Have you been wondering about how you can make your business stand out and grow? You’re not alone. How can branding or, more specifically, brand psychology help you stand out?

If you understand what drives humans to take certain actions, you can begin to evaluate your brand with psychology in mind. What colours or fonts or words to use, and what not to use.

Here are five tips to help you stand out.

1 Colour Theory

Top brands leverage colour theory to shape our responses and persuade us to trust certain products. We all make a subconscious judgment about a product or company within 90 seconds and you may be surprised to know that the majority of your judgment is defined by colour alone. Investing in the design of a logo and branding that is recognisable based on colour, and the emotional response that elicits, is integral to modern branding. You can read more about what emotion each colour represents in this blog post. So think smart and make sure your brand colour aligns with your business values.

2 Brand Iconography

Symbols are a key component of design psychology. And after colour, an eye-catching symbol can reinforce a brand’s values and philosophy and potentially become iconic (such as Apple’s symbol). Nearly 20% of all logos are circular. In psychological terms, a circle conveys security or a sense of community. Squares, on the other hand, are viewed as solid or rigid. If your symbol is derived from your brand name, or it’s more abstract, it should still convey your brand values – Jaguar Cars’ leaping cat speaks of power and agility; Nike’s swoosh is affirmative and athletic.

3 Keep it personal

Personal connections are the foundation of successful branding. Smart businesses will recognise this and build relationships with their target audience, even creating communities around their brand and brand values to attract and retain customers. Humans are hard-wired to connect and relate to others. Converting customers into “raving fans” is often your best route to referrals and new business.

4 FOMO

FOMO stands for Fear Of Missing Out. It’s a tried and tested marketing strategy – 50% off – this offer ends soon – and they’re successful because humans don’t like to lose out on something. It’s also hard to give up something once you’ve had it! Think of all those online services that offer free trial periods. Once the trial ends, and the service has become a regular part of your toolkit, you don’t want to give it up. So you pay to keep it.

5 Tell a story

Your audience is constantly changing and evolving, and most people (especially millennials) don’t care as much about buying more things; they want to be inspired by a narrative. It is now even more important that your brand is centred on a story with core values that speak to your audience. Humans have a natural urge to connect with people, and our need to feel part of a larger narrative has never been so strong. We all want to be part of a tribe; we need to belong. What are you doing to create your tribe?

In conclusion

To stand out from the crowd your brand must have a strong identity that consumers can relate to. On a subconscious level, consumers remember feeling associated with a brand even if they do not remember the brand name or advert they have seen. It can take 5-7 impressions for people to remember your brand, but it starts and ends with what people think.