In a previous article, we talked about why you need a well-designed logo for your local service business (e.g., painter, electrician, landscaping, house cleaning) and how to effectively apply it to your marketing materials to enhance your local presence and make your brand instantly recognizable.
If you’re ready to take a stab in creating a logo for your business, there are many online tools you can use to generate a logo that you can apply to all customer touch points.
Here are 3 popular online logo makers and how they stack up against each other:
Enter your business name and the application will generate a series of logo ideas. Or you can choose from designs based on industries or keywords.
Select a template and customize the design by changing the colors or fonts. You can also add a tagline.
Download your logo file.
Logo Makers Comparison
When selecting an online logo making tool, you should consider the ease of use, template variety, customization options, file format variety, cost, and future application:
Ease of Use
All three logo makers offer a simple step-by-step process that involves not much more than choosing a template, colors, and fonts.
In addition, VistaPrint allows you to filter logo ideas by style and BrandCrowd offers the option to choose from a list of industries or filter by keywords.
Get started on VistaPrint or BrandCrowd by choosing from a wide range of design templates as a starting point from which you can customize the text, colors, and fonts.
LogoMix offers fewer layout options and you can begin the process by choosing a style, color, and font.
Customization Options
All three logo makers offer templates you can use as starting points to customize your design with their editing tools.
Brandcrowd offers the most user-friendly editor with many options to adjust text, fonts, layout, background, icon, and shapes.
Output Variety and Cost
You need the ability to download the final design files in a variety of formats and resolution so you can apply the design to different marketing materials (e.g., website, print, etc.)
You can apply the logo you have created with VistaPrint’s logo maker onto its own products at no additional cost or you can download the files, including color and black-and-white versions, icon-only versions, landscape and portrait layouts, and high-quality PDF and JPEG for $20 each.
BrandCrowd is free to use and you can purchase your logo in a standard package ($45) that includes high-resolution PNG and JPG files (for web), vector SVG, EPS and PDF files (for print), files with transparent background, and multiple logo variations.
For $39.95, you can download high-quality source files you can use for documents, business cards, and websites from LogoMix. The logos are available in multiple sizes, black & white, and transparent formats.
Future Usage
VistaPrint and LogoMix allow you to apply the logo you have created using their logo makers to business cards, brochures, shirts, stationery, website, promotional products, labels, stickers, etc. directly on their website so you don’t have to spend the time to download and upload the assets.
Keep in mind that printing can be tricky because the colors you see on the screen may not be the same as it comes out on paper, especially if you use different vendors. Having the same service to design and print your logo can minimize unpleasant surprises, saving you time and money.
If you plan to use different vendors, check that the file formats provided by the logo maker are accepted so you don’t get locked into a single provider.
Final Thoughts
The various online logo makers offer easy and affordable options for creating a visual identity that can help you build brand awareness in your community and attract more customers.
Your logo, when applied to various customer touch points such as website, social media, third-party review sites, and offline promotional materials – can help you deliver a consistent customer experience that’ll help you augment your local presence and build trust.