Studies show that people are exposed to anywhere between 4 and 10 thousand brand messages every day. And brand messages aside, the human brain is flooded with data in ways that we as a species are still struggling to keep up with.
So how is your brand supposed to stand out amongst the crowd, in a sea of information that keeps growing and growing? What should you consider with your brand color palettes and how can you leverage them in a critical way: in your physical space?
Think of some of the most recognizable brands out there. Coca-cola, Target, McDonald’s, Starbucks, and others all have one thing in common. They all have easily recognizable and identifiable logos and brand colors.
Brand colors help both define businesses and set them apart from competitors. And most commercial businesses do have some sort of brand color palette that they incorporate into:
Including brand colors into your commercial property is an important way to increase your brand recognition, draw in customers, and keep your entire operation “on-brand.”
In this article, we’re going to go over some simple ways that you can incorporate your brand colors into your commercial property while still keeping things looking great aesthetically.
Let’s get started!
Branding yourself and your business is what creates and showcases your personality, your mission, and your values as a company. Brand recognition and loyalty are both crucial for getting, and keeping, customers.
Brand colors play a key part in that, especially considering that studies show that signature brand colors can boost brand recognition by 80%. Not only that, but 93% of consumers focus on brand colors when buying a product.
When used in the exterior of your commercial property, you can allow consumers, clients, and even passers-by to start to build up their recognition of your brand. This can increase loyalty, customer retention, experience, and, hopefully, will translate to sales and business success.
Now that you know why should concern yourself with brand colors, I’m going to recommend some of the simplest (and best!) ways.
Perhaps your most obvious option for incorporating your brand colors into your commercial property is by matching your exterior paint color to your brand colors. However, the process is a bit more complex than simply painting the entire outside of the building the color of your brand.
Simpler brand colors might be the easiest to entirely incorporate into your building’s exterior. Brand colors including whites, soft blues, yellows, and other similar options are going to make more sense for entire buildings than more “extreme” colors.
You need to consider whether your brand color palettes are going to make sense for your entire exterior. Remember: you want to incorporate brand colors without sacrificing the aesthetic and feeling that the building’s colors represent.
For example, if your main brand color is hot pink, you probably don’t want to paint your entire building that color. This could put off potential clients/customers because it’s too “loud” or gives off the wrong impression of the building. To go back to McDonald’s: the structure of their buildings are not red or yellow. And in fact in recent years, many of the old red awnings have been replaced by softer colors.
The same could go for black or another similar dark color. This can “darken” the aesthetic of your building, which might not be the inviting and welcoming vibe you want to give off at your retail store or your apartment complex, for example.
On the flipside, some brands have opted to go with bold colors just for that very reason: they catch people’s attention, regardless of how it might be perceived. If you’re on the fence, it may be worth consulting with a paint color expert to help you understand how the different colors could be perceived.
Just because you might want to avoid painting an entire exterior commercial building your exact brand color doesn’t mean that you can’t find places to add your brand colors to your building.
Your door is an excellent place to start. Add your splash of brand color to the door to create an interesting and eye-catching entryway that also promotes your brand.
You can also opt for adding your brand colors to trim, windows, shutters, fences, railings, columns, and more.
For example, let’s say your brand colors are orange and white. Orange might not fit the aesthetic of the area or perhaps it’s too bright for your entire building. However, white would provide a great exterior color combined with orange doors, shutters, or railings.
Or, perhaps you’re happy with the current exterior colors and you’d like to simply add pops of your brand colors. This can also be achieved with adding the colors to windows, railings, fences, and other “accent” areas of the building.
If signs make sense for your business, ensuring that they align with brand colors is a nice touch that shows attention to detail.
This IKEA signage uses the blue and yellow brand colors to make it instantly identifiable, branded, and useful for patrons. This parking sign uses the Starbucks green and white brand colors.
Incorporating brand colors into your building’s exterior it somewhat of a balancing act.
You want the colors to be recognizable, on-brand, and present in your building’s exterior colors. But — at least most of the time — you don’t want to be heavy-handed or miss the mark as this could drive away customers or clients.
The good news is that there are experts to help you find that perfect balance. As an expert exterior color consultant, I can help you decide where your brand colors should be incorporated along with both how to do it and how much.
Contact me to get started on transforming your building’s exterior!
