Colour Psychology in Marketing and Branding: How to Use it for Your Organisation

Ideas of Colour Psychology and its uses in marketing and branding have been around for decades. Moving from what some have considered as set in stone facts, today the science is a little less precise, and for good reason. 

So what is Colour Psychology? 

In marketing and branding, colour psychology focuses on the impact of colours on consumers’ impressions of a brand, and whether these colours help to persuade a consumer to consider specific brands and drive a purchase. At its core, it can help guide decision making around what colours to use for your brands and in your marketing to help customers understand your brand at a glance, especially when 90% of snap judgements about a brand are made on colour alone. 

Colours and the feelings that are associated with them are subjective and vary hugely from person to person, however, while there may not be a clear answer for which colours to use, we can use a basis of colours to support your brand and the brand personality. 

What colours should you be using? 

While we can all hope for a clear-cut answer, the truth is that what colours you use for your brand and organisation will depend. An important starting point is making decisions on what your brand personality will be, and how you are going to use colour to convey this across all your communication and branding channels. The simplest answer: the right colours for your brand are the ones that are appropriate for what you’re offering. 

Great you’ve decided on your brand personality, now what? 

So you’ve decided the personality and values you would like to convey to your audience, but need to start choosing colours. There are some generalised ideas of colour that can get you started, from green for environmental issues, to red for action, to name a few. Once you have your direction with these general expectations, you can move on to specifying your primary colours, and then secondary and tertiary to create a full suite of colours for your brand to help customers better understand you. 

You’ve got your colours; how should you use them for the best effect? 

Building your colour theory seamlessly into all your marketing and branding is key to making it compelling. Ensuring your signage, website, social media presence and anywhere else you do business reflects these colours is essential to harnessing the power of colours for your brand.   

Using colour psychology to your advantage can help you create a cohesive colour palette that speaks to your supporters and informs them of your brand’s personality and vision from the start. Getting started with understanding the vision you have for your brand, and then building a palette you’ll use means you can create a colour story for your organisation that speaks to your supporters for you. 

Want to add promotional products as part of your brand story? Get in contact with our BrandPro team today and build beautiful promotional products.