This comes up regularly in my professional life--often at the office, sometimes in the freelance work that I do on the side, but often enough that I wish people would invest a little more time in understanding their own marketing goals.

See, in advertising, logos are a little like cars: you certainly want a nice one that makes a good impression, but it shouldn’t overwhelm your marketing message. One of the biggest mistakes that people make is in believing that making the logo bigger is the main ingredient to your branding efforts. Make the logo big enough and people will remember your company and think of it whenever they want to buy whatever widget it is that you sell.

Except that’s not quite right. An oversized logo says nothing about your product, your services, the way you treat customers, or why they should buy your solution over some other company’s. You don’t want a logo to be completely unnoticeable, of course, but if logos are a little like cars then the giant logo is a little like that ultra-flash, ultra-expensive sports car with wings, ports, and vanity plates that read some variation on the “Look at Me” theme: sure, some people will like it, but everyone else will just think you’re overcompensating. If all you want is for people to notice the logo, you may as well put a giant, flaming, and slowly spinning animated GIF on the front page of your site and call it a day.

Don’t be that guy. Realize that if your logo doesn’t communicate its message at a reasonable size, it won’t communicate it at a Brobdingnagian size, either.

Instead of making the logo bigger, ensure that your identity is well-placed and strong, but expand your branding effort to include the message, the imagery, the colors, the fonts, and the tone of your marketing efforts. Come up with good graphics guidelines that define your branding efforts and remember that your branding effort starts with the message but continues all the way through the delivery of the product or service, on to how well your product fulfills its promise, and into customer service after the sale.

Apple understands this better than most companies, although it wasn’t always so. Once upon a time, Apple charged a premium for its products, but delivered them pretty much like any other company (only a little bit prettier). Now, everything about Apple’s products is designed to extend the brand--premium, fun, easy-to-use, high quality, and stylish electronics, computers, and software--throughout the product’s life. From the consistency of the ad messages, to the exquisitely designed packaging, to well architected user interfaces, to the (sometimes irritatingly minimalist) documentation that comes with their products, Apple does everything it can to make you feel good about the money that you spent on their product.

Some people think that’s all it is--a feeling--but Apple also delivers products that work well in their intended role. The reason that iPhones have seen higher satisfaction rates than any other smart phone on the market isn’t just because the branding was good, it’s because the entire user experience has been positive. Of course, this requires a commitment to a certain level of quality and a truly honest understanding of the company. If your brand makes promises that your products can’t keep, then it isn’t going to help in the long run.

Your branding efforts shouldn’t focus on the size of your logo. Your branding efforts should be something that carries consistently through every aspect of your business’s interaction with the end user. That’s how to create a successful, positive image for your company.