Do you have your company’s logo on each slide too?
I had a discussion with a new venture-backed client about the use of logos in presentations. The client wanted the company’s logo on each slide, as many do. He claimed that the logo is a visual symbol of his medical device company and he wanted to use it to build his brand.
I maintained that having a logo on each slide could be counterproductive. When working on client presentations, I advocate using logos in three places only:
Do you have your company’s logo on each slide too?
I had a discussion with a new venture-backed client about the use of logos in presentations. The client wanted the company’s logo on each slide, as many do. He claimed that the logo is a visual symbol of his medical device company and he wanted to use it to build his brand.
I maintained that having a logo on each slide could be counterproductive. When working on client presentations, I advocate using logos in three places only:
- The cover slide
- The divider slides
- The closing slide
“The logo won’t help make a sell or make a point, but the clutter it brings does add unnecessary noise and makes the presentation visuals look like a commercial.”
Why shouldn’t you have a logo on each slide?
Michael Hyatt claims that you shouldn’t put logos on each slide because they are annoying. These are his reasons:
1. People know who you are. They are not going to forget the name of the company you represent—especially if you have something meaningful to say. They don’t need to be reminded on every slide.
2. People resist repetitive advertising. With a logo on every slide, your presentation feels like an infomercial for your brand. This builds in a subtle resistance to your presentation and, ultimately, to you. Is this the outcome you want?
3. Logos take up valuable real estate. Everything that is not directly related to the one point you are trying to make on your slide competes for the audience’s attention.
Here are the alternatives to having logos on each slide:
If are having a hard time letting go, and would still like to have logos or a mention of your brand on all the slides in addition to the cover, divider, and closing slides, I would suggest you take one of three approaches:
#1 Create two types of content slides–with and without the logo
Once you create an internal slide, create an identical one without the logo. In that way you can sometimes use the slides with the logo and at other times, go without the logo during your PowerPoint presentation. This is especially useful in slides where you need a lot of real estate, such as slides with graphs and charts.
#2 Use a single element from the logo that enforces your brand
Do not use the whole logo on the slide but use just an element from it, and place it adjacent to, or integrated into, the page number. This will remind the physician or investor of the brand identity of your medical device company, but in a subtler way.
#3 Create a weak or transparent version of the logo
The main problem with logos is that they are extremely dominant, look like noise, and distract the audience from the main messages on the slide. If you must have a logo, create a transparent or lighter version of it and place it on each slide. In that way, you will still have your logo but it will not be too overwhelming to viewers. This is gives a watermark effect.
Healthwatch Technologies Website
Should each PowerPoint slide still have a logo?
I wanted to give you the pros and cons of putting logos on PowerPoint slides. This is important since presentations are fundamental to any fundraising activities or medical devices marketing. What you do next is entirely up to you. Remember that the main thing, however, is how to communicate your medical device story right and put the message across most effectively.
Picture by contraption