Using Customer's Logos

skank

skank

New member
Dec 8, 2012
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Scottsdale, AZ
What's the legality behind using your customer's logos on your website? Obviously, the preferred method is asking for your customer's permission before using their logo on an "Our Customers" page, but could you do it without their consent? I think as long as it has the registered trademark emblem and you take it off if they ask you to, you should be alright

Just wanted to get people's opinions on this
 


I'm not a lawyer and don't play one on TV.

ALWAYS - ASK your customer FIRST and DO NOT put their logo on your website without their knowledge. Doesn't matter if its legal or not - Its not THE RIGHT THING TO DO!

Why would you want to piss off one of your customers to 'maybe' get another one?

Instead of asking for a 'logo' ask for a freaking TESTIMONIAL - way more powerful then just slapping a logo on there.

On the other hand, what if I want to take your clients from you with a 'better offer' then you can provide? All I have to do is go down your client list and call them. At that point only 'personal' relationships will save you. Cause people like to do business with people they 'like' (Provided the price is 'somewhat' competitive).

Advice is worth what you paid for...
 
You should really ask first, as by including their logo, it makes it appear as though they are endorsing you.

Personally, I kind of think posting your client list on your website is a cheesy thing to do. Some customers won't give a shit, while others don't like to be outed (this is why we have confidentiality agreements after all), and yet others don't want to know that you're both servicing them AND their competition.

Unless your clients happen to read like Absolut, Coca Cola, BMW, etc. your client list isn't really going to impress anyone and may actually serve to alienate potential prospects.

Of course it depends on what services you're providing. A designer with their portfolio online can't help but divulge their clients through displaying their work. Even then, some designs clients (especially in the IM biz) don't want their work displayed in your portfolio.
 
Gertex said:
Instead of asking for a 'logo' ask for a freaking TESTIMONIAL - way more powerful then just slapping a logo on there.

On the other hand, what if I want to take your clients from you with a 'better offer' then you can provide?
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I agree a testimonial would be much better and I plan on implementing that as well as logos

Sure, my competitors could try and steal my clients, but I've spent hundreds of thousands developing my product and it's far superior to what they have to offer

drave said:
gotta disagree here. i've gotten alot of quality advice on this board, yours included.
Click to expand...

Agreed!

Fatbat said:
Unless your clients happen to read like Absolut, Coca Cola, BMW, etc. your client list isn't really going to impress anyone and may actually serve to alienate potential prospects.
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They do. And that's why I would even consider putting their logos on my site. I think that if my visitors would know the type of companies that place their trust in my website I would be able to convert just that much better. My problem is that when dealing with these large companies and government agencies, it's very hard/nearly impossible to get them to agree to something like this. I even tried bribing them with store credit, but it's not their money they're spending so they're not really interested

Anybody have any suggestions for getting corporations to agree to let you use their logo/company name?
 
Fatbat said:
I don't think there's anything wrong with using their names. I see sites all the time that say our clients are:

Absolut
Coca Cola
BMW
etc.

but they don't use their logos.
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I've noticed this as well, in fact a suspiciously high number of times. Recently
I looked further into the issue. It seems that often times when sites are
claiming big brands as their client, really they are subcontracting for an outside
agency, who is in turn contracting for the bigco. It seems a little disingenuous
to then claim bigco as a client, but whatever, I would do the same. :action-smiley-052:
 
Fatbat said:
You should really ask first, as by including their logo, it makes it appear as though they are endorsing you.

Personally, I kind of think posting your client list on your website is a cheesy thing to do. Some customers won't give a shit, while others don't like to be outed (this is why we have confidentiality agreements after all), and yet others don't want to know that you're both servicing them AND their competition.

Unless your clients happen to read like Absolut, Coca Cola, BMW, etc. your client list isn't really going to impress anyone and may actually serve to alienate potential prospects.

Of course it depends on what services you're providing. A designer with their portfolio online can't help but divulge their clients through displaying their work. Even then, some designs clients (especially in the IM biz) don't want their work displayed in your portfolio.
Click to expand...

The bold is why I have avoided getting testimonials. Thankfully it's not as relevant for what I do because the quality of the work speaks for itself, but I can imagine in SEO-related services that customer testimonials would mean a lot more. I'm wondering if I'm wrong and testimonials would be a good thing.
 
When I worked at an seo agency one of the agency's clients was a reputable German auto mobile manufacture, let's call them B.B.C.

#humblebrag. #bigbrand.

Anyway, at the time the post joint deindexation/ guest-blogging "scandal" blew up, guess who's logo they were using on their website as a trusted customer?

They took it down and nothing more came of it.

A courtesy email is good practice but it depends entirely on the context of the use, and how sensitive the business relationship is.

If the blog-network wasn't outing a company of violating Google's terms and conditions, I doubt no one would have given a shit.
 
It's strange. A few of my "clients' didn't take too kindly to me using their logos on my sites. Probably why I got nasty emails from Farmers Insurance, Bank of America, CNN and Equifax. Goddamn ungrateful clients.
 
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