How Understanding Color Psychology Helps Boost Your Brand Engagement
Written by: Domenica Escatel, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
I am sure if I asked you to name your favorite restaurant, retail store, or dessert you would associate it with a certain color. The colors that are found in your logo or represent your brand can affect a person instantly. You can study the meaning of color to help you better understand and connect with your ideal customer. Color evokes feelings. It incites emotion. And it’s not any different when it comes to selecting colors for your business.
Why Is Color Psychology Important to Your brand?
Colors influence how consumers view the 'personality' of the brand in question. Choosing the right colors for your marketing efforts can be the difference between your brand standing out from the crowd, or blending into it. By using colors strategically for your marketing efforts, you can get your audience to see what you want them to see and help them perceive you the way you aim to be perceived. This is why understanding color psychology can be so useful for your marketing efforts. Because it can help you portray your brand the way you want to.
Color can be used by marketers to influence how people think and behave toward a brand, and how they interpret any information. The choice of colors can help people decide what is important. And that’s why content marketers need to understand what different colors mean. It is important to remember that color associations are heavily affected by individual experiences and cultural influences. When I come across yellow daisies, I think of the garden of daisies my mom has in the backyard. If I see yellow in a logo, I automatically associate it with the memory of the yellow daisy thus my mom.
Sometimes a certain color can have many connotations for you. For example, you may choose to wear a yellow dress one day because:
It lifts your mood
You are ready to act
You are feeling creative
You want to make a statement
Color meaning
A brand’s visual identity or logo will comprise a number of visual cues, such as shapes, symbols, numbers, and words. But the number one visual component that people remember most is color. When it comes to branding, the power of color is both emotional and practical. On an emotional level, color can affect how your potential client’s feel when they look at your brand, while on a practical level it can help your brand stand out in the crowd.
Red: Excitement, Strength, love, Energy
Pink: Compassion, Sincerity, Sophistication, Sweet
Orange: Confidence, Success, Bravery, Sociability
Purple: Royalty, Luxury, Ambition, Spirituality
Yellow: Happiness, Creativity, Warmth, Cheer
Brown: dependable, Rugged, Simple, Trustworthy
Black: Formality, Dramatic, Sophistication, Security
Blue: Trust, Peace, Tranquility, Loyalty, Competence
White: Clean, Simplicity, Honest, Innocent
Tools you can use to help you
A color wheel is the best tool for understanding colors. The most basic form illustrates primary, secondary, and tertiary colors and how they work with or against each other to create color palettes used in art, decorating, and marketing.
Primary colors are the three base colors from which all colors are created. Secondary colors are the three colors created by mixing equal parts of two primary colors. There are six tertiary colors created by combining equal parts of a primary and secondary color.
All other colors — the list is endless — come from combining different amounts and saturations of these colors and, sometimes, adding black or white.
These basic color “categories” are used in developing branding and marketing strategies by employing different combinations to achieve a company’s particular goal, image, and purpose.
Color presents a powerful opportunity for self-expression. Use colors to accentuate your existing brand identity, and make sure that you piece together a cohesive style. At the end of the day, color is only one part of your branding equation and ultimately needs to complement your voice, persona, tone, and company values.
Domenica Escatel, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Domenica Escatel is an online branding strategist, dedicated to helping entrepreneurs around the world show up powerfully online. Domenica shows entrepreneurs how to craft their business stories with practical steps that can be easily implemented. Domenica will show you how easy it is to leverage any social media platform to make you and your business stand out. Domenica has a master’s degree in leadership and her photography has been featured in various media outlets. Domenica has earned numerous awards in the United States for her work and has been invited to speak at various conferences. Domenica has also used the power of building an online presence to build a movement on social media that is built on educating, empowering, and equipping the next generation of leaders.
