The Colors of Success

Did you know that certain colors can help foster your success? Different colors can affect a person's mood and ultimately if they decide to buy or not to buy on your website or from your catalog.

Colors can trigger certain memories and ultimately trigger emotional responses. Research on the effect certain colors have on an individual's mood has been conducted for a long time and the results of the research are used by many manufacturer's to determine how they will design their products packaging and promotional items.

Learn about how to use colors in your marketing plans to increase your chances of receiving the response you want from a potential customer (ie. make a sale, subscribe to a newsletter). Bear in mind that different cultures may have different responses to certain colors so the following color chart and their meanings are just a basic guideline:

Color Chart:

Black:	Black symbolizes death and despair. Great if you are selling coffins and tombstones. It can also invoke feelings of evil and treachery.
Blue:	Blue is associated with trust and represents trust, calmness, and acceptance. Blue also tends to be an all around color of choice.
Gold:	Gold is also associated with wealth and prosperity. It can add value to invoke feelings of excellence. A small touch of metallic gold to a promotional item can provide it with a rich looking finish.
Green:	Green often reflects life and nature which is good if you are focusing on selling an item that is “green” or natural products. Green also conveys freshness and is popularly used to market organic products. Green also symbolizes money.
Grey:	Grey reflects mourning. While grey can be a sophisticated color (ex: a power business suit), it can cause negative feelings. Lighter grey can be used in place of white in some instances. Use it wisely.
Purple:	Purple is most often associated with royalty and can cause feelings of wealth, power and influence.
Red:	Red can invoke an array of emotions: power, excitement, passion, energy and even danger and violence. This color should be used carefully.
White:	White most commonly symbolizes purity, innocence and honesty. Perhaps this is why websites that have a solid white background where the text appears statistically perform better. This doesn’t mean you can’t use other colors. White should be the basic color and other colors should highlight.
Yellow:	Yellow can stimulate the memory and feelings of joy but is difficult to sometimes look at so a pale yellow is recommended if you are going to use it. Just be aware that when mixed with other colors, it can cause feelings of slothfulness and criticism.