One of the most important yet most often overlooked aspects of your brand is the color scheme you use to advertise. However, your clients often pay more attention to your colors than you may realize.
When you advertise your brand with specific colors, your clients will associate those colors with your brand every time they see them. It’s important to understand the impact your colors are having on your client. With so many implications, it can seem like a daunting task to pick colors to represent your brand – so how do you go about picking your colors?
Step 1: Know your brand.
Whatever product or service you’re wanting to sell, chances are, you know it pretty well. When you’re choosing colors to represent both your brand and your product, the most important thing to consider is the feeling you are trying to invoke in your clients by providing that product or service to them.
For example, if you’re selling candles, your logo and branding material should make your clients feel relaxed and at home. Believe it or not, your brand colors can either make or break that feeling. It would be more beneficial to you to use a warm yellow or brown to make your brand feel warm and inviting; if you were to use black and grey, you run the risk of feeling more edgy and gloomy.
Step 2: Research the psychology of color.
Each different color creates a unique atmosphere in the context in which it is used. There has been extensive research on the psychology behind each color and how each one affects humans. In marketing, it is very important to know how your advertisements are going to influence a customer. As you choose your brand colors, be sure to keep in mind what message your colors are sending. Also, make sure they align with your business personality and appeal to your target audience.
While you don’t need to be an expert on color psychology to pick brand colors, it’s helpful to know the basics. Start with a foundational knowledge of several of the meanings behind 12 of the most common colors. Then, you’ll be able to select two or three which will align your branding with your mission and reach more clients.
Step 3: Pick colors that relate to each other.
Once you have an idea of the colors you want to use, start combining them to create your color scheme! You can go on to use those colors for your logo, advertisements, and business cards…but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
When you’ve picked a two or more different colors, choose the shades and combinations that go together best by using the color wheel. A word of advice: never just choose one color; two is the bare minimum, but three or four is recommended. You can choose specifically complementary colors or shades that just look nice together; just make sure your colors relate in some way. Coherency is key to professionalism!
Step 4: Use your colors to promote your brand.
Now that you’ve picked your colors, you can go ahead and utilize them in your branding! When you’re advertising, of course it will be difficult to just stick with the select few colors you’ve chosen. Don’t worry, you don’t have to just use your brand colors. While they should be the main focus, you are absolutely welcome to use others surrounding them; and, of course, you aren’t limited when you insert photos. With those guidelines and your new colors, you are ready to start marketing your brand!
If picking brand colors to fit your business sounds like a journey you don’t want to walk alone, don’t worry. Contact our designers at Blackwood, and we’ll be more than happy to help.
