Ana's No Brainer #1: Get a Professional Logo
October 12th, 2007 • Posted by Ana Loiselle-Donahue • Permalink
I'm so frustrated. I can't believe all the spa and salon owners I come across, who simply fail to appreciate, understand or execute on what I believe are absolute "no brainers," to making more money and becoming more successful.
Let me tell you a bit about my background. I'm one of the few that "made it" in this industry. I started my own spa and salon from scratch, making it a Salon Today "Top 200 Salon" two years in a row, and eventually sold it for a tidy profit three years ago. That salon and spa still exists, and is doing well. It is Anna Luis Salon and Day Spa in Michigan. Since then, I've been a consultant working on startup and turnaround spas and salons all across the nation. I work hard to help these owners realize their dreams: Opening and maintaining a healthy and growing business.
My clients, like the clients of other consultants in this industry, have a leg up on their competition: They made the difficult decision of hiring a consultant. They realize that engaging an expert provides valuable input, a second pair of eyes, and raises difficult questions that ultimately have one goal in mind: Success.
There are scores of spa and salon owners who are having trouble staying out of the red, bringing in business, keeping their employees, maintaining outstanding service levels, etc, yet steadfastly refuse to hire a consultant. Worse, they refuse to implement what I believe are absolute no brainers. Over the rest of this year, I'm going to post a number of no-brainers. These no brainers are easy, inexpensive and absolutely critical to your success.
No Brainer #1: Get a Professional Logo.
How do you feel, when you try to do business with someone with a crappy logo? Did you have low expectations about that company? Did it leave you feeling a bit anxious about their product or service?
Every business needs a professional logo to help the customer feel comfortable and identify the promise of the goods or services they are about to receive. Professional means that it doesn't look like a photograph, business card or plain text. It must exemplify and promote your brand (i.e. The promise you want to make to everyone about what they will experience when they do business with you). It must be easy to recognize and read at any size (large or small).
For an experiment, go to Spa Emergency and type in your zip code or metro area. Quickly scan the logos. What catches your eye? What looks the most professional? Now search for "Michigan," and scan that list. Notice the logo for Grande Med Spa (one of my clients)? How does that logo look in comparison to the competition?
The Grande Med Spa logo highlights several important issues:
- It's professional and stands out amongst the rest.
- We know they are targeting men and women.
- We know it's a medical spa.
- We feel comfortable that it's a quality establishment (i.e. It forms a high expectation of the potential experience).
By the way for you SpaBoomers: The Grande Med Spa logo also takes advantage of SpaBoom's "transparent" logo capability, which allows the logo to "float" above the background image. This makes for really beautiful gift certificates. Check out SpaBoom's help for logos, for more information.
I really recommend spending the money to hire a spa consultant (who understands branding concepts) to come up with a logo for you (Of course, I'm biased on this 
). If you're the "hands-on" type and REALLY have some creative, artistic skills; then I'd suggest checking out Logo Maker. You build it yourself and spend approximately $40. Word of caution: Make sure you get at least five of your friends to review and give you a thumbs up before etching your new logo in glass!
Some additional tips to consider when coming up with a logo include:
- Build it to last - It should never have to be redesigned.
- Don't make a photograph your logo - Make sure it looks good in black-and-white (i.e. newspaper advertisement), and can be reduced in size to look great on a business card.
- Make sure it can be adapted to work on other products, marketing and sales collateral.
- It must work with your overall marketing strategy.
- Use a combination of your company name and emblem.
It's been said before, but this is one proverb that bears repeating: You never get a second chance to make a first impression. If you don't have a logo, or you have a crappy logo, make this your top priority. It's a no brainer.
With almost 10 years experience in new business start-ups and transformations, Ana Loiselle-Donahue is a specialist in finding new sources of revenue and growth for companies of all sizes. She founded theSECRET in 2004 to help businesses flourish through creative —and powerful —new solutions; including brand development, strategic financial planning and employee training. Mrs. Loiselle-Donahue can be reached at 866/288-7353 or at www.thesecretconsultant.com.
Posted in the SECRET, Spa Marketing, Spa Business Management, General • Share • Trackback
October 13th, 2007 at 9:47 am
OMG! I just got my logo redesigned to make it more professional and to reflect that my business has evolved from a general day spa to a eyelash extension specialty salon. I sure hope it's not "crappy…" Even though I am only a one-woman operation, I have been focused on branding from day one. I finally feel like I have a focus, and I wanted a logo that reflects this. Anyway, thanks for the great advice and have a fun weekend!
October 13th, 2007 at 11:11 am
Is "The Secret" logo an exmaple of a good logo and good branding?
October 13th, 2007 at 5:27 pm
Hello Everyone!
I want to comment on the Grande Med Spa logo. I want to congratulate the author for getting her client spa's name out there on the web, bravo. You are a smart consultant!
I disagree with what Anna believes The Grande Med Spa's represents. I did as she recommended and went to the Spa Emergency website and looked at all the logos for Michigan. Yes, the GMA's logo stands out, but only because it isn't using SpaBoom's generic business name generator. When I saw the word "Med," my first thought was Club Med, and that isn't medical. I couldn't even read the tiny line of print at the bottom of the logo. I had to go to their website to find it says, "A Center for CosMedic Rejuvenation." You really have to pay attention to notice there are silhouettes of a man and a woman on the GMS logo.
A great logo doesn't make or break an establishment. A logo alone will not make me think a place is a quality establishment. Burger King has a professional logo, but most the BK's I have been in are icky. Perhaps BK should have some line art of the King slipping on a greasy floor built into their logo.
A good logo should be easy to read and get a customer's attention. If you can include some art work which helps people understand your business better, that's great. But honestly, the general public doesn't pay that much attention to signage unless they are specifically looking for it.
Before I started my clinic I rarely noticed the logo's of local businesses. I now also read the newspaper differently. I notice the ads more than the articles. I am always checking to see how the competition is marketing themselves, how many ads they run in the paper, the size of the ad, etc… The general public needs to see ads or logos multiple times before they actually notice it and think about acting on it. I am no longer objective. Don't you hate that when that happens Anna?
October 14th, 2007 at 5:05 pm
Pictures vs. Logo,
I also took a look at the Spa Emergency site (both for Michigan and for our home area of Pittsburgh). I encourage all to visit this site to make sure that they are updating their information (I did this several months ago and it has really made our listing stand out amongst the others). While I think that logos are important, I don't agree with Ana regarding the use of pictures. We live in a visual society and pictures are one of the fastest ways to get your point across (ever hear the cliche "a picture is worth a 1000 words"). How true this is. The more important point is, if you do use a picture (or a logo for that matter), you have to make sure that it reflects your business and no one else's. My husband decided when we started ESSpa Kozmetika that I would be the "brand" of the business (he thinks that I look the part) and think of it this way:
If someone is comparing spas just on the web listing, print advertisement, brochure, business card or other branded item then which would be more attractive: Spa A) the place with a pretty logo a la Grande Med Spa or; Spa B) the place with a professional picture of a natural, smiling owner in the business itself.
The picture we use for ESSpa Kozmetika at Spa Emergency is the same picture that we use for our business cards, for our customized plastic Gift Cards, and for other related advertising.
And if you don't believe that pictures make a difference, imagine our surprise when a local competitor used a generic picture in a recent newspaper ad that happened to be the same picture we used on the cover of our Brochure - needless to say, our brochures now use our own (my) picture.
Of course I could be wrong but since the rest of the local spa industry is copying what we are doing, then I don't think that I am.
Good Luck,
Eva Sztupka-Kerschbaumer
ESSpa Kozmetika Organic Skincare
www.esspa.com
October 16th, 2007 at 6:52 am
Hi Eva,
I think you misunderstood Anna. When she said not to use photos, she meant a photo of your logo. For example, taking a picture of your sign outside your establishment and posting that on your website, use for your logo, or on your SpaBoom gift certificates. I don't think I have ever seen this done, so maybe it's not a common thing. However, the next time I do see someone using a photo of their logo from a sign instead of a jpg or bit map file, I will think of Anna right away.
October 17th, 2007 at 7:55 pm
Hi, everyone!
Thanks for the excellent comments. The objective of my article was to address folks who completely lack a logo. I didn't want to go down the subjective path of critiquing individual logos, only because that's difficult to do with the limited amount of space available in a blog. I understand I was opening up a critique of Grande Med Spa, but my intent was to highlight it versus those who have no logos whatsoever.
Some good points in the discussion above. There is much complexity and nuance around building and maintaining a brand and identity, and choosing / creating the right logo to reinforce your brand and identity. I merely want to express that your logo is the foundation of your brand. Your website, marketing and promotional materials — all of which should integrate your logo — communicate your brand. The more clear and consistent you communicate visually and verbally who you are, the more effective your overall brand strategy becomes.
So, whether you are the innovative maverick; or the experienced, reliable one; or the high-cost, high-quality option; or the low-cost, high-value option; that is up to you. All I would suggest is that you can’t be all things to all people. Decide who it is you want to be — and be consistent — and that starts with your logo!
October 18th, 2007 at 7:14 pm
I'm a little turned off by what Eva wrote above. She asked which spa would we choose, Spa A or Spa B… Well, it would depend on many factors, such as what I'm looking for in a spa and not simply because a picture of a "natural, smiling owner" is flashed across the screen. And actually at first thought, that seems a little amateur and a little egotistical. Pictures do work in marketing and do have their place, as does a good logo which helps establish brand and name recognition. Goes to show that everyone has his/her own individual ideas about marketing, but there are time tested methods that work and stats that show which tactics are most effective in marketing. I'd lean more toward the experts here.