any design and hope for the best, or you can invest in thoughtful, quality design to increase brand awareness, improve customer engagement, boost sales, and ultimately outpace your competition.
From Salesforce and Slack to Adobe and Amazon, B2B businesses only keep up with changing trends if their visual identities are simple, scalable, versatile, and memorable. The best way to ensure your company’s logo meets these four criteria is through competitive research, which can highlight the white space in your industry and show you exactly where and how your logo can stand out in a sea of noise.
Keep in mind that while these four steps are a fantastic overview of the logo design process, you’ll need to take a more granular look at logo design before finalizing your plans. Dive deeper into successful logo design here, or keep scrolling to discover other important factors of B2B visual identity.
Additional Factors in Logo Design for Business Success
Once you’ve created a logo design that can grow and adapt through the years, it’s time to think about additional factors that play influential roles in consumer behavior. Namely, it’s crucial to dive into color psychology, focus-group test your new designs, and maintain a consistent brand identity across all your B2B touchpoints. For a bit of extra guidance, here’s a closer look at these brand identity design factors:
- Use Color Psychology: Certain colors evoke specific feelings and perceptions from your audience, so consider the meanings you want people to associate with your brand
- Test Your Designs: We strongly recommend involving stakeholders in the design process and creating space for design testing through surveys and focus groups before taking them to market
- Be Consistent: Brand identity design is only effective if it carries the same tone, messaging, and values and is consistently applied across your website, social channels, digital campaigns – essentially all your B2B brand elements. (matter) suggests developing clear brand guidelines as a helpful reference for your team
Partner With (matter) for Expert B2B Brand Element Support
Creating a strong visual identity for B2B is an intensely complex process. B2B brand elements like logos need to be simple, scalable, versatile, and memorable to create the impact you need and want in your industry and set your company apart as a trusted authority. Add high levels of market research and testing to the to-do list, and suddenly developing B2B brand elements feels like you’ve taken on more than your team can handle.
That’s where (matter) comes in. The (matter) team designs B2B identities across all industries.
Our B2B design process has proven success in brand logo development, primarily because we base our decisions on data-driven research and we consider our clients’ entire brand identity as we create. If your B2B business needs a bit more support in designing its logo or other visual elements, (matter) can partner with your internal teams to activate your brand in new and exciting ways.
