What are your shop’s signature colors?  Studies show that using one or two colors consistently in your branding will significantly increase consumer recognition.  You may take it for granted that your daily deliveries from UPS will be made in a brown truck, and by a delivery person wearing brown — but when you see a brown truck go by, you think UPS without consciously having to read the logo on the side. The same with the red in Coke’s logo, or the green and black in Starbucks’.

According to John WIlliams in Entrepreneur magazine, “Choosing the right dominant color for your brand is crucial. This color should appear on all your promotional materials, including your logo and product packaging. As much as possible, the color you choose should set you apart, work with your industry and image, and tie to your brand promise.”

Williams goes on to discuss the science of color psychology, which suggests selecting colors based on the response that most people have to them — for example brown conveys simplicity, durability and stability, but can also elicit a negative response from consumers who relate to it as dirty.

It could well be that you select your store color or colors based on something less scientific. Our shop’s name is Orange Tree Imports, so we use orange and green throughout our business because those are the colors of an orange tree.  We are fortunate that orange apparently “evokes fun and vitality. With the drama of red plus the cheer of yellow, orange is viewed as gregarious and often childlike.” While green “connotes health, freshness and serenity.”

To my mind, the important thing is not choosing the right colors, but rather making the right use of them.  First and foremost of course is to have them in your logo, and on your storefront. Your store’s bags, which serve as walking billboards, should also follow your color scheme — as should all your other packaging.

In addition to using your logo in your advertising, and on your web site, you may be able to make use of your signature colors in other ways. We use orange and green as borders in our e-mail blasts, for example, and on our gift card enclosures.  Even our store’s envelopes are orange.  Making good use of your colors should help make your business look more professional, and increase your store’s “recognition” factor as you build your customer base.

Happy Retailing,

Carol “Orange” Schroeder