The other week I read a pretty poor article on a graphic designer’s website which tried (and failed) to clarify the difference between a logo and a brand. They were sort of on the right lines but not really (= euphemism for not at all).

To really understand the difference, you have to define what a brand is.

My definition is this:

A brand is the sum total of all of the activities and messages that convey - through whatever media and tools - who you are and what you do (whether “you” are a business or an individual).

In essence it’s what you want people to say about you, when you ask them what first springs to mind when you say your name or company name to them (some marketers call this ‘brand equity’).

When you look at it like that, your logo becomes just a single tool in your brand arsenal - albeit perhaps the clearest visual representation of your brand.

But your logo is not your brand, it’s part of it - along with tools like your voice, your speaking style, your writing style, your attitude, your beliefs, your language, your logo/brand colours, your uniforms, your website, your core values, your mission statement, your employees, the way you treat your prospects, customer service and the list goes on. Note: You can replace “you” with “your company”.

So is it worth paying hundreds or in some cases thousands of pounds to have a professional logo created? The answer to that depends upon what you want people to say about you when asked!

(Although with the definition I’ve used above, in my personal opinion no logo is really worth thousands of pounds given that it is only one part of your brand).

But I can quite easily think of several businesses where the first thing that comes to mind for me (being a primarily visual person) is “Ick, they need a proper logo, they look so unprofessional.”