Picking the Right Business Color

Picking the right business color/smallbizstew.blogspot.com

Your Business colors

Knowing the colors that should be associated with your business only strengthens your brand marketing. It enforces a unified look and helps consumers easily identify your business. Think about it for a second, you use colors for your website design, in store décor, business cards, uniforms, etc. so why wouldn't you strategically use the same colors that will help consumers identify your brand.

It is important to think about your business as a unit and all aspects of your business must be congruent in order to not confuse the consumer and to create a strong brand identity.

What your business color says 

Everyone either had or at least knows about mood rings and if your mood ring color changed to red it meant a certain mood. Well that is the same when you choose certain colors for your business. Certain colors are associated with certain moods and you have to make sure that your business is capturing the right mood in your consumers.

If you notice that banks usually use colors such as red and blue. Red usually is considered to mean caution or action, so banks hope to relay the emotion of please use caution when dealing with money or take action with money planning. Blue is supposed to be assuring and calming, like trust us to take care of your money.

Don't think it's necessary to have company colors, let's put it to the test. For the below four companies, can you tell me what their company colors are? 

• Coca Cola
• Facebook
• Shell's Gas Station 
• McDonald's

These companies have successfully created a brand that is backed by consistency with their colors, message and logo.

When you pick out the colors for your business make sure that the colors you use for your business is consistent. Your online presence should match your offline appearance as well as matching any information that is associated with your company. The goal is to create a unified look that will strengthen your brand image.

Now it's time to decide on your company colors. 

Remember to keep in mind

·         Don't use too many colors. You don’t want to confuse the consumer and using fewer colors also saves money on ink printing.

·         Try to stay with colors that are common. Remember all your consumers don't use the same computer monitor, so they may not be able to view the color as you intended.

·         Try to use colors that represent the right mood for your business. Pink is seen as feminine and if you are creating a site geared toward men, pink isn’t setting the right mood for your target audience.

·         Make sure the colors go well together, especially when you are using these colors for the décor of your office/store front as well.

Resources

Colors

You should consider a color palette that your business can use to create a unified look and by using the below links can help you decide. 

http://www.colormarketing.org

http://webdesignledger.com/tools/10-super-useful-tools-for-choosing-the-right-color-palette

At the end of your research you should have successfully selected a logo, tagline and your company colors. 

Photo by: http://www.wikihow.com/Image:BYR-color-wheel-4311.png

My Business Motto

Tagline/motto- smallbizstew.blogspot.com

Taglines/Motto

Are you in good hands?

Don't leave home without it

It keeps going, and going, and going

When you read the above taglines you instantly knew what companies these taglines belonged to.  Successful taglines are not necessarily catchy but are designed to remind you of what you get from their service or product.

A lot of companies use their tagline as the bases for their marketing plan. They make sure to add their tagline on all outgoing mailings, business cards, stationary, and is added to the closing of all email communications.

The tagline for my freelance writing service is A freelance service you can trust which allows potential clients to easily identify what sets me apart from other freelance writers. Creating the right tagline helps strengthens your brand, it can be used a marketing tool, and it helps consumers identify your product/service.

Exercise

1.       Create a list of words that best describe the service or product that you offer. 

2.       Now jot down at least six phrases that include those keywords that you can use as your business tagline.

Now that you have a list of possible taglines/mottos, it’s time to decide on which one works best for your small business. Make sure your tagline speaks about how your product/service is unique and coincides with your business’ message.  

Use the below resources to help you create and decide on the right tagline/motto for your small business.

Resources 

Taglines

http://www.entrepreneurismbible.com/Branding/kb_developing-a-tagline.htm

http://www.copyblogger.com/create-a-tagline/

Do you really need a logo or tagline? Not necessarily but when you are thinking about brand marketing these are the best options to create brand awareness.

Photo by:

Superamit http://www.flickr.com/photos/48600091327@N01/336587074

Leggo my LOGO

Logos
A logo is an image created to represent your company. Your logo should be designed to remind consumers about your product/service.

On a daily bases we are bombarded with thousands of logos from the designer logo on your clothes, to the little rooster on your box of cereal in the morning. Logos are smart and sometimes necessary marketing tools that help establish a company’s brand.

SBS logo is a pot full of small business topics which was created to remind readers that my website consists of different tad bits of small business information. The reason my logo works because it is congruent with my blog's title and the service I provide.

The right logo should do exactly that, connect the reader to your business name, brand and the service/product you offer.

It is well known that people are more inclined to remember images then words and at times a logo can be easier for consumers to identify your brand then your business name.

Logotypes

A successful logo not only leaves a positive lasting impression on consumers but it doesn’t even have to be an image. Your business logo can be a certain way that your business name is spelled. Take Marvel Comics, their logo is an illustration of their business name. This is called logotype which is another effective way to market your brand.

Other examples of logotypes:

Logo/smallbizstew.blogspot.com

Logo/smallbizstew.blogspot.com

Picking the right logo can be very beneficial for your business success and brand marketing.

Start jotting down ideas for a possible logo for your business.

Now it's time to decide on a logo, use the below resources to help you create the perfect logo for your small business.

Resources

Logo Maker

http://www.logomaker.com/

http://www.logosnap.com/

http://www.allfreelogo.com/

Here’s An Idea

Book an appointment with a graphic designer and let them create the right logo for your business. A graphic designer can take the guess work out of creating a logo that will be effective and represents your business. 



Pictures by:
Dell: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dell_Logo.png
XBOX: http://www.flickr.com/photos/63088481@N00/76039642