Making an impact with the visuals of your marketing piece, be it a pull up banner or a brochure,will determine the success of your campaign. Colour and design go hand in hand — and according to studies, each hueevokes a different emotion, which could beanything from urgency to trust. Considering some experiments imply that colour can dictate how long we are able to remember an offer, it’s clear knowing how to use in marketing is important.
Want to learn more? If so, take a read through our marketing colour psychology guide for tips…
Use colour in campaigns to communicate emotionally
Colourhas long been linked to psychology, but more recently colour has been connected to industries such as marketing and interior design.An experiment commented on by Canberra-based, Content Group, found that 90% of snap decisions about products are based on colour only.
Does your business target a more female or male dominated audience? If so, a study published in the Journal of Retailing found that malesthink that sales are greater in value when promoted in red rather than black. Conversely, fewer women believed the same. Also, purple was considered a second-favourite colour for female respondents in a colour study while it was the second-least favourite among males. Equally, women prefer softer hues, while stronger shades are the hue-of-choice for men.
Colour psychology demonstrates that you can aim to generate a bigger a response if you use colour wisely.Use yellow to catch the eye of a passer by in your store window and red to signify discount prices — this is because, apparently, red evokes ‘urgency’ and indirectly encourages you to act fastand so, is good to boost a sale. Red and yellow are warm shades, and according to an experiment, warm colours are better at staying in a person’s mind than cool colours (such as blue). Could you use warm oranges, reds and yellows to keep your brand logo or newest promotional offer in the mind of someone driving by one of your billboard ads?
Consider blending colours together as another useful tactic when it comes to your designing a new campaign. Another study found that opposingcoloursenhanced readability levels — vital if you want your pull-up bannersto remain readable from a greater distance than usual.
A personal understanding of colour can be enhanced from experiences and culture according to Art Lovers Australia. Although this may be true and not all consumers will be affected in the same way, colour psychology has been researched multiple times and is worth bearing in mind to boost your future campaigns.
Successful brands and colour
Around nine out of ten shoppers claim a colour is a major reason for buying and that colour boosts the ability to recognise a brand by approximately 80%, states research compiled by Kissmetrics.
Here are some examples of the successful brands andthe emotions associated with the colours they employ:
| Colour |
Effect |
Logo |
| Yellow |
Hopefulness and warmth |
[yellow tail] and McDonalds |
| Green |
Growth and relaxation |
Starbucks and Spotify |
| Pink |
Romance and femininity |
Barbie and Very |
| Purple |
Creativity and intelligence |
Cadbury and Hallmark |
| Black |
Power and luxury |
Chanel and Adidas |
| Orange |
Confidence and happiness |
Nickelodeon and Fanta |
| Red |
Energy and excitement |
Coca Cola and Arnott’s |
| Blue |
Trust and safekeeping |
Facebook and hp |
Starbucks provides a good example of a strategic approach, by choosing green and evoking relaxation in their coffee houses. And has Arnott’s got it right by evoking excitement to encourage its consumers to by its treats, like Tim Tam? Perhaps, and you could do the same. According to June Mcleod, author of Colour Psychology Today: “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.”
Is colourresponsible for brand identification? Eight out of ten people believe so.Take a look at the colour red and the power Coca Cola has had with it, even changing the colour of Santa Claus!To help customers build familiarity with your brand, make sure your logo reflects what your offer and the persona you want to adopt.
Inject some colour into your marketing strategy, it’s never too late
Danish beer company, Carlsberg, rebranded itself perfectly. Opting to use mainly white in its Carlberg Export packaging and altering its once-green bottles to brown, Carlsberg enjoyed a sales increase of 10% in just 12 weeks.
A few highlights to driving success with colour?
- Use red and yellow to grab attention.
- With onlyseven seconds to make a bold first impression, use opposing colours to boost clarity and readability.
- Think about if you sell to mainly men or women and remember the above research about different colourperceptions…
- Determine how you want to be recognised as a brand and tweak your campaigns accordingly —include orange to inject fun into your ads or use sleek black to infuse your promotions with an air of luxury.
Hopefully you’re now convinced about the power of colour and ready to boost your marketing success today!
Sources:
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0258042X1103600206
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022435913000031
https://neilpatel.com/blog/color-psychology/
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
