Colors Psychology: A Part of Marketing
Colors Psychology: A Part of Marketing
That the impact of colors on marketing is one of the most exciting topics is undeniable.
In this article, I am going to share my personal story and thoughts with you. During my first year of studying at the university, I chose an “Introduction to Art” class, during which we discussed colors in artworks and the psychology behind it. Sincerely speaking, I have never thought before that there is a psychology behind the colors. This topic interested me so much that I started to be more attentive to all the colors around me.
When we talk about colors usually there is at least one color that comes into your mind. Have you ever thought that these colors actually can influence your psychological thinking like they do in art masterpieces…? In fact, the colors in marketing can influence and change people’s perceptions. While doing advertising and marketing your brand, it is crucial to choose proper colors, as to how the audience will react to your brand very much depends on this choice. So, for attracting potential customers, you need to study the psychology behind the colors, which is essential for building a relatable brand.
First, let’s understand what color psychology is. It is the study of colors regarding human behavior. The function of color psychology is to explore how colors influence people’s everyday decisions, for example, buying decisions. Colors communicate with human beings on an emotional level, and the right choice of colors facilitates the persuasion process.
When you go shopping, and you need to choose something, for example, sour cream among ten brands where everything is the same except for the packaging. Which one will you choose? I am sure that it will be the one who attracts you for the first glance.
Another example is buying a dress due to its color. Or, when you are walking in the street, you can leave many advertisements with big size neglected, but a small poster on the wall can grab your attention due to its colors. All of these are great examples of how color psychology can affect customers and their buying decision. Nonetheless, color psychology is not used only for influencing people, but it can be used to meet their expectations for a particular brand or product type.
Actually, color psychology is so complicated, as colors can have different associations and meanings for different people depending on the cultural and educational background, religion, gender, age, individual tastes, and many other factors. From the marketing point of view, the key point here is that there are no special guidelines for choosing colors, as it depends on your brand. However, there are meanings of some colors, which can help you and your brand. First of all, colors are separated into groups: primary and secondary. The primary colors are yellow, red, and blue. Secondary colors are those other colors that can be created by mixing the primary colors. These colors are considered to be the most eye-grabbing, and those brands which include these colors in their logos, advertisement, and packaging are more likely to be in the center of attention.
Usually, red color is associated with passion, energy, power, desire, love, courage, action, and also some negative things like danger, pain, stress, and blood. It is like this color contains intense emotions. When there is a red color in the ads, people are more likely to read the text on the ad, as red color brigs the text forward and highlight the image. For instance, this color can be applied while promoting games, food, sports products, and other products or services that are associated with the emotions mentioned above. Though it contains both negative and positive feelings, in marketing, this color is significant, as it can promote making impulsive (quick) decisions. Below you can see the examples of two fast-food companies.
In terms of the color blue, the associations are mainly positive. This color is usually associated with peace, stability, sincerity, intelligence, trust, wisdom, and confidence. Blue color can be beneficial while promoting technologies, electronics, security systems, or other products that relate to these associations. For example, you can see the logos of Dell, Pfizer, and Ford, where three of them used only blue and white colors. The latter is also associated with trust and calmness. In the case of Pfizer, as a bio-pharmaceutical company, it evokes the feeling of trust using this color. Dell is a technology producing company that offers intelligence, wisdom, and again trust with its logo, whereas Ford gives a feeling of confidence.
Finally, the last primary color is yellow, which is associated with positive things, like energy, happiness, youth, warmth, speed, and affordability. It can be associated with danger also. Beeline evokes feelings of warmth (directness) between the company and its customers and affordability. This color can also be used to promote things for kids, like kindergartens and leisure places.
This topic is so broad that I can write about the colors psychology for days, but let’s stop here. Just remember that all colors have unique associations that evoke emotions in human beings, which can influence their decisions. Explore what color matches your brand, have a look at those associations, and make the right choice for your brand. Try to be attentive to the colors while looking around: stop and think for a moment why a certain product is of that color. I assure you that color psychology is a huge and exciting topic for exploring it more profoundly, and of course, it is worth following it while doing marketing for your product.
