When it comes to branding, businesses tend to have trouble deciding which portion deserves the most attention. Some feel as if their logo is the most important while others feel as if the tagline will be the key reason people choose their company.
The truth is, while the tagline and logo are important, one element is even more important—your color choices.
That’s right. The colors that you choose to represent your business will have a bigger effect on your customers than any other piece of your branding elements, and here’s why.
People are influenced by color.
Most consumers are visual individuals, which means that they will choose a product or service based on the choice of color used in the marketing collateral or packaging. In fact, 92.6% of people said that the visual effects of a product or service have a bigger influence over their purchasing decisions than touch, taste and smell. If you’re not choosing the right colors, then you could be losing business.
Color increases brand recognition.
Branding your business is important, and having that brand recognized is the best way to increase customer loyalty and trust. When your company chooses the right color for your branding efforts and then stick to those color choices for all of your marketing collateral, you are making it easier for customers to recognize your brand based on color alone. For example, when you see a big brown truck, you don’t need to see the logo to tell you that it belongs to UPS.
Color increases attraction to your marketing pieces.
If your marketing collateral is not using the right colors, they could be overlooked by your audience. More than 60% of people use color to determine what they’re going to read. In fact, one study found that ads that used color were 42% more likely to be read than those ads that were in black and white. So if you have an ad in a magazine that’s not using attractive colors, your ad could be overlooked by your audience.
Color can help your audience comprehend your message.
Studies have shown that messages and advertisements that use color are not only read more often than those in only black and white, but that the color used in these ads can actually help your audience comprehend what it is you’re trying to say. If you really want your audience to understand your message and use it to take action, then it’s a good idea to implement some color into your branding efforts.
Color can make your audience remember you.
It has been found that the use of color can increase a person’s memory, so if your branding contains color, then you’re making it easier for your audience to remember your company when it comes time to making a purchase. Because of this, your company could end up outdoing your competition, and this is very important to the success of your business.
When it comes to branding your business, make sure that you think long and hard about the colors that are being used. The right color choices can make or break your brand.
About the Author: Martha Jones is a graphic designer with over 23 years of experience in online and offline marketing.