When and How to Use the Psychology of Color in Your Marketing
Color has a tremendous effect on the behaviors of your webpage visitors, and we need to take a look at how we can better use this in our marketing. Rather than think of it as some sort of NLP, or mumbo-jumbo, we should take a good look at the data available and then begin to test what this means for our particular audience.
The ability to evoke responses based on the colors we choose for our marketing is a vastly underused tool. There’s a lot of data to dig through, and lots of choices to make regarding color for sites, logos, marketing materials and more.
So what is the psychology of color?
It starts off with a surprising truism: the favorite color for both men and women is blue. That’s where the similarities end, however. Some of the data means multiple things. For instance, green could mean money, the environment, and calm to different people. Reds can denote stop, excitement and boldness, depending on whom you’re talking to. Brown could mean ruggedness, or suggest a warmth. Women love purple, men detest it. Are you beginning to see the challenge here?
So how can you use this information in your marketing?
The most effective way to succeed with this is by testing for the best responses in your audience. Each of us have different demographics we work within, and what works for one will not suit all others.
- The starting point is figuring out who your audience is. Is your audience mostly male, female, young or old? The colors are very different, and speak different things to each set of people.
- Know which parts of your pages are the most significant. For instance, any calls to action on your pages should stand out with a bolder, while at the same time complimentary, color.
- Think of the overall feeling you are attempting to convey, and test accordingly. Color evokes mood, and you’ll need to consider this when deciding exactly what you’re trying to say with color.
- Make your colors consistent, so as to keep your message consistent as well. Also, try to keep any hyperlinks blue if at all possible, as this has been the link color since the Web was born, and there’s a case for familiarity.
Above all, take time to test colors that work best for your distinct audience, as it will be quite different, even from your competition.