Outlining text in Illustrator turns your copy into artwork and renders the letters into shapes that can be modified!
Doing this has two advantages:
1) the font used to layout the copy is no longer needed in order to see the design as intended
and
2) the outlined shapes can be further stylized for logos, so it is more unique than simply a font typeface
You can do so much in Illustrator; it is THE program you need for logo or icon work, so be sure to download your FREE 30-day trial of it here.
And grab my FREE cheatsheet with all my FAVORITE shortcuts: