Dan Antonelli When the logo for your home services business fails to stand out from the crowd, your company won’t get all of the attention it deserves. Many potential customers will simply look right past you and move on to a more promising option. A ho-hum logo also results in ho-hum vehicle wraps, uniforms, stationery, brochures and other company collateral.
If ho-hum is a good description of your brand, here’s some good news: You have the power to change it. Our team at KickCharge Creative has the expertise you need to create a brand you’re proud to stand behind.
Your logo is the foundation of your company’s brand and one of its most important assets. Many of the businesses we’ve worked with have discovered that a brand with a character or mascot can make a game-changing difference when it comes to growing their businesses. First impressions count—and a small business mascot is a great way to introduce your brand to your target audience and the rest of the community.
A well-designed mascot can easily become a small business’s best sales and marketing tool. A fun, approachable mascot is more likely to grab consumers’ attention, which is exactly what every small business needs—particularly in the crowded HVAC, plumbing and other service-related industries.
Good branding draws attention to your company even before someone directly interacts with your business, allowing you to showcase the type of service and care they can expect from your company—without saying a word. Mascots lift this communication to an even higher level. They humanize a brand, which enables your business’s target audience to better identify, remember and understand your company and the services you offer.
When done right, mascots are brand representatives and brand amplifiers that help deepen the emotional connection between the business and existing/potential customers.
When it comes to your mascot design, every detail matters. It should be simple, but, most importantly, it must be original. Relying on clip art that has been used dozens of times before not only lacks originality, but it also cannot be trademarked, which allows other companies to swoop in and replicate it. The mascot’s genre and style should complement the typography and the uniform the mascot “wears” should be an accurate representation of the actual uniform your employees wear.
Embracing a character or mascot as part of your brand can be a difficult decision. Is a mascot appropriate for your business? What kind of mascot would best represent your brand? What type of mascot could live across all of your advertising media?
Thankfully, our team of branding experts can help answer these questions. However, it’s important for you to consider the following:
By answering these questions, you’ll gain a clearer understanding of who your small business’s mascot should be and what it should accomplish.
Don’t worry! The team at KickCharge will help you find the answers that make sense for you.
When people see your mascot, you want them to have a positive image of your company and the products and services you provide. So, regardless of whether your company’s brand is conservative, casual, edgy or somewhere in the middle, your mascot must convey professionalism. This helps instill confidence in customers that they’re making the right choice by putting their trust in your company.
The mascot’s genre and style should complement the typography and the uniform that the mascot “wears” should be an accurate representation of the actual uniform your employees wear.
When it comes to your mascot design, every detail matters. It should be simple, but, most importantly, it must be original. Relying on clip art that has been used dozens of times before not only lacks originality, but it also cannot be trademarked, which allows other companies to swoop in and replicate it. The mascot’s genre and style should complement the typography and the uniform the mascot “wears” should be an accurate representation of the actual uniform your employees wear.
As with any other marketing tool, mascots are highly effective when they’re done right. When done wrong, however, they can be disastrous for a small business.
Here are some signs a mascot has been taken too far:
It’s Cheesy and Amateur
You’ve seen these mascots before. They strive to appear hip or humorous, but come across as patronizing. Ultimately, they alienate consumers rather than attract them. Poorly rendered mascots make a company appear amateurish. That’s why you must give careful consideration to the professionalism of your mascot.
There’s a Brand Disconnect
A great personality is a key component of your mascot. In an effort to develop a friendly, relatable mascot, many small businesses lose sight of what a mascot is intended to do: establish a brand promise and embody the brand’s personality. When there is no brand promise present in a mascot, it loses its effectiveness as a brand representative. To avoid this disconnect, it’s important to collaborate with a creative team such as KickCharge. We’ll help you develop a mascot that accurately depicts your brand.</p.
Incorporating a small business brand mascot—when done the right way—can yield tremendous success for your company. Keep in mind that your brand mascot serves as an extension of your company. So, from the color scheme to the typography, it absolutely must represent your business accurately.
When you turn your logo and mascot needs over to KickCharge, you can rest assured we know what we’re doing. Our experienced, creative team will help you transform your brand from bland and indistinguishable to attention-grabbing and memorable.
