Introduction
Smart businesses take advantage of this by leveraging marketing psychology to influence people’s purchasing decisions. If you can create marketing campaigns that persuade people to buy your products or services, you can grow your business faster and create a more loyal base of customers.
Large companies have teams of experienced marketers and agencies that help them create effective branding and powerful marketing campaigns. As a small business, you might not have the same advantages, but you can use the same principles of psychology to influence your customers and prospects.
And the best place to start applying these powerful psychological principles is your company’s branding.
By leveraging psychology in your branding, you can increase brand awareness, drive sales, build brand equity, and grow your business faster. Branding psychology involves colors, symbols, voice, and many other elements influencing people’s purchasing decisions.
1. Use effective colors that complement your brand
Your brand is significantly shaped by colour. The appropriate colour can influence how people see your brand. The improper colour may cause customers to disregard your goods and services.
Consider marketing apparel to a group of male athletes between the ages of 18 and 25. Pink is normally not a good choice in that situation because it doesn’t appeal to that population. Pink, on the other hand, might be a terrific colour if you offer goods to ladies between the ages of 18 and 25.
- What colors best suit my brand’s image? Does it suit the designs I want to use?
- What mood or vibe do I want to communicate to my target audience through my brand colors?
- What colors does my target audience like?
- How many colors should I use? Do they complement each other?
The right color is important because colors convey different meanings. For example, blue signifies trustworthiness, calmness, and stability. It’s also a popular color for famous companies such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Meanwhile, red represents excitement and demands attention. Coca-Cola, Target, and many other famous brands use red in their branding.
Take the time to research colors, and make sure you use appropriate, on-brand colors in your branding. Otherwise, you’ll create friction with your target audience. And if you have several products, services, or sub-brands, be sure that the identity across your brands is consistent and complementary.
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2. Leverage status symbols
It doesn’t matter how much budget you have as a business; people won’t trust you if you have a weak brand identity. Your brand’s most significant symbols, such as logo, website design, and product packaging, play a vital role in shaping your brand’s identity. Use these to your advantage to manifest the identity you’re going for. Take note of the following:
- Your branding design must be appropriate for the brand image you want to achieve. Avoid using cheap or generic designs. Ensure that all your designs are professional-looking.
- Don’t use too many words when promoting your products or services; go straight to the point. Long narratives typically confuse and bore people.
- Consistently deliver quality service and products. The goal is to associate your brand with quality and excellence to establish authority and credibility.
For example, if you’re a jewelry brand, it’s best to use minimalistic designs on your website and your logo. This helps you maintain an image of luxury and sophistication. Think of your brand identity as your business’s fashion statement. It’s simple logic: you don’t want to appear overdressed or underdressed to the market you want to impress.
3. Make your brand voice distinct and consistent
Avoid confusing people by changing your communication styles occasionally. People who don’t know your brand and are researching you could find it confusing. This could backfire on you and doesn’t help you gain brand awareness. For instance, if you’re a chocolate business, it’s best to use a cheerful anecdote.
- What kind of personalities does my target audience have?
- Do they prefer a casual or formal form of communication?
- How do they communicate with each other? What slang or particular words can I use to be relatable?
Make sure to research your target audience to appeal to them quickly. And don’t forget to ensure that your brand messaging is uniform along with your voice.
4. Anticipate what your audience will need
It’s no longer sufficient to satisfy your clients’ basic demands by giving them high-quality services and goods. Businesses now need to think ahead to potential future client needs. Social media and the internet are continually improving to make people’s lives easier, which is why the competition is always growing. Nowadays, people can rapidly find what they need and are inundated with options.
You need to be ahead of your game and do the following:
- Create a profile of your customers and target audience
- Consider what makes them tick and what are their everyday spending habits
- Think of why they approached your business in the first place
- Build your products and services around this information
By studying your customers and target audience and their current behavior, you can enhance future offerings accordingly and fine-tune them to their future needs.
For example, Gucci launched its Gucci Garden on Roblox to help build brand awareness for its younger audience. It’s a virtual recreation of their real-life store in Florence, Italy, allowing people to visit, browse, try on clothes, and purchase through the platform.
5. Tell stories when promoting your brand
You may effectively connect with others by telling stories.Utilise this and use storytelling techniques to market your goods or services. To build rapport and establish credibility, you must make your audience feel something. By doing this, you may win over your target market’s trust and increase consumer loyalty.
Goodlife’s example of compelling storytelling allows people to relate with the brand more by using everyday, regular people to promote their campaigns rather than fit brand ambassadors. This sends a powerful message to their audience that being healthy is not limited to a specific size or shape.
6. Use high-quality imagery
Every aspect of your organisation must adhere to a standard, particularly the photographs you employ. A great image grabs people’s attention and influences them to buy. So, any image won’t suffice. Spend time and effort creating excellent photos because they will represent your brand.
For instance, when creating blogs or other online content, make sure the photographs you use are of the best quality and legible on all devices. Since it is your brand’s face, make it count by making sure your brand logo is clear, noticeable, and easily accessible on your company website.
7. Focus on creating an experience
Making a lasting impression on customers is the best approach to impress them. Assure customers who visit your brand that they can obtain something worthwhile whether or not they make a purchase. Making an experience begins when a customer is only perusing your social media or website during the pre-purchase phase. Make certain you have all of these things before making a purchase:
a recurring pattern that readers can identify from your content
using the brand’s voice and colours consistently
Utilising simple website tools
Contact details that are readily available
superior pictures with pertinent descriptions and captions
Then, hook them in with actionable calls to action that will help you gather the necessary information to forge and nurture connections.
Psychology doesn’t have to guide all of your decisions. But when it’s appropriate, you should leverage these powerful psychological principles that influence how and why people make purchasing decisions. After all, when growing a business, you want every advantage you can get. Our doors are open to help you start building a successful brand. Contact us now!