When marketing a business, you need to consider all aspects of design for your advertisements. There are many avenues of design when it comes to promoting your brand, but one of the most influential is colour. According to multiple scientific and psychological studies, each shade creates a different emotion in the viewer — from urgency to buy now, to trusting in a brand.
Considering that some studies suggest that a shade can help viewers to recall an offer or brand for longer, it’s clear that being colour-aware when designing a marketing campaign is beneficial. To help you use colour effectively and efficiently, check out this marketing colour psychology guide…
The benefits of colour in marketing and advertising
How well researched is colour psychology and marketing? There have been many scientific studies into the connection between shades and sales that appear to show a strong correlation. According to a Canadian experiment, nearly 90% of snap decisions regarding consumer products are based solely on colour.
Have mainly female or mainly male consumers? There are plenty of studies around that may be of interest to you. For example, a study published in the Journal of Retailing found that men believed savings were much greater in value if they was advertised in red rather than black, while the difference was much smaller among women. The imbalance of colour psychology between males and females was also apparent in the study, Colour Assignment. Although blue was popular across the board, this study found that purple was a second-favourite colour for women but the second-least favourite among men. Similarly, other studies on colour attractiveness found that softer hues are preferred by women, while bold shades were liked by men. Are you using the right hues for your main consumer?
How about when you want to achieve a specific marketing aim? Studies have shown that yellow is utilised to grab attention and should perhaps be the colour of choice in store windows, while red is most people’s key indicator of discount prices and ‘urgency’ and should be used on clearance sales posters for optimum effect. Also, both these shades are warm colours. According to an experiment, these are better at sticking in a viewer’s memory than cool colours (like blue and green). So, it might be good to use them on promotional ads to keep consumers thinking about your offer for longer, as well as your brand logo itself to ensure you come to mind when they next need a product or service you offer.
The combination and merging of shades is also influential. Another study found that contrasting shades also improved readability — essential if you want your pvc outdoor banner to be seen by more people from a greater distance.
Colour perception differs by culture and country, but it remains clear that it plays a role in our cognitive process, which makes it worth your consideration when it comes to the few second you have to catch a consumer’s eye and attract them to your brand.
The colour of your logo
The shade you choose for your logo can also affect your success rate, apparently. According to research compiled by Kissmetrics, 85% of shoppers surveyed say colour is a primary reason for buying something. Also, it was found that colour boosts brand recognition by around 80%.
Check out the emotions connected with each shade and examples of the brands that use them:
| Colour | Effect | Logo |
| Yellow | Optimism and youth | Chupa Chups and McDonalds |
| Green | Growth and relaxation | Starbucks and Asda |
| Pink | Romance and femininity | Barbie and Very |
| Purple | Creative and wise | Cadbury and Hallmark |
| Black | Power and luxury | Chanel and Adidas |
| Orange | Confidence and happiness | Nickelodeon and Fanta |
| Red | Energy and excitement | Coca Cola and Virgin Holidays |
| Blue | Trust and security | Barclays and the NHS |
Are these colours complementing the brand that uses them? Apparently so. For example, inciting trust for a bank is important, which may be why Barclays chose blue, while Starbucks wants you to relax at their coffee shops and Virgin Holidays wants you to get excited about booking a trip.
“One of the greatest assets and one of the easiest ways to sway decision or attract an emotive response — or alienate a consumer — is through colour. Purple with Cadbury; Shell with Yellow; National Trust with Green — they all work and work wonderfully well,” states June Mcleod, author of Colour Psychology Today.
Brand logo colour is important, although there are no strict rules. Consider the statistic that 80% of clients think a colour is accountable for brand recognition. If you want your customers to gain a sense of loyalty and familiarity with your brand, the colour should reflect your brand’s products, services and character.
Using the best shade for your brand
Get started on incorporating colour psychology in your marketing campaigns. Take beer company, Carlsberg, for example. The marketing team here worked to rebrand using colour with great success. Using white for its Carlberg Export packaging and changing its formerly green bottles to brown; the company achieved 10,000 new distribution points and a sales increase of 10% in the 12 weeks leading to summer in 2017.
Keep these main points in mind when designing your next advertising strategy:
- Red and yellow: use these to boost the chances of catching attention.
- Contrasting shades: enhance the clarity of your ad’s text by using opposite colours (e.g. orange and blue). This is essential considering you have just seven seconds to make a bold first impression and get your point across.
- Your audience: if you want to follow the outcome of the study above and sell mainly to men, avoid purple, which is not typically a top colour for this gender…
- Enhancing your ‘personality’: work out how you want consumers to perceive your brand and opt for a colour — or colours — that reflect your ideal ‘personality’.
This article was created by UK roll-up banner providers, Where The Trade Buys.
Sources:
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0258042X1103600206 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022435913000031How Do Colors Affect User Choices and Purchases?https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2235253 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4347302/ https://www.businessinsider.com/only-7-seconds-to-make-first-impression-2013-4?IR=T
