Marketing by Color: Don’t Try To Sell Blue Potatoes

James Chartrand

Description

The colors you use for your logo, your business card, your web design and even your storefront display influence consumers – sometimes very strongly.

Sujets

• LOGO
• Marketing
• Colors

Informations

• Publié par: Pub.Buzz
• Publié le: 18 janvier 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 244
• Langue: English

Extrait

MarketingbyColor:

Don’

t TryToSellBluePotatoes

August 05, 2008 | Written By James Chartrand

The colors you use for your logo, your

business card, your web design and even your storefront display

influence consumers

–

sometimes very strongly.

For example, what colors do you associate with a spooky night? Most

likely, you’ll choose black, shades of gray and maybe a little silver or

even orange. Haunted evenings generally don’t come in vivid blues

and fresh greens, after all.

Here’s another example: Think about Coca Cola. What color jumps to

mind? Most people choose red, because Coca Cola has associated

that color with their brand image. Their logo is red, their cans are red

and everything about the soda giant seems to be red.

You would most likely wince if you tried to associate the color green

and Coca Cola together.

Read more to find out how you can use the power of color

psychology to your advantage.

The Power of Color

Color psychology exists, and it’s a fairly complex field

of study, too. It

looks at which colors we prefer and why. It explores color and

memory recall. It examines the impact of certain colors on both our

physical and emotional state.

Harveys fast food restaurants, for example, use orange in their color

branding because orange often stimulates appetite. Banks like to use

blue in their themes, because people prefer blue over most colors

and also because blue is commonly associated with trust and

security.

When building your startup business or when considering an image

overhaul of an existing business, put thought into color palettes and

selections that will help your brand image. Mismatching color and

brand can actually influence consumer perception in a negative way

and cost you sales.

Trying to Sell Blue Potatoes

Here’s another example: everyone knows what a potato is—

a root

vegetable with white or red skin. We mash them into white fluffy

clouds, slice them into scalloped casseroles and grate them into

patties. We know that potatoes are white inside.

Enter the blue potato, a fantastic variety that mashes, slices, bakes

and fries just as nicely as its snowy counterpart. It even has possible

antioxidant potential.

To a certain enterprising company, this seemed like a lucrative

business opportunity.

Did blue potato sales skyrocket? No. Did people rush to the stores for

blue potatoes? Nope. Did the blue potato become a household

staple? Nope. If it weren’t for their novelty factor and a few cooks

with exploratory minds, these potatoes would never have sold at all.

The reason is that people don’t associate the color blue with

potatoes.

In fact, they may go so far as to perceive blue potatoes as tasting bad,

being inedible or even being poison for human consumption. The

notion of a blue potato is so foreign that cons

umers don’t embrace

the blue potato at all.

Do you want your business to become a blue potato?

Associated Meanings of Color

Spend some time thinking of potential color choices that reflect the

emotion that you’d like people to have when they see your brand

image. Color can have strong emotional impact that heightens the

selling potential of your product or service.

Color can help memory recall as well. When you’re hot, thirsty and

want something cold to drink, your memory of a color association

might make you reach for that red can of Coke and pass over other

brand names you don’t recognize easily. You remember that red

means Coke.

Likewise, your company colors can help people remember your

product or service and choose you over the competition. The specific

colors you choose enhance the feelings a person has about your

business, too.

To help you think of good colors for your logo, your web design or

your business image, here are some common colors and their

associated meanings:

Red

–

Energy, attention, passion, danger, debt, halt

Blue

–

Trust, security, peace, open, stability

Green

–

Freshness, growth, vitality, calm, wealth, prestige

Yellow

–

Light, optimism, motivation, warmth, positive

Purple

–

Sophistication, royalty, sentimentality, mystery, spirituality

Pink

–

Energy, fun, youth, excitement, affection, romance,

sentimentality

Orange

–

Fun, vitality, youth, health, exuberance

Brown

–

Stability, earth, durability, dirty

Black

–

Power, class, seriousness, drama, sophistication, boldness

White

–

Purity, peace, cleanliness, freshness

A good rule of thumb is to choose one dominant color and only one

or two accent colors for your logo or brand image. Accent colors

should complement the main color and enhance its appeal as much

as possible. Use them sparingly, as they should be secondary

elements of the impact.

With a good choice of color, you can build a more effective image for

your business and enhance your marketing potential - unless you

want your business to be like blue potatoes, of course.