Choosing the right colours for your brand

When starting up a new company, there is a lot that goes into the decision-making process such as choosing a name, creating a logo and deciding who your target audience will be. Although these are all important, there is one thing you need to decide that will determine the outcome of most of these decisions, and that is what colours you will use. There should be a lot of thought put into this process and below I will talk about some important steps to keep in mind.

Why is it important?

It has been proven that colour influences our emotions in many different ways, but not only does it do that, colour is also the first sensory point. Colour is the most memorable sense and may make or break the success of a product.  Some people don’t realize the importance of choosing the right colour and think it is just a simple step that the designer should come up with, however, there is more to it than that. It isn’t just about being artistic, it is considered an important business strategy.

Selecting the right colour

Research is very important when it comes to choosing the right colour. Knowing the kind of people you want to attract and your competition is crucial. You might go to the store and see a bright green laundry detergent, and although that may work well for that specific item, you most likely wouldn’t see the same colour used for a cell phone or computer. That is why it is so important to think about what it is your company is trying to market and who the target audience is. If you are trying to attract a younger crowd versus an older crowd you will most likely have a very different outcome. You need to also consider your competitors. What colours are they using and why? Sometimes choosing a colour that stands out can help, but it can also backfire. For example, if you are trying to market something that represents health, usually blues and greens are used, whereas choosing a colour like red or orange would probably not do very well. If you are trying to represent it in a fun and exciting way, perhaps choosing bright neon green would be the way to go.

Colour as a marketing tool

Sometimes choosing a popular or common colour isn’t the right choice. Once again, it is all about what you are marketing. An example of this would be a car commercial. They may have chosen to use a colour such as red or even green to represent their new car, even though this isn’t the most common colour to use. It might have been safe to go with the typical silver or black, however, by doing this it represents their company as fun and innovative. You might find this more for a car such as the Volkswagen Beetle or Jeep, however, Lexus and BMW may use the typical black and silver since it is a more expensive car and would most likely attract a more sophisticated crowd.

Green Volkswagen and black Lexus