What do Your Colors Say to Your Prospects and Clients?
The colors your choose can speak volumes about your brand without saying a word.
While the old axiom “never judge a book by its cover” may hold true for people, the same can’t be said for businesses, where the colors you choose to represent your brand will immediately give prospects and clients an idea of what you’re about. Whether you want to convey your company as exciting, trustworthy, glamorous, or youthful, the colors you pick will give clients an initial impression of your company long before they know what it is you’re selling. Be sure you’re sending the right message by picking an appropriate color scheme.
Color Meanings
Before deciding what colors you want to use, think about what you offer with your business, and the image you’re trying to portray. A doctor’s office won’t want bright red branding, though a travel adventure company might. Look through the following color schemes and identify what traits you’re trying to convey:
- Green: Fresh, ecological, natural, vitality
- Blue: Tranquility, serenity, knowledge, leadership, dependability, trust
- Purple: Imagination, experience, wisdom, creativity
- Red and Orange: Passionate, vibrant, exciting, stimulating, energetic
- Yellow: Positive, happy, warm, friendly, optimistic
- White: Peace, cleanliness, perfection, safety
- Black: Serious, educational, somber, stability
Male vs Female
When it comes to the battle of the sexes, which side are you mainly marketing to? If you’re able to identify that your market will consist strongly of one gender over the other, tailor your color scheme toward that gender. Women prefer blues, purples, and greens, while men tend to gravitate toward blues, greens, and black. Neither sex is a fan of brown or orange, while women dislike gray and men don’t favor purple.
Where to Use Color
Once you’ve identified your color choices, you need to figure out how to work that color scheme into your logo, webpages, and marketing in a pleasant, organic way. Just because women prefer purple, for example, doesn’t mean that their entire user experience when visiting your site will look like a gallon of purple paint spilled over everything. Choose pops of color in small doses as to not overwhelm your design.
Pay attention as well to the tone and vibrancy of the colors that you’re choosing. More muted tones soothe the client, and are appropriate for companies with very professional goals, such as law firms, doctor’s offices, or places of education. A bright palate, on the other hand, can help to excite the client, and promote an energetic response in return.
Color Theory
Consult the color wheel to find harmonious colors as accents. If you’re planning a bright, colorful marketing experience, try using two colors form opposite ends of the color wheel, like pink and yellow. These are eye catching and will allow you to branch out a little further in your color choices instead of being limited to a certain range. However, use of a harmonious color scheme, one that employs a few colors that are equally spaced out on the color wheel, gives a nice bold, clean look to your branding.
Before your final decision, consider some of the major brand icons and the colors that have become synonymous with them: Coke and red, Starbucks and green, Home Depot and orange. Your brand will become tied up inextricably with your color choices, so choose a scheme that represents the heart of what your company is about, and get to designing!
