Symbolism in Marketing

Symbols are a part of our everyday lives whether we acknowledge them or not. Symbols help people quickly identify what something is, whether that something is a business, idea, object, etc. A symbol is an easily recognizable representation of a deeper meaning. Marketing and small business professionals often use symbols to represent their business or brand, to make advertising materials easier to read and understand, and to convey deeper meanings through writing. Without symbols, there would be no way to distinguish specific brands. Not to mention, our marketing efforts would be wordy and boring.

McCauley Marketing Services feels very strongly about brand marketing. We believe that branding comes first; everything your company produces should reflect that brand. Logos are a part of branding, and that’s where symbolism usually comes in to play. There’s quite a bit to consider in logo design. Not only should your logo use symbols and fonts that reflect your company’s brand, but it should also be eye catching, unique, and easy to reproduce. I’m sure our graphic designer could go into much more detail on that matter, but I’ll stick to the symbols.

Color is another important component of symbolism.  Take our blog on the color theory for example. We discussed how humans innately form associations between colors and emotions. Fonts and even lines also affect how people identify a brand, so be sure to use colors that effectively convey your brand’s emotions when designing your company’s websites, logos, newsletters, etc.

Symbols are everywhere we look. Use this webpage as an example. If you look to the right-hand side of the page, you’ll see a couple of boxes. Assuming you’re social media savvy, these three blue boxes with a “t”, an “f”, and “in” are easy to identify. If you aren’t, clicking these boxes will take you to McCauley Marketing Services’ Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn pages.

Besides the visible symbols we see every day, symbols are often used in writing to convey additional messages besides the immediately visible. For instance, we wrote a blog back in December entitled Better Shop Around: The Value of Brand Comparison. Although the title encourages readers to consider grocery shopping, or shopping of some sort for different brands (notice: the stock photo we chose displays a red and green apple and reiterates this symbol), the blog actually details the importance of competition research. It’s about comparing your brand to other, similar businesses to give you a competitive edge.

While usually not as quickly noticed as the visual symbolism, writing on advertisements also uses words to attract attention and layer messages. Literature and music lyrics often rely most heavily on written symbolism. Imagine what ads would be without symbols—I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t take the time to read them.

Since symbols are such an important part of our consumer decisions, they inevitably also become an important aspect of our business lives. McCauley Services integrates symbolism into all of our advertising, public relations, marketing, and customer relationship management campaigns. For more information about what we do, visit our website. Keep reading our blog for more marketing tips, and connect with us on Twitter and Facebook for more frequent marketing updates.