During my extensive internet searches for funeral homes, I’ve noticed that even those with an extensive web presence don’t have a logo.

Now, I understand the nature of the funeral industry:  your firm covers a finite are and often only has a few competitors.  But that doesn’t preclude you from branding your company’s identity.

Like it or not, your company currently has an identity.  Your name, reputation in the community and your employees’ actions have built your brand.  (For our purposes, “brand” here means the way you’re perceived in the community.)

If your brand’s healthy, maybe you don’t need a stronger graphic identity.  But if your brand is suffering or you’re trying to get traction in a community, a graphic representation is often the best way to cement in your potential customer’s mind who you are.

EXAMPLE:  You’ve got meet my friend Ashley.  Ashley’s a musician with a knack for writing great commercial jingles.

From that description, you might picture in your mind a person who looks like this:

 But if I include a picture of Ashley like the one below, you’ll understand immediately.
My hypothetical friend, Ashley.

Likewise, if you’re in Clear Lake, Minnesota and you see a billboard for McDonald’s, are you going to a restaurant or a jerky store?  Of course, since McDonald’s Restaurants do such a great job of marketing their brand logo, you would know the difference with just one glimpse.

  or

I’d challenge you to find a logo that fits your company and then use it religiously.  And that doesn’t mean just use it in church bulletins….

Last week I posted some logos of various funeral homes to kickstart a discussion of what your logo says about your business.

Today, we’ll start with:

What does this logo and the name say to you?

I asked several (okay, two) consumers who were not familiar with this funeral home group to tell me what they thought about the name.

The first thought it was  a law firm.  The second said the name sounded like a high-end furniture store.

After showing them the logo, I got positive responses from both. 

The name helps convey a sense of exclusivity or high-end quality.  Consider brands with similar names: 

Sherwin-Williams (Paint Store)
Williams-Sonoma (Cooking Supplies)
Hammacher Schlemmer (Gifts, Gadgets and Toys)
Benjamin Moore (Paint)
Mercedes-Benz (you should already know this one!)

So if Baldwin-Fairchild has carefully considered its name and logo, they’ll be a higher-end funeral home…

Answer after the jump…
(more…)

Here’s a collection of logos from various funeral homes.  We’ll be talking about each of them over then next few days.  Until then, take a moment to contemplate each and decide what it says to you.