The role of Colors in Marketing in 2023 | Color Psychology

Looking to learn the importance of colors in marketing and Psychology of colors? Discover how color affects consumer behavior, how businesses can use color psychology in Marketing.

Did you know that “colors” significantly impact how we perceive brands & our purchasing decisions?

The bright color red of Coca Cola & the iconic yellow of McDonald’s proves that colors are an essential part of marketing and branding.

Colors evoke emotions & create a bond with a brand. Color Psychology is a broad subject & here in this blog article, we explained the importance of colors in marketing.
Understanding the color psychology in marketing help businesses create fruitful marketing strategies that align with their target audience.

Color Psychology in Marketing:

Maybe you never noticed, but your favorite brands employ certain color combinations, complementary colors or analogous colors in their marketing & branding.

They do not deflect much from a few specific basic colors they use. For instance, using green and white colors in marketing, branding, and logo of Starbucks Coffee or yellow and red in Macca’s. These brands use the same colors over all channels.

Have you ever imagined why they are so obsessed with a few colors in marketing when we have millions to choose from? It is because of Colour Psychology, the science of employing colors to influence attitude, behavior, and decision-making.

It is a human tendency to judge a person, place, environment, and product by its initial look. Therefore, it is necessary to make a positive first impression of your product to a new customer. By employing a few specific color scheme in their marketing, companies maintain brand identity consistency which helps them to create a long-lasting image of the brand in the minds of the consumers.

Colors can be one of the main reasons for the purchase of a product and can be the sole reason for not being able to sell a product as well. That is why even traditional marketers have started shifting their digital marketing plan to specific branding colors.

In this article, we discuss the color theory and how to use colors in marketing to alter your brand’s personality and purchase intent, and what color combinations can be used to improve the likability of your brand.

Meaning & impact of different colors: 

Different colors affect customer emotions in different ways. Some can appear exciting and bold, some healthy and peaceful, some optimistic and some pessimistic. Let’s have a look at how humans generally interpret different colors subconsciously and how those colors influence their decision making.

Colors	Meaning & impact	Example brands
Red	The human brain interprets red as an aggressive color. Something bold, trying to catch your attention. You will often see food and drinks brands in red color. Coca-Cola or Red bull are examples for grabbing your attention even if they are in a corner aisle in a supermarket. The reason is the exciting, active and bold nature of the color. It affects nerve impulses, heart rate and blood pressure creating a sense of urgency and this urgency is ideal for clearance sales.	Netflix, CNN, Target, Coke.
Green	Nature, generosity, safety and balance are expressed through green color. Brands like BP, TicTac, and Lacoste employ green color icons to demonstrate their brands’ purpose. You can be any brand, offering any service, just employ color green addressing any environmental issue in your digital marketing and see the wonders that it brings.	John Degree, Starbucks Coffee, Spotify
Blue	What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you think of the color blue?. It is the color generally associated with productivity, calmness, maturity and sense of space. Some of the social media giants like Facebook and Twitter are known by blue color icons. Blue along with its shades is one of the most used digital marketing colors.	Ford, Intel, IBM, HP
Yellow	Colour Yellow signifies happiness, friendliness, confidence and optimism. It is rightly called as the color of positivity. You want to grab customers’ attention in a way that they don’t feel overpowered because excessive yellow can cause anxiety, self-esteem and fear.	Lays, Macca’s, McDonald’s
Orange	Orange signifies communication and adventure. It uplifts your mood and energy, signifies gut reaction unlike the physical reaction of the color red. Orange in itself can be considered as a combination of red and yellow, a secondary color and its effects on the human brain are also similar to them. It gives a sense of comfort and relaxation.	SoundCloud, Fanta, Oranged

 

Importance of colors in marketing & advertising

1.Colors are an essential part of brand identity.

Logo, images typography & most importantly, Colors help to create a recognizable brand image. Colors are the most memorable element in a brand’s visual identity. For example, when you think of some colors, you immediately remember certain brands. Think of the color blue & it immediately reminds you of brands like Facebook & Twitter. Blue is a popular color among tech companies.

When developing your brand identity, conduct research & decide which color suits your brand the most. Once you decide on a color, use that across all marketing & advertising. 

Overall, colors help to create a unique & memorable brand identity for your company.

Now let’s see some practical examples that prove this point.

1.McDonald’s – Color Yellow & McDonald’s has a special bond. Yellow made a strong visual identity for McDonald’s since they use this colour in their logo, packages, store decors & other places. 

2.Coca-Cola- Coca-Cola uses red colour in their branding. Coca-Cola uses the colour red in every marketing & advertising material. It helps them to create a memorable brand identity. 

3.Apple- Apple is known for its minimalistic design approach. The colours they use are white & which helps to create a memorable identity for their brand. The consistent use of White helps them to create a brand that associates with simplicity & elegance.

 

2.Colours evoke emotions & moods in your target audience.

Did you know that colours can evoke specific emotions in people? In marketing & advertising, colours are essential to evoke emotions & approach the target audience. Different colours are associated with different emotions & moods.

For example, when you see Yellow, it reminds you of happiness, joy, and fun. Just like that, there are different emotions associated with colours. Brands can create specific brand images using colours in their marketing strategy. 

If you like to read more about this, you can refer to our blog article on the Meaning of Colors in Marketing,

Click: Meaning of Colors in Marketing.

I will briefly explain how different colours affect to evoke different emotions.

1.Red- Red is an attention-grabbing colour that is associated with energy, passion, excitement & victory. Fast food chains like McDonalds & KFC use Red in their branding & advertising to create a sense of excitement & urgency & it encourages appetite.

2.Blue- Color Blue expresses trustworthiness, reliability, authority & professionalism. If you want to create a sense of trust & authority you can use Blue. Brands like American Express, Facebook & Twitter use Blue in their branding.

3.Green- Green is associated with nature, sustainability, freshness, natural & health. Organic brands often use Green in their branding. 

As you can see, human behavior changes according to the colours you use in marketing & advertising.Learning the emotional associations that various colours can generate allows brands to utilise colour in their marketing and advertising materials to either project a specific brand image or appeal to the emotions of their target audience.

 

3.Different colours have different cultural associations.

Different colours have different cultural associations that can be used to approach specific cultural groups. 

Here are some examples of how you can use cultural associations in marketing and advertising:

1.Red- Red is regarded as a lucky colour in Chinese culture, denoting luck and success. Red may be used in marketing and advertising materials by companies that wish to appeal to Chinese consumers to evoke feelings of luck or success. For instance, companies use red for advertisements around the Chinese New Year to draw Chinese customers.

2.White- White is frequently linked to purity, innocence, and cleanliness in Western cultures. In their marketing and advertising materials, brands may employ white to convey a feeling of cleanliness or purity. For instance, white is frequently used in ads and packaging for cleaning goods like Clorox and Lysol.

3. Green- Green is regarded as a sacred color in Islamic tradition, denoting both heaven and the Prophet Muhammad. Using green can help brands reach Muslim consumers by evoking a sense of religious significance.  For instance, Islamic financial institutions like Dubai Islamic Bank frequently use green in branding and advertising.

Mind-blowing facts about the impact of colors in Marketing:

Following are some amazing facts about the impact of colors in marketing.

• 85% of purchase decisions are influenced by colours. 85% of shoppers stated that product color was the main motivation for purchasing.
• 93% of purchase decisions are influenced by the visual appearance of the products.
• Advertisements with colors are preferred by people more than less colorful ads.
• Colors increase brand awareness by 80%.
• 57% of Men prefer color blue to other colors.
• 33% of the world’s top brands use color Blue in their logo.
• Orange & brown are the least favorite color for both men & women.
• Men like more powerful & bold colors & women prefer soft colors. Favorite colors change according to gender.
• 60% of shoppers accept or reject products based on their colors.
• The majority of brands use no more than two colors in their logo.
• Black and white is popular in premium brands. Black is often used for luxury & expensive brands.

Colors should Represent your brand:

Deciding on what colors to use in your brand icon or colors that signify your brand should be one of the initial steps when starting your business. Now that you have some knowledge of the nature of colors, decide on the few colors that reflect your brand and products. 

What smart blend or shades of colors you can employ to lure customers while marketing including, digital media marketing, advertise your products and market without being lost in millions of advertisements?

It is totally dependent on your brand, products, and data you want to advertise. Whether the data is sequential, qualitative, or diverging. 

The role of brightness and selection of color should be according to the purpose. For instance, deciding on red color if you are offering some sale is a good idea. The pink color in baby products can be equally handy.

Green is warm and inviting. Imagine receiving two online advertisements, one from a cake shop with a green theme and the other from an interior design firm with an environmental theme. Both are using the same green color, but most people will not spend more than 3 seconds on the cake advertisement.

On the other hand, green color themes can do wonders for an interior design firm and hold your attention for quite a long. The whole idea of digital marketing is to hold customers’ attention for as long as possible and proper use of color and shades makes this possible.

Design website & social media accordingly:

Imagine you log in to your Facebook account and apart from the blue color logo, everything is pink in color. You might still go ahead and browse but likability will go down. Imagine what would have happened if Facebook had done this during its initial days. It would not have had the success it has today. Similarly, your logo and website should be consistent. Of course, the colors should not be signifying your logo alone but the products and services you offer. Strict adherence to logo colors is not possible, and not ideal as well but consistency should be maintained for a smooth customer journey on your social media platform. 

Color influences customers’ buying patterns and that should always be kept while devising social media posts. You can go slightly unorthodox with your digital marketing occasionally based on your target audience. But should be complementary. Each of your social media posts and social media cover pages should reinforce your brand.

Best Color options for Marketing: 

There is no best color for marketing strategies. It all depends on your brand, products, and services. Incorporate colors to market your brand in a way that you get settled in customers minds. For instance, the Google search engine employs four to five brand colors in the brand logo.

Colors should convey your brand image and products without the customer reading what is written on them. Although the recommendation will still be to use shades of your logo, use primary, secondary, and tertiary colors, effective use of tones and tints, employ warm colorss or cool colors depending on the advertisement, high or low contrast, and complementary colors. Use contrast to reduce strain on customers’ eyes so they can focus on the product.

Conclusion

This blog article explained the importance of colors in marketing including the meanings of different colors, how colors impact human behavior & more.

In conclusion, color is important in branding and marketing, and knowing how people perceive it can help firms develop tactics that will appeal to their target market. The significance of color in marketing cannot be emphasized, from establishing brand awareness to invoking emotions and affecting purchasing decisions. 

Using the influence of color, businesses can leave a lasting impression on their customers and stand out in a crowded market. Hence, whether it’s the red of Coca-Cola, the green of Starbucks, or the blue of Tiffany & Co., selecting the proper color may make all the difference in terms of developing a successful brand.