The Influence of Colors in Marketing

[caption id="attachment_2183" align="alignleft" width="331"] Image Credit: odanielgp[/caption] The role that careful color choice plays in successful marketing campaigns is often overlooked. We're all aware that design is important, but it's all too easy to just let designers handle the details and pass off one of the more important aspects of communicating the brand to customers. This interesting article from Fast Company takes a look at the varied responses of Instagrammers to different colors and visual elements, demonstrating the direct importance of  visually stimulating your audience into action. For business purposes, using consistent colors across all marketing materials cuts deeper still. The shades that you choose influence not only immediate decisions that a customer makes, but also longer term associations that they connect to your brand.

Learn to Love Your Brand Colors

The color scheme that represents your business, in the same vein as a logo and slogan, has a major influence on just how memorable you are to potential customers. A recognizable image is essentially a mental cue to recall your brand - which we know from neuroscience is important! - while a succinct slogan sums up your service in a quick, concise statement. Colors could feed every aspect of these other elements, springing them into life, providing perspective and  making your business marketing materials that much more memorable. If your mind flagged the qualifying "could" above, well done Hawkeye! Although there are helpful guides to how colors affect emotions and purchase decisions, there are plenty of dissenting voices questioning how conclusively we can state that any particular colors have a certain effect. But if that quoted stat that colors can increase brand recognition by up to 80% is anywhere close to accurate, this is a choice that your business cannot afford to gloss over. At the very least, having a working knowledge of color concepts helps to feed in to having constructive conversations with your design team. Understand that a particular color has the potential to draw an association, good or bad. This will help you  narrow down your choices, slot favorites on a short list and get to grips with the reality of how each potential color palette will affect your actual marketing materials. Note that this includes both online and print channels, with the latter being the one arena in which your color choices have a quantifiable impact on the cost of your marketing.  

The Bottom Line

Although there are clearly polarizing views on just how much control a business can have over a customer's decision-making process when choosing brand colors, there are still solid takeaways to apply to your own marketing materials:

• Understand the context - Always frame the choice of colors within the characteristics you want to have associated with your business. Don't rely solely on third-party research that hasn't factored in the flavor of your unique brand.

• Compare the competition - How do your potential palettes compare to those of your competitors? If they don't help you to stand out, they probably need to be scrapped.

• Ask for other opinions - Try out your color schemes on a neutral group. Create a short and simple survey to determine the types of emotion(s) that your chosen colors evoke.

• Remain consistent - Regardless of the final colors you select to represent your business, ensure they stay the same across all your marketing assets. If the time comes to change, change everything at the same time!

How did you come to choose your organization's brand colors? How do they influence your marketing materials? Share your style with us Facebook, Twitter, or Google+ pages.