When you’re running a business, one of the best tools you can have at your disposal is brand recognition. Of course, this is easier said than done. While we are all intimately familiar with the Nike “swoosh” and the big golden arches of McDonald’s, not every company has the ability to master brand recognition like these examples.

As a small business, creating a logo that not only grabs people’s attention but also sticks with them is a great way to ensure that your name gets out there and sticks. But what makes a good logo? How can you be certain your logo is helping to create brand recognition?

When coming up with your logo, make sure you follow these tips.

• Your logo is your identity. Make sure you have a logo that translates well within your industry but will also be memorable and easy to recognize by the public.
• Your logo should be able to be properly displayed on big media outlets—such as billboards—as well as small items, like business cards. Also, does it look good on a screen? Will it adapt well to your Facebook page? If not, you might need a slight redesign.
• For some reason that no one is really clear on, it seems that logos that are created in a rectangular design seem to work best in terms of brand recognition.
• Make sure your font is simple and easy to read. Also, try not to use more than two colors; using multiple colors and fancy fonts can be very distracting.
• Does your logo translate well into black and white? An effective logo should be able to be recognized even without the colors (for example, the Nike and McDonald’s logos we mentioned earlier).
• Never do a complete redesign. You will confuse your current and potential clients and will spend forever updating all of your media materials, from business cards to e-mail signatures and everything in between.

We’ve already said it, but it’s worth repeating: your logo is your identity. Does your current logo say everything about you that you want it to? Is it easy t recognize among other companies in your industry?

Take a good hard look at your logo today and ask yourself these questions. If the answer to any of them is NO, then you may want to think about a slight tweak.