Branding jungle: do the logo, brand, and trademark actually differ?

The same minute you start thinking of building a business or a side hustle you’ll probably find yourself drowning in the sea of advice given by friends, parents, significant other, youtubers or even random strangers on the internet.

You’ve probably already heard something like: “You definitely should get a logo!” or “Develop your brand, it’s essential!” or “You know you’ll need a trademark, right?”. And there’s a huge chance such comments/questions will get you confused. What’s the difference between brand and trademark anyway? And what logo has to do with all that?

Well, LogotypeMaker is here to break it down for you and make this startup journey a bit easier. So, enjoy this post!

Brand

Imagine the nested Russian doll, which has two smaller dolls inside. The biggest one will be your brand as it includes both the trademark and the logo. The brand is your company’s public image, the essence of what you’re doing or selling, your prestige.

“A brand is the set of expectations, memories, stories, and relationships that, taken together, account for a consumer’s decision to choose one product or service over another.”

 Seth Godin

The brand is formed by multiple elements including the following:

• Logo & name
• Corporate colors
• Products & packaging
• Ads & publicity
• Signboards & interior decor
• Jingles and music
• Scents

Of course, not all of these elements are essential for every type of business. E.g. your startup is 100% internet oriented and you don’t have any way to incorporate scents or signboards into your branding strategy. But that’s ok as long as you remember that basically anything that has to do with your business has to do with your brand and will influence it whether you’re aware of that or not.

The brand is about the values your company stands on. So think of how do you want your company or products to be perceived and build the branding strategy with those things in mind. E.g. you want to be known as trustworthy, high-quality, and helpful. Choose the name, the logo, the colors, the music that will come off as the chosen company values.

And one more thing! Don’t forget that branding is something you should constantly work on. There will be no time to rest on laurels, really.

Trademark

Trademark is the Russian doll that “hides” within the brand. Some may think brand and trademark are the same things but that’s not the case. Trademark is a  part of your brand that is legally registered and protected.

The trademark can include one or several brand elements (like logo, name, slogan, jingle, colors etc.) that you feel are super special and would prefer to be legally protected. Once the trademark is registered you will get a license and no one except you (the license holder) can benefit from using your company’s logo, name or slogan.

If you’re still wondering like: “Why do I even need that?” just imagine one of your competitors creating a website with your logo and company name on it and selling some random rubbish. If your business isn’t legally protected that can happen and no fraud will be punished! Like ever! But having the trademark prevents that kind of problems. So you should consider registering one.

Moreover, having a trademark eventually leads to the higher profits! A product with a legally registered trademark is more trustworthy and is risk-free. And customers love that! And they are ready to pay more for it! And no competitor will be able to take that customers’ loyalty away from you. So by registering a trademark, you get a bunch of privileges at once.

However, there are some parts of your brand that can’t be a part of the trademark. Like your reputation and the thoughts and feelings your customers have when it comes to your products or services. That’s why trademark and brand aren’t the same things even though they have much in common. Basically, brand equals a popular and well-known trademark plus the customers’ credibility and loyalty.  

Logo

A logo is the tiniest piece of this whole “brand/trademark” puzzle. But even though it’s tiny it keeps everything together. A logo is the most known part of the brand, it’s the company’s signature. Without it, all the hard work you’ve put into building the business from the ground up will be just a waste of time and effort.

You might think: “All of the things I’ve just read in this post are super interesting and useful but the whole logo and branding stuff is super stressful and I don’t have neither time nor money to order everything I need from professional designers!” You know what? You don’t need to! You can just use LogotypeMaker, a functional user-friendly online tool that has been in this business for quite a while and is built to help the first-time entrepreneurs like you!

If you need a logo, take advantage of the LogotypeMaker’s logo gallery with thousands and thousands of beautiful art templates, icons, and fonts. Spend some time exploring the unique online editor with the custom logo design options (which basically means you can change literally any part of the logo like you want to). No other online tool can offer you that!

And if the whole branding kit with the corporate colors and fonts, advertising materials and business cards still sounds like something too complicated LogotypeMaker offers a full range of branding services: business cards templates, email signature logos & social media logos, headed paper & envelopes, vector-logo print-ready images for the ads, favicons and much more. If you need some type of graphic or design help for the branding just go to LogotypeMaker. You’ll find it there within seconds! And all of it without spending all of your savings. Isn’t it the greatest way to start a business? Just go ahead and try it!