Once upon a time, a short poll was conducted in the “Ideas – Market Yourself” LinkedIn group to help select a logo for a start-up retail company. The group members were asked to be a part of what was called an “ad-hoc, 3-second focus group.” The mission—for those who chose to accept it—was simply to pick the logo they liked and trusted most. The target was Ye Old Renaissance Shop (www.yeoldrenaissanceshop.com.) The online store needed a logo that could reflect its inventory of medieval dresses, Victorian clothing, pirate clothing, swords, armor, jewelry and other yesteryear wonderfulness found at renaissance fairs around the world.

One of the key discussions growing out of this exercise was on the notion of rating the logos for trust. There was a concern that—without any prior knowledge of the Ye Old Renaissance Shop brand—poll-takers could only rate logos on aesthetics; not trust.

This was a valid concern. First, let us get clear on what branding is and is not.

What Branding Is

First, branding is a phenomenon that happens in the minds and hearts of those who experience your brand. Most of us make quick, judge-the-book-by-the-cover decisions based on what we see, hear, feel, smell, taste and experience. No doubt this is a survival skill that kept us alive during our cave-painting days. These judgments help us quickly label, categorize and reduce an experience into a single thought or feeling. This phenomenon occurs around practically everything we experience, but we tend to be more aware of it around organizations, individuals, places or products. In marketing circles, this distilling down into a singular thread of feeling or thought is called branding.

What Branding Is Not

Branding is not

• your logo,
• your business cards,
• your flyers,
• your billboards,
• your print ads,
• your websites,
• your news releases or
• anything else you typically show people when they ask about your company.

These are all brand signatures. They represent your brand. They are not your brand itself. Think of your marketing pieces as ambassadors for your brand. They convey the message, but they are not the message itself.

Second, let us explore the connection between like and trust.

The Link Between Like and Trust

“They have to know you, like you and trust you before they’ll ever do business with you.”

~Every sales guru since before time began

As you notice a logo for the first time, you begin taking in information about the brand and the brand owners. From there you make decisions as to whether you like the brand and trust its mission (the mission can be informational, entertaining, commercial, spiritual—whatever.) Our judgments begin flowing within the first seconds of experiencing a brand and continue to evolve as we take in additional information about the brand.

Again, the speed at which these judgments begin within us is almost immediate. We’re talking nanoseconds to seconds upon first impression. Few of us are even consciously aware we are making these judgments.

So when asked to rate a logo for like and trust, it is understandable most folks select the logo they find most visually attractive. If you’re lucky, a little thought will go into trust. Consciously, most believe their decision is based upon pure aesthetics. However, since it is nigh impossible to form an opinion about something without pulling from our past life experiences—all of which are mapped within us at deeper, unconscious levels—it’s safe to assume we’re tapping into the same inner knowledge that would also determine our trust quotient. This assumption relies upon like and trust being very closely tied to one another. After all, when was the last time you trusted someone you didn’t like?

Though it was understood trust would be a more remote feeling during this survey, it was still worth mentioning so it could at least have a chance of becoming a conscious metric.

Survey Says!

The final results for ye old poll:

• Logo #1: Contrary to the marketing professionals’ first choice, Logo #1 was not the people’s choice with a mere 8.8% approval rating.
• Logo #4: 8.8% for Logo #1 was 100% more votes than those received by Logo #4 (zero.)
• Logo #3: A distant second place with 23.5% of the votes. People were drawn to its wistful, organic line work, but maybe it was that storybook quality that reduced their trust in it?
• Logo #2:Quickly became the leader of the pack and never looked back, taking 67.6% of the vote. Many of the comments pointed to #2 feeling more “renaissance” and regal.
  • Note: Concern arose when one of the participants commented the embedded tagline, “Period Merchandise,” gave them more information than the other logos. Was Logo #2 receiving more votes because the logo carried more information? (Information is one of the currencies that buy our trust.) Hindsight being 20/20: To level the playing field, the tagline should have been removed prior to judging.

All in all, the survey was a good experience for everyone involved. Ye Old Renaissance Shop received the market-tested/market-approved logo under which to peddle its medieval garb and gear. Survey participants were able to see, first-hand, the thought and analysis that can go into selecting what is arguably the most important brand signature for an organization: the logo. Finally, this marketer had the importance of testing drilled into him once again. Thank you to everyone who took those few seconds to weigh in on the survey. Apply a 3-second focus group to your next marketing endeavor to see what works! You may be surprised!

In support of your efforts,

Matt

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Matt Schoenherr is a husband, father of four, business owner of Dreamscape Multimedia, and marketing consultant. As a syndicated author of a marketing and public relations column, Matt writes for a national online news magazine. Matt has over 17 years of national community outreach experience. His blog at www.mattschoenherr.com analyzes marketing concepts, delivers marketing ideas and occasionally explores the more magical side of life.