It’s easy to get excited when you’re getting ready for a logo design or redesign! Getting sidetracked for hours on Pinterest looking at ideas is a sure bet when it’s time for something like this. But, I’m going to raise a caution flag and ask you to reign it in for just a few moments. There is some groundwork you should do before getting all wrapped up in colors and fonts. Read on for insider secrets to getting exactly the logo you want.

Vision Statement

It may seem obvious to some, but not everyone realizes that putting together a vision statement is the first thing every business owner should do before they even begin their venture. Christine J. Culbertson (Boyle) writes in her article Forbes Councils, Business Planning: Create Your Vision And Mission Statement: “Your vision for your business is what you want it to be. In simple terms, a business vision describes where your business is going and how you’ll know when you’ve arrived. A business vision requires you to get real about your personal and business ambitions. How do you define success? What will it take to get there, and how will you know when you do?”

Mission Statement

Culbertson continues her article by referring to a mission statement: “Your mission statement is what you want to be known for. In other words, the vision is the ‘what,’ and the mission statement is the ‘why.'” Honeybrook.com has a mission statement generator that simplifies the process of creating one. I gave it a try and it came up with “Our mission at Pam Owens Design & Marketing is designing around small businesses vision with creativity, originality, and ingenuity.” I like it!

As you work through these steps, it may be inspiring to see what other brands have established as their vision and mission statements. You can find some great ones on Hubspot.

Core Values

Marc Lore is an entrepreneur and president, founder of Jet.com and Diapers.com, currently Chief Executive Officer of Walmart eCommerce U.S. He believes that businesses should have only three core values because people tend to be able to remember three. It’s been proven that even the CEO has difficulty remembering more than three.

Competitive Advantages

Kimberly Amadeo for The Balance states that “to be successful, you need to be able to articulate the benefit you provide to your target market that’s better than the competition. That’s your competitive advantage.”  The six factors of competitive advantage are quality, price, location, selection, service, and speed/turnaround. Amadeo’s post helps explain how your competitive advantages work to give you an edge over the competition.

Narrative

The last part of the process is developing the narrative you’ll use to connect with your audience. After deciding what your business will do, why you’re doing it, the values you prioritize and how you will differentiate yourself from others, you need to know what your emotional connection is to your audience.

Following these key components of business development, you’ll have everything you need to begin my logo design process. Completion of these steps before designing a logo makes sense because it makes the business owner establish a solid foundation with a big picture of what they’re doing and where they want to go. Knowing all of this helps direct your logo design.