How Important is a Logo ?

I'd think a logo would be beneficial. A true logo though, would be more recognizable and can help to instantly get across to potential clients what you do and how it benefits them, so I'd go for the logo over the photo of you - it's more brandable. Just my 2 cents.

Hans, appreciate your thoughts but I think I've nailed down the items you brought up..but here's some food for thought to compare to your current agent and maybe you can tell me if we're "head and shoulders" above the competition.

#1- you call for a quote- we not only call you back the same day with quotes from the top ten companies, we mail you out a complete package with a free gift, a booklet of testimonials from existing clients on savings, service, claims experience,money back guarantee, etc. In fact we promise to always call you back the same day, every time. All making us better than the competition

#2- we follow up with a letter to you at 14 and 30 days after the mailing to be sure you don't have any additional ?'s

#3- you choose us...you're work is already done if you don't want to bother with stopping down. we simply mail the doocuments to you for your signature..along with a welcome package including free gifts, an insurance portfolio for all your important insurance documents and a recap of the plan you chose. If you do stop in, you'll see your name prominently displayed on the welcome board in the lobby and be offered a soft drink/water while your appointment is initiated. You'll then be attended to by a topless agent age 25 or younger.

#4- you get a handwritten note from the producer who handled your case within two days, just a little "it was really nice meeting you" type of note

#5- You get a follow up welcome letter from the agency owner at the 14 day period with his promise to you, a free gift and an outline of the agency referral program and how you can be paid/rewarded for every person you refer.

#6- after 21 days you get a quick call from your producer to be sure you were happy with the experience and if you had any other questions

#7- after 30 days you get a questionnaire about the service you received and a request for a testimonial about your experience

#8- you receive a quarterly newsletter from the owner with helpful tips and other usefull info and surveys on client satisfaction

#9- All claims are followed up on in 30 days with a client evaluation form and offer to call and discuss any items that we can improve on in our service


I currently use focused direct mailing to target markets, radiused mailings to neighbors of new clients who saved $$, referral rewards program, print ads/advertorials, website/social media, lost souls campaign to previous clients, cross sell- up sell incentives to all producers, networking chairperson at chamber event, etc

So...does your agent "call" you up on your birthday to wish you a happy bday? Williams Agency does

Rick, If I had clients as nice as you I'd send them $$ for ice cream as well


Yeah, I hired a company I "googled" last night..we'll see what they come up with...and...thanks to all for the input

The statement doesn't make sense. Of course no one draws a logo "with their fingers up in the air," but when they see their logo on hats, t-shirts, whatever...


Your brain SCREAMS their name.

A logo is a doorway... a short cut to your brand.

I was thinking about your question.

I'd have the logo definitely include a nice picture of you.

Have the graphics designer work their magic around your picture.

For instance, there is a marked difference between a graphics only logo and one with a picture. Especially in real estate.

Seen again and again, it builds to convey a sense of trust, personalness as well as a unique identity. When you're shopping local, people will come up to you and say "I know you! You're that caveman guy.... no, you're that Aussie lizard... no, you're Dan Williams! OMG! That's it! Hey, can I call you sometime?..."

- Rick Duris

Think of Branding as an Iceberg. 15% of it is above the water the other 85% is below the water. The real benefits are invisible. The iceberg below the water is what sunk the Titanic.

People make buying decisions to give themselves piece of mind and that is invisible!

For every one those, there are hundreds of leading companies who successfully reposition and revitalize themselves (aka rebrand) every year. Here are a few from 2010 (with before and after pictures of logos/packaging/signage/websites etc):

2010 REBRAND 100 Global Awards Winners Showcase on Effective Rebranding

Here someone says "logo" and means the logotype, the little image next to the brandname.
For others it's just the brandname with its specific fonts and color.

We have talked about GAP in this thread. For instance GAP has no logotype, just the brandname on a blue (or dark grey when in B&W) background. The choice of letters is specific for GAP of course, but overall it's quite a simple logo. A logo that the corporate identity firm that has designed it would have probably asked 6 figures for it. A logo that 80% of anybody here could replicate on his computer and skills.

So is it worth spending time thinking about the logotype (the little image) for Dan? No.
Will it be important what kind of logo the company he has googled will propose? Again, no.
Unless they propose a totally unreadable solution, it will be just fine. But it hardly will change the business results of Dan and his insurance agency.

The point is that a logo is always less important than the brand. There are brands with awful logos or no logos that do pretty well. And I challenge most people to recall the logos of most brands outside the obvious ones.

If Dan has a problem is in the totally wrong domain, not in the logo.

.

Sorry for the ignorance but am I supposed to "manufacture" a .com opening for my agency?

I agree with what you say regarding the fact that no logo or brand without promotion can work by itself. And the example you mention just confirms logos are visual shortcuts.

So if your strategy is visual, a logo can help, but it doesn't do the whole work.
Probably the smart direct response marketer could have had similar results just by writing the brandname (unfortunately he couldn't do a split test).

But if marketing works on memorization of a message, then this message is linked to sounds, the sounds of the brandname when we read it or someone else talks about it.

Best,

- Marco

How do you know that?

If you are the smart marketer you didn't do a split test (since it was ONE shot) so it's just assumptions. And if you aren't the smart marketer then it's even more assumption.

Thinking a brand logo has more power than a brand name is negated by practical experience.

Try this: get 10 logos of medium known brands WITHOUT the brandname and show them to 10 people and see how many get the brand. Then do the same experiement with the brandnames.

Branding doesn't need to be brought to the next level. It need to be understood in its key principles and too many people don't.

Best,

- Marco

Well surely having a .COM domain instead of a NET domain is key. Ditto for avoiding dashes.

But if your brandname is "THISSUCKS" then a .COM domain cannot save it.

Marco

I re-read your post and I misunderstood it. Thank you for pointing it out.

And thank you for confirming what I say (even if you meant the opposite).

Your example says exactly my point: logos don't communicate well without brandnames.

They used a logo on a direct mail envelope that has the #1 goal of stimulate curiosity and getting opened. So, using a logo was more effective in getting the envelope opened, not because it communicated BETTER but because it communicated WORSE.

And that was exactly my point.

-- Marco

Stirred up some creative thoughts with this thread:confused: I had been thinking on the logo that I may change our tagline and create a logo in one action...something like "Better Insurance for Less Money" which would also be complimented by betterinsuranceforlessmoney.com which I just bought along with half a doz others. I'm still wondering how...this will all work out:confused:

Tagline sums up a USP effectively ?