How to Start Your Own Customized Word Palette

Experiencing Writer’s Block?

You’re not alone. Writer’s block happens to everyone! Try creating a word-colour palette for your brand to get you writing again.

You don’t have to stay stuck. Finding the right words can be the hardest part of marketing your business, and we want to help you get started. You can use the method of a colour-word palette to help you develop an assortment of words for your brand communications. It’s a helpful exercise to get you thinking about the consistent tone and feeling you want to create in all your messaging.

Word Colour Palette:

This is based on the theory of colour psychology in marketing. We like to draw on common associations with colours to decide what words can connect in powerful ways to people. This is just one of several methods we use to generate words that will make powerful statements to your audience.

The Psychology of Colours and Words:

There has been research done on the way the human brain associates certain colours and words. It’s a helpful tool when you’re writing your own marketing content.

Why Word Choice Matters:

Oh, let us count the ways. As we always say, words are like magnets – they attract great people to great brands. Choosing the right words can:

• Improve SEO on your website
• Create clarity and a clear path forward to any confusion
• Motivate people to buy
• Remove barriers that are preventing your audience from buying
• Convert leads to sales

Is this right for me?

By combining knowledge of colour marketing, copywriting and linguistic patterns and keyword research we’ve created five categories of words to get you started. Read the description under each word palette to decide what category best embodies the way you want to speak to your audience. This method might be especially helpful if you’re the kind of person who loves working with colours: picking paint chips, choosing your nail polish colour, matching clothing, curating artwork in your home or colour coding your notes! It might suggest that you’re a visual learner, and having colour associations with your brand words will be a helpful writing tool.

Choose Your Word-Colour Palette:

1. Bright and Bold

Even small brands can have big personalities. If your brand is like a cheerful bouquet of handpicked flowers, colour psychology can help you choose the right words. For example, red is known for evoking strong feelings like power, passion and excitement. Bright yellow is known for youthful happiness, independence and optimism.

Words that match the colour imagery of bright and bold brands: now, adventure, exciting, best, real

2. Warm and Cozy

Help your client see the world through sepia-toned glasses. If your brand creates warm welcomes and safe spaces, we can look at colour psychology around orange, brown and gold. Orange is an excellent way to make customers feel welcome and invited, brown can add a humble, hardworking, earthy feeling, and when bringing gold-vibes, can add a level of luxury and charm.

Words that match the colour imagery of warm and cozy brands: friendly, welcome, nourish, grounding, comfortable

3. Light and Airy

Soft white textures, light pastels and round edges. If your brand wants to be a source of light and clarity in the midst of confusion, softening the harshness of the world with sweet words, think about the effects of white in colour marketing – a shade that when added to any colour, evokes innocence, purity and cleanliness.

Words that match the colour imagery of a light and airy brand: peace, re[new], clear, see, breath, space, simple

4. Cool and Calm

If your brand is as chill as staying in bed on a rainy morning, the words you use can help bring a lot of calm and restoration to a heavy world. Ranging from greys, to dusty blues to a sleek silver, you can choose words that evoke feelings like stability, elegance, openness and speed.

Words that match the colour imagery of a cool and calm brand: reliable, ready, trust, quick, step, easy

5. Dark and Deep

It’s not a coincidence that nature is the main frame of reference for dark greens, deep purples or blues. Green is most associated with growth, balance and wealth. Purple evokes wisdom and sophistication. And blue, we brought her up again because she is just an excellent colour to think with! That’s because blue is known for its ability to facilitate excellent communication. Now if you add the shade black to any of these colours darker… you’re adding a good note of power, authority and elegance.

Words that match the colour imagery of a dark and deep brand: know, strength, listen, grow, succeed, imagine, inner/deep down, powerful, enforce, roots

Conclusion:

Have you come up with any other words along the way? These lists are endless! It could be helpful to gather your business friends and have them talk about their associations with each colour palette when you say a colour term. Listen to what they say, how they describe it and look for any other patterns! It’s a quick and fun way of doing market research to know how to communicate with your audience most effectively.

Has this exercise been a helpful prompt for you? We’d love to know your thoughts. If it’s moved you through writer’s block or helped you feel more connected to your business’s purpose, let us know. There’s more where this came from and we’d be happy to share with you!

Share your thoughts or ask your questions here.