Imagine the following situation:
The man enters the restaurant. Regular customer. Like anyone else. He found a right spot and waited for his waiter to serve him.
The waiter asked a typical question: “What will you have today, Sir?”
“Coffee with the mustard.”
Like the true professional, the waiter kept his poker face, but in his head, he thought:
“Now, I can respond to this request in three ways: “yes we do serve coffee with the mustard”; “no we don’t serve coffee with mustard,” and “we don’t serve that, but we could make an exception today. So, what kind of mustard would you like to have in your coffee today?”
Since our waiter is experienced, happy to please the customer who is always right, he can opt for the second and third version. Does it matter if he understands or agrees with the customer’s choice? If he opts for these answers, the customer is going to be the only person in the world that is going to taste this unimaginable combination of flavors, that he even enjoys: the flavor of the coffee with the mustard. No one else is going to be exposed to this, or experience this kind of coffee flavor.
Let’s go back to the first version. Our waiter is well aware that he is working for the well-recognized restaurant, whose stuff is not going to change their modus operandi and do whatever customer wants because that is not aligned with the brand they’ve been building for years. The next customer could ask for the coffee with glitter, and that could seriously jeopardize their health!
I am well aware of the saying that the customer is always right. We all know that. But sometimes you just can’ answer positively to any or every wish or demand from your customers, sometimes you have to take a deep breath and respond: “I’m so sorry mister; unfortunately, we don’t serve coffee with mustard. Is there anything else that I could offer to you today”?
When it comes to the logo design, there is no such thing as – this is my personal preference, what I like the most about it, and what I would like it to be-. This is typical for small businesses’ owners because people are usually very emotional about their small business. They built it from scratch; it is their baby! But, they typically don’t have any or little marketing knowledge, in a way they are afraid, and they want to keep more control over this part of the business process. Unfortunately, this is very often the wrong path to take.
“Everybody should do what they do the best…
She/he is a fantastic entrepreneur if they came to the point of thinking that they need branding. But that doesn’t mean they are marketing professionals. After all, that is why they came to us.
We don’t create logos and brand identity for just one person, and there is no space for the intimate personal emotional approach. What serious businesses and brands will do is not to allow the personal preferences to lead them, but to try and communicate the essence of their business, their passion, and effort they invested, with the rest of the world and their target audience. Again, the coffee with the mustard could taste good to the gentleman who orders it, but it can hardly become the item the people will go “loco” for, all coffee shops will compete to include it in their offer.
The same is with the logo design. You should create something that people nationwide or globally can understand and we really take our brand-design business seriously and we really go deep.
Let me ask you one thing: would you like to have a logo or identity that only you like, or would you like to have branding that works for the market and brings you more money?
Don’t get me wrong. I am not saying that logo, or branding, or identity should not be an original idea, that they should not communicate the business owner’s vision and passion, what I am saying is that that message has to find a way suitable for new consumers. And professionals know exactly how to do that. They have studied for years and years to be able to do it.
We, at Designer and Gentleman, do listen very carefully to what are our client’s needs and goals are. That input is of the utmost importance to us! But not necessarily how to achieve these goals. Being in the field successfully for so long, allowed us to develop knowledge, experience and proved methods that will work with the audience.
The bottom line is: if you are a “coffee with the mustard” lover, I’m afraid that Designer And Gentleman is not serving that kind of a product. But if you are into the highest-quality coffee logo design you could ever imagine, and you are looking to achieve great communication on the global level – you came to the right place!