How To Use Colors To Create Eye-Catching Marketing Materials
Updated: 5 days ago
Color is the property possessed by an object of producing different sensations on the eye as a result of the way it reflects or emits light. Colors is very important in whatever we do. When we make choices of what to wear, what to buy and places we visit, we are attracted by the colors of these think first before making a decision to have them or not. Meaning that, colors play a big rule or if not is a strong factor that influence our perceptions. Colors create an everyday impact in our lives in a very subtle way that most people do not even realize especially when they interact with inanimate objects and humans in general. In marketing a product, colors become the principal and most important element in catching the attention of customers and consumers of a certain product or services. The context in color is very powerful, hence, an attractive services or color gives more meaning or sense to your product or services in the eyes of the consumers. This makes the difference to other similar products or services out there in the market thereby reducing the gap of competition. Marketers with attractive colors stand the chance to bite competition in Business. Shop Interior and showcase stores make use of multiple colors as well as banners, country flags and cultural art makes use of multiple colors. Big brands like Apple, Coca-Cola, Starbucks, McDonalds and more consider color choice before deciding on choosing their desired colors.
In chosen color for a brand, services, marketing materials, the “right” colors, is not only a matter of the most visible color choice, but Emotions are evokes in the colors. If you choose the “wrong” color for text or the graphics, this might move your message to the wrong audience on a subconscious level, and it is not quite what you would want or intended. This could lessen or reduce or even neutralize a message that you were always trying to get it to a particular audience.
Understanding that color choice goes beyond personal preferences can help you not only improve your product’s usability but even psychologically impact your users.
The theory of colors
As created by Isaac Newton in 1666, the color wheel is a great reference use to understand how colors relate to each other. Three colors stands out as primary colors which are red, blue, and yellow where all other colors are based. The secondary colors like orange, green, and violet are obtained from mixing two of the primaries together such as red and yellow for orange, red and blue to bring out the color violet, and blue and yellow to bring out green another to give a different blend of attractive colors. Accordingly, tertiary colors go further in-between, giving us a combination of yellow-green, blue-green, blue-violet, red-violet, red-orange, and yellow-orange.
Colors and Emotions
Colors have always had different impact pathways to different people in various ways; hence having a significant effect on emotions. Many studies have been done on the effect of color on consumer emotion and perception. Colors are an outstanding tool to differentiate or place a distinction between Brands. Brighter colors such as white, pink, red, blue Create more positive reaction on people such as happy, excitement, while the colors people look at to be doll if not called darker colors such as brown, black brings out the opposite effect in people’s reaction – sadness or mourning. Labrecque and George (2011) found out that, a brand’s use of the color red or other warm colors such as orange conveys more excitement than cooler colors such as blue. Also, each brands’ website color and its background color have greater effect on the behavior of its visitors and customers. In the end, colors also affect performance.
Color Harmony
To achieve a good brand image, a successful marketing color scheme consists of colors that work well together and the ones that speak to the brand itself. Sometimes, sing the color wheel makes it easy to identify various harmonious combinations to start thinking about what makes sense for your efforts:
Analogous color schemes use three adjacent colors for a smooth link among each.
Complementary schemes employ colors from two opposite sides of the wheel, creating a strong contrast.
Triads use three evenly spaced colors that make for a bold statement.
Monochromatic schemes consist of three different values of a single color; a subtle yet sophisticated look.
Split complementary schemes use a color and the two colors adjacent to its complement for another bold combination.
Square, or tetrad, schemes get more complex with two complementary color pairs.
The colors red, yellow, and orange are known as warm colors that stimulate a viewer, while blue, green, and purple are known as cool and calming. These concepts of colors begins to influence how colors work to impact emotions in people.
Color Combinations
From this basic foundation in color theory and psychology, the possibilities of combining colors are limitless for color combination in marketing. From curating illustrations and photography that adhere to a certain palette to integrating your core color scheme into typography and other graphics like icons and easy-to-make frames and backgrounds, there are plenty of opportunities to stand out in this way.
When you add to your brand colors to your various marketing efforts, a consistent look will begin to emerge thereby boosting brands awareness and memorability, giving audience something to look for and remember when engaging or thinking about your business. The figure below shows an overview of colors facet which can be used effectively for marketing or branding and in web designing, websites, graphic designing, digital marketing, website background and others.
Some Colors and their meanings in Business
Red: Red in business is a physical color which calls for action to be taken. Its high energy and strength draws attention to itself and demands to be noticed for example. Red can be used when an item is on sale.
Orange: Orange is a color that inspires and creates enthusiasm. It also suggests affordability.
Green: Green is associated with nature and health. It balances the emotions and inspires compassion. For instance, when green is used on a product or services, it always implies that it is natural and healthy.
Blue: Blue is the safest color to use in most applications, why? Because it implying honesty, trust and dependability.
Pink: Pink denotes compassion and nurturing. It is a non-threatening color used most often in feminine businesses.
White: White is a blank canvas that create stimulation. It implies efficiency and simplicity, fairness and order.
Black: Black is the color of power and authority but at the same time intimidating and unfriendly.
Conclusion
Colors are very attractive and they have a powerful subconscious effects on our life’s even without mentioning a word. the test of colors vary from person to person and color test depends on what is involve. This is so because, one’s test of red on a particular marketing material may vary in another marketing material depending on the content and audience to impress. For example green color can be used for marketing materials with content related to nature while colors like red may send out the message of love depending on the content. A bran’s test of color attract based on its content, its targeted population and its services or goods which it provides. An understanding of color meanings in business gives us an invaluable tool to get the best response to our marketing and promotional efforts and ultimately to create a successful business.
In other to apply the information about color meanings in marketing to enhance your own business profile, the advice is not to use any color entirely on its own; it is always best to use a complementary color with your main choice as over-use of any one color can negate its effect and in fact have the opposite effect.
There are always more than one option of color combinations to assist your business, so you don't have to choose any color that you do not like. Or you may use the disliked color in a very small amount to get the response you want from your customer. This is creating the awareness that, in making the choice of color for a marketing campaign, our personal preferences does not usually count, what counts is the content which carry the services/products we are to deliver. For example, you may use just a very small amount of red to indicate your passion or energy for your business or as a call to action button on your website but the color red is the list of your preferred color.
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