The use of colour in marketing is a powerful psychological tool which sends a specific message to your audience. While visual appeal is important, it is a good idea to consider how colour can represent and enhance the appearance of your product and influence the behaviour of potential buyers. Colour is the first thing registered by a person who views your website, logo or packaging; so select your colours wisely and keep in mind the meaning and harmony of colours.

The use of colours in marketing can be seen daily. For instance, take a look at these movie posters. “Toy Story 3” contains large blocks of bright colours because that’s what young children prefer and respond positively too. The “Salt” poster is mainly black and creates a sense of mystery and seduction, the colour encourages people to want to find out who or what “Salt” is. Both posters draw in the target audience, a large part of that reason owing to their colour schemes.

Studies have shown that colour helps increase brand recognition by up to 80%. What colour comes into your head when you think of Coca-Cola, Cadbury, Barbie, Shell Petrol and Woolworths? Surely it was red, purple, pink, yellow/red, and then green. As you can see colour helps your logo to be easily recognised and remembered. Colour can also influence brand identity. For example, Apple had suffered $1.8 billion of losses in 2 years; however they renewed their place in the market by introducing the colourful iMacs. Moving forward, colour has become a staple component of most of Apple’s range and continues to contribute to their success with colourful products such as iPods and Macbooks.

Interestingly, the effects of colour differ among different cultures, so keep that in mind when appealing to an international market. For example, white is the colour of death in Chinese culture, but represents the opposite here; while yellow conveys sadness in Greece, jealousy in France but happiness here. Make sure you consider your target market’s attitudes and preferences and what colours will be the most appealing. Think mysterious blacks to create intrigue for your product, trustworthy blues and calming greens for elderly people and bright colours for children.

For assistance in creating beneficial colour schemes or for any other marketing advice please contact Deborah from Clarity Marketing on 0411 139 881 or on dcq@claritymarketing.com.au.