How to choose the right colours for your small business branding (not just the ones you like)

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it's about strategy, not just aesthetics

“Choosing your brand colours isn’t just about what looks good or what you like – it’s about creating a palette that communicates clearly, builds recognition, and connects with the right audience at first sight.”

When it comes to branding, choosing your colours is definitely one of the more enjoyable parts of the process. But it’s about more than just building a palette that looks good together – it’s about creating something that feels right, communicates clearly, and connects with the people you actually want to attract.

For small businesses especially, your colour palette does a lot of the heavy lifting. It sets the tone, builds recognition, and shapes how your brand is perceived – often before someone has read a single word.

So how do you choose colours that work, not just ones you like? These five key considerations will help you approach your brand palette more strategically.

1. Start with your brand personality

2. Consider your target audience (not just yourself)

3. Understand colour psychology and avoid trends

4. Look at your competitors – and find your point of difference

5. Prioritise practical application and accessibility

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1. Start with your brand personality

Before you open Pinterest and start trawling through colour swatches, get clear on how your brand should feel.

Is it calm and minimal, or bold and energetic?
Premium and refined, or approachable and playful?
Modern and clean, or warm and organic?

The answer to these questions will generally come from considering what it is your business does, and who your target audience is (more on that below).

Your colour palette should be a direct reflection of this personality, and will help guide you in where to start looking for inspiration once you’re ready.

As a guide:

• Soft neutrals and muted tones tend to feel calm and grounded

• Deep, rich colours can feel premium and luxurious

• Bright, saturated colours often feel energetic and youthful

If your colours don’t align with your brand personality, your audience will feel that disconnect instantly – even if they can’t quite explain why.

2. Consider your target audience (not just yourself)

This is where a lot of business owners come undone.

It’s easy to choose colours based on personal preference, but your branding isn’t for you – it’s for your audience.

Because of this, you’ll want to think hard about:

• Who are you trying to attract?

• What are they visually drawn to?

• What kinds of brands do they already trust?

A high-end property developer targeting affluent buyers will require a very different palette to a playful, family-focused café. And a local artist is going to need to communicate a different sense of personality than a medical professional.

Once you know who your target audience is, the next considerations below will more easily fall into place.

3. Understand colour psychology and avoid trends

I’ll preface this by saying: colour psychology can be a helpful guide, but it’s not the be-all and end-all when it comes to brand colours.

By having an understanding of why certain colours carry certain (often subconscious) associations, you can help guide yourself in the right direction when it comes to choosing your own brand colours.

Some common associations include:

• Blue → trust and professionalism

• Green → growth, health, nature

• Black → sophistication and luxury

• Neutrals → calm and timelessness

• Red → energy and urgency

Photo: The London Image Institute.

But context also matters here – a soft, dusty blue feels entirely different to a bright electric blue. A warm beige creates a different mood to a cool grey. Tone, saturation, and how colours are combined all play a role in how your brand is perceived.

It’s also important not to build your entire palette around current trends. I get it, they’re popular for a reason (hint: they’re usually really cool and pretty!).

But trends change quickly, and if done right, a colour selection built on solid foundations instead of the trending colours of the day can help you avoid a whole redesign in a year or two.

4. Look at your competitors – and find your point of difference

While colour psychology should be an important consideration when selecting your brand colours, considering the colours of your key competitors should be given a little more gravitas.

Researching your competitors is essential – without this, you could end up building a whole brand that blends right in with the crowd.

This is not the goal.

If everyone in your industry is playing it safe with similar colours, there’s a clear opportunity for you to stand out strategically.

The goal is to try and strike a balance: choosing colours that feel familiar enough to build trust, while still identifying gaps in the market to create something that feels distinctive, aligned with your audience, and clearly set apart from your competitors.

The strongest brands are both recognisable and memorable.

5. Prioritise practical application and accessibility

A strong colour palette has to work consistently across every touchpoint and application – not just look good on a moodboard.

But beyond structure, usability and accessibility matters. Your content should be easy to read and inclusive for all users, not just visually appealing.

Before locking them in, try testing your colours across:

• Your website

• Social media graphics

• Photography overlays

• Print materials (knowing the difference between RGB and CMYK is key for this one)

Ask yourself:

• Is there enough contrast for readability? You can you this handy contrast checking tool to test your colours.

• Do the colours still work in different combinations?

• Do they complement your imagery, rather than compete with it?

• Do the colours look the same on a computer screen versus printed?

Because ultimately, practicality is just as (and I’d say even a tiny bit more) important as aesthetics.

Bonus: the colour palette framework

Now you’ve got all the top tools in your toolkit for building a successful brand colour palette, but how do you actually put it into action? Never fear, I’m here.

Whenever I’m building a palette for a brand, I usually tend to stick with a maximum of 4-5 colours using the framework below:

• A primary colour (your main brand anchor)

• A secondary colour (to support and add flexibility)

• An accent colour (for contrast and highlights)

• A light and/or dark neutral colour (for balance and usability)

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If you’ve made it this far, I hope you’ve gained a deeper understanding about why choosing your brand colours isn’t just an aesthetic decision, but also a strategic one.

When your palette aligns with your personality, resonates with your audience, and differentiates you from competitors, it becomes a powerful tool.

And by putting a strong focus on real-world applications and accessibility from the get-go, rolling out your colours across all your brand collateral will become a lot easier.

When done well, your colours will:

• Attract the right audience

• Build trust and recognition

• Elevate your perceived value

• Create consistency and foster accessibility across every touchpoint

If you’re struggling to land on a colour palette that feels right – or you’re second-guessing whether your current one is doing your business justice – it might be time to take a more strategic approach.

That’s where I come in. You can get in touch with me here to learn more about how I could help you discover your dream branding.

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