Choosing the right brand colours for your company
When you’re promoting your business it is important to consider HOW you’re doing it. When talking about ‘brand’, one of the key elements is to decide on colours that represent your company culture and ethos. As we all know, colours mean lots of different things to different people, but generally speaking as a community we tend to associate certain colours with feelings. Research shows that ‘up to 85% of consumers believe color is the biggest motivator when choosing a particular product, while 92% acknowledge visual appearance as the most persuasive marketing factor overall.’ (Canva). With this in mind, choosing the right colour pallet for your branding could be detrimental to your success. We’ve come up with a list of pointers to help guide you if starting out fresh, or if you are rebranding.
Evoke the right feeling
Let’s use the colour black as an axis of discussion.
Say you owned an ice cream parlour. One that had kids queuing for sprinkles, flakes, lollies and sundaes… A black brand colour in this instance probably wouldn’t make sense. But why? Well… black is commonly associated with death and darkness, but in marketing is often used to convey elegance and sophistication. If you’re trying to evoke a culture of youth & fun, then black is not the colour to do that with. Instead try bright, approachable colours that convey the brand message of fun and excitement.
Stay relevant – Who are you targeting?
But, let’s say, you owned an ice cream parlor that sold exquisite Italian gelato and macaroons… black in this instance could work. The company is clearly not targeting children, so their brand might need to reflect a more adult and perhaps serious energy. Chanel is a good example of a brand that uses black to engage a more sophisticated and luxurious customer base. One of our own clients utilize this more serious aesthetic within their website too. Thornton & Lee came to us with a strong brand that harboured their professionalism and expertise. As a care planning company who carry out complex Lasting Power of Attorney assessments, it is imperative they’re giving off the right messages through colour. They need to be viewed as smart, sensitive and executive. We think their brand is spot on when it comes to the context of what they do, and a perfect example of how the subtle choice of colour can have a big impact on how we perceive a company.
Be daring, it could pay off!
Sometimes it can be difficult to get the right balance between being striking, and becoming over the top and garish. There is a fine line and if you cross it, you could risk skewing your whole brand message. But, in the same step, you don’t want to play it so safe that you just fade into the masses. Let’s talk about red. Which brands come to mind when you think of red? Coke? Ferrari? Prada maybe?… There have been contentions over the use of red in marketing as to whether or not it can actually cheapen a brand. Red is often in this context associated with sales or bargains. Like a stop sign, it’s used to signal cheap offers or calling someone to action something. But in the instances of the examples listed, the colour red is used to ignite a sense of hunger, power, erroticism. It is interesting how colours can be used two fold in this way. And it’s fair to say that huge brands like this have not only used the psychology of colour but have perhaps even contributed to it. We often associate red now with the brands directly! This is when being bold can tip your brand into the realm of ‘iconic.’
GCB Recruitment take full advantage of being bold with colour. Our latest client to join us for digital marketing came to us with a punchy and vibrant colour scheme that boasts confidence and zeal. As a recruitment agency that specialises in property and finance jobs, GCB have harnessed the power of combining blocks of colour. Their branding strategy uses the ‘call to action’ element of the colour red to engage and ignite passion and urgency in the user.
At Nu Image we are committed to helping businesses get the most out of their brand. As a full service digital agency, we house creatives from all sorts of backgrounds from graphic design, creative writing and web development. Get in touch if you need help with rebranding an existing online business or if you’d like to seek a consultation for a new brand venture.