Maybe and maybe not. Let’s ask some different questions. Feel free to use this same logic for LinkedIn, Twitter, FourSquare, or pretty much anything else.

I’ve noticed that the “herd” mentality starts to come into play more with social media than with other things. The reason seems simple. Most people don’t really understand it, but everybody seems to be doing it. Plus, it’s free. The innate human tendency: when in doubt, follow the crowd.

Not every business is on the internet. In fact, there is still a huge segment of the population that doesn’t particularly like computers and prefers to use them as little as possible. I hear generalized statements like “everybody’s going to the internet these days – that’s where you have to be!” I think to myself, “not necessarily.” Not everyone thinks the same way.

If you’re considering putting up a Facebook page for your business, you’d do best to keep this in mind. While you don’t have to pay for a Facebook page (at least not yet), time is money. Here are some questions to ask yourself:

1. Why (specifically) do you think your business would benefit from being on Facebook?
2. What specific measurable goal do you believe that you can achieve on Facebook that you can’t achieve anywhere else?
3. 90 days now, how will you determine whether your idea proved to be correct or not?
4. How much time per week are you willing to commit to spend learning how to use Facebook for your business?
5. Do you know of any businesses like yours that are currently making more money because they use Facebook?

You might think that just because it doesn’t cost any money, you have nothing to lose. The risk, when it comes to free things like Facebook, is spreading your time too thin. When you see a way for Facebook to produce measurable results (preferably direct revenue), you’re ready to pull the trigger.

If you’re not clear about how Facebook will make you money, but you still want to start playing around with it anyhow, that’s fine. Just do it on your personal time and don’t think of it as a business activity.

You’ve probably seen plenty of QR codes by now, even if you didn’t know what you were looking at. “QR” stands for “quick response.” The basic idea: it’s a two-dimensional bar code that can easily be scanned by “smart” phones. They are an easy way to grab people’s attention. When a shopper scans a QR code, their phone displays a web page. The theory: QR codes create a means of instant interaction with ads and printed media for people who might have been too impatient to type a URL into their handheld device. (Sad but true: attention spans are dwindling to microsecond durations these days).

In theory, putting QR codes all over your direct mail pieces, fliers, store window, and other marketing materials will drive more people to your web site and help your e-mail marketing efforts.

The million-dollar question: does this really work for small businesses? And can QR codes be implemented profitably with the time and money available to a local mom-and-pop operation? While I can’t answer that question universally for every business, I can give you some simple questions that will give you pretty clear idea whether or not QR technology is worth considering for your business.

1. Do you regular advertise with print media of any kind?
2. Do you regularly track and monitor the stats on your web page?
3. If yes to #1, have your web pages gotten enough traffic in the last 30 days to give you an accurate reading of the current conversion rates? (You should have an average of at least 5-10 unique visitors per day from a single traffic source).
4. If yes to #2, are you getting an acceptable conversion rate from at least one traffic source?

If the above questions made no sense to you, you’re probably not ready for QR codes. But even so, stick with me. I’ll give you an example. Let’s say you run a coffee shop. Let’s say you got 5 visitors to your web site who all saw your sign out front, 6 visitors from your Facebook page, 3 visitors from Twitter, 8 visitors who clicked on the link in your monthly newsletter, etc. These are all different traffic sources. (If your web site doesn’t tell you where the visitors came from, you made need to have your web developer install a new statistical software tool).

Suffice to say, the first step is to stay on top of your stats. That’s not your web designer’s job, by the way. As the business owner, it’s yours. Don’t even think about implementing QR codes or any new technology until you are comfortable with stats.

Stats aside, QR codes do offer a lot of promise for marketing. The real payoff: it’s possible to measure real-time ad impressions from print media (something that has been impossible until now). However, that advantage is only as valuable as your ability to track your site’s real-time performance.

A logo is the first pillar of any brand building campaign. It helps your potential clients and customers to remember your brand. But, only if it has a certain few qualities, otherwise it is just a pretty picture that no one bothers to do anything with.

Uniqueness, attractiveness and effectiveness are the most important qualities of a logo design. It has to be unique as it is your brand / business identity. It should be something good to look at, and it should have some smart idea behind it that would make people curious about it. It should communicate the message which the designer intended to deliver as effectively as possible.

What happens if a logo design doesn’t do all that? Well then it is a bad logo design. If you are a well established financially strong business you can probably undo the damage by spending more on further re-branding and redesigning a perfect logo. However, if you are a startup then there are some serious consequences of a bad logo design that you must watch for.

1. Brand Distortion
A bad logo design distorts the image of your business or brand by misrepresenting it. Viewers unable to understand it would assume whatever they wanted with your logo design. Hence your brand image in their minds is distorted and you can’t help fix it.

2. Negative Impact
There is nothing worse than a logo design that communicates a wrong message, something negative or evil, like racism for example, or promoting hatred or something. Of course you didn’t want to do that on purpose, but it happened and your brand image is not only distorted and disliked, sometimes people can be brutal and they might even start hating you just because you had a bad logo design.

3. Silent Damage
Sometimes businesses and organizations do not even realize that they have a bad logo design which is not helping them at all. They keep using it meanwhile worrying why their promotional efforts are not paying off. This damage continues to grow until the cause is identified, but surprisingly not many businesses pay attention to their own logo and how it might be causing them the cold response.

4. Redesign Costs
As a start-up, a new business, or an established small business you might have limited budget to spend on branding and marketing. Getting your logo redesigned is just an unwanted experience which would increase your promotional budget and since you had a bad experience with a cheap logo designer this time you might consider hiring someone a little more fancy, which will cost you even more.

5. Rebranding Costs
As soon as you got your logo you may have gotten it printed on your business cards, your brochures or banners, posters, mugs or whatever approach you use to promote your brand. Redoing your logo design would not only cost you designer fee, it would also cost you a lot more when you start using new and improved logo on your promotional stuff. The added cost would become too high if you had already spent too much on marketing with your previous but horrible logo.

As a start-up you can avoid all this trouble by making smart choices right from the beginning. Spend some time on researching topics like design, business logo, and branding. An intelligent logo can boost your start-up’s brand image, get one in the beginning and then build your business empire on it.

Author: Ben Johnson is the Alliance Manager at Logoinn, a custom logo design company. He writes about the effect of design on marketing and brand identity and helps small businesses find design solutions for effective marketing.