Business Tips

Psychology of Brand Colors: Green

If you are getting ready to start a new business venture, or getting ready to give your brand a face lift. One of the most important things to consider, is how you want your brand colors to make your perfect client feel. The psychology behind your brand colors says a lot about who you want to attract. 

Given that I went to school for psychology and worked in mental health, it's an understatement to say that I geek out about this stuff. So rather than making choices blindly, let's add some rhyme and reason to your decision.

The choices of colors in your company logo, website design, and marketing materials can have an impact on the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns. With my background in psychology, we structure everything around this.

Here is the psychology behind how colors affect people’s perception of your brand below:

Green: When you think of green, what do you think of? For me, John Deere, Starbucks, Whole Foods, Spotify, Sprite, Fiverr, BP, and WhatsApp. Below are a few words that describe how these brands want you to feel when you are interacting with their brand. 

• Health
• Loyalty
• Nature
• Prosperity
• Harmony
• Luck
• Safety

I first think of John Deere which was a major brand where I grew up in the country, and if you had a John Deere tractor you have made it!!! Now BP was a big deal when I was growing up too, because all the kids got a BP gas card. I don't know if that's the way for my parents to be generous or they just want to keep track of us. I'll never forget the day I put premium gas in my car by accident and I never heard the end of it!! Growing up we did not have all of the other brands, but I heavily on them today as a business owner. Starbucks helped me start my business by meeting clients there before I got a real office. And although I don't drink coffee, everyone seems to love it. Whole Foods has introduced a whole new way of healthy eating habits. Spotify streams our podcast: Business Unveiled. I've met a lot of amazing people around the world using Fiverr to help service our clients, and WhatsApp is a game changer for communication worldwide. Now Sprite was around when I was growing up but my mother never bought soda unless we were really sick, which came along with Campbell soup with Saltine crackers and a thermometer. So how do you think today as an adult I identify with Sprite? You guessed it, when I feel like shit! And for some reason, McDonalds has the best Sprite too. 

Visit here again next week for the full blog of my Psychology of Colors Series.

How To Be More Productive

Imagine if you were productive and the impact you can have on someone. Not just your business, but the impact you can have on someone's life.  It’s powerful. 

Once you put processes in place it really is incredible what will start to happen around you. People start to respect you. Your time.  And your process as a leader.  People will find you and people come to you instead of you having to chase them. People ask for you. That is the power of putting a process in place which results in being more productive.

One of my favorite stories to share is also one of the saddest. Back in 2010 my hometown flooded in Nashville, TN. I will never forget it. It was like God put me in a nightmare. We had eight displaced weddings and events all downtown where the water gushed through the streets and towered over the buildings. Many of our vendors lost everything. I mean everything! Cars, filing cabinets, client books, furniture; it all rapidly floated away. The worst part. They did not have flood insurance. Many filed bankruptcy and had to rebuild. This time they knew they needed to have a paperless process. One where all of their client files were backed up in the cloud. Something I had been preaching for years. Yet it took a tragedy to happen before acting on a change. 

Don’t be that person. That person that says, “oh that will never happen to me.”  Because you'll never know. 

I had seen first hand working in healthcare how powerful EMR was (electronic medical records) and how quickly files could be transferred over the cloud. 

If you are saying to yourself...

I can’t take on this client

Not one more thing on my plate

Am I ever going to get to bed

Gosh, I am stressed

I don’t have enough time to get it all done

The struggle is real for entrepreneurs.

Let’s recap.  The first P is People.  The second P is Processes; internal and external. You need paperless processes to grow your business.  

The first process to consider is time blocking and using colors to see how your calendar looks each week. The color coding can provide an overview snapshot for you. I had every excuse in the book as to why this would not work for me. But shifting your mindset and commitment to your business and well being will be life changing.

The second process to consider is to your email.  Do you ever feel like you are in email jail? That is what I used to call it because I would spend hours entertaining non sense. There were two FREE tools we implemented in the business that decreased our email by 300+ a day.  Do you know how much flipping time that saved!!

In my next article, I will share with you some of my tools that I mentioned above.  Just know that there are so many ways to automate and so many options on the market, especially now. 

Remember, Money follows Processes. And if you do this right, follow the processes. You will be able to get clear on being  present in your everyday life. 

Psychology of Brand Colors: Yellow

If you are getting ready to start a new business venture, or getting ready to give your brand a face lift. One of the most important things to consider, is how you want your brand colors to make your perfect client feel. The psychology behind your brand colors says a lot about who you want to attract.

Given that I went to school for psychology and worked in mental health, it's an understatement to say that I geek out about this stuff. So rather than making choices blindly, let's add some rhyme and reason to your decision.

The choices of colors in your company logo, website design, and marketing materials can have an impact on the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns. With my background in psychology, we structure everything around this.

Here is the psychology behind how colors affect people’s perception of your brand below:

Yellow: When you think of yellow, what do you think of? For me, I think of McDonalds, UPS, IMDb, Subway, Denny's, Bumble, Snapchat, and Cheetos. Below are a few words that describe how these brands want you to feel when you are interacting with their brand.

The #1 Reason Businesses Fail

The number one reason businesses fail is because the leader does not have the right people in place. There is so much noise and hustling that it seems too difficult so you never take action to create the lifestyle you want. You opened your business to be able to make money and have control of your time and life, right. If you are reading this article, you know that means that you want to get control of your time and be more productive. And the reason you haven’t started yet, is because you don’t know where to start.

Angela here, I want to share a story with you...

One year I worked with over 250 clients and didn’t make a profit. Yep, not one penny. Talk about hurtful. The day I sat in my accountants office and he told me how many clients I had simple worked for for free I was speechless. Over the next two years I tracked my time and really cracked down on pre qualifying clients and only saying yes to the right clients. In a two year timeframe we worked our clients down to 30 full service clients.  And the outcome was incredible.  We were finally profitable and by providing full service, our clients had a better experience and outcome. 

One of my favorite business leaders, Tim Ferris said it best, “focus on being productive NOT busy.”

So let’s talk about my favorite Ps:

The first P is People and learning their personalities. Understanding how to communicate the message the way people need to hear it is the key to success. Most people don’t spend the time to find the right people to surround themselves with.  Most people hire people they like instead of based on psychology. Well you have massive blind spots when you do that. And most businesses will fail or struggle long term without all the personalities in place. Until you get clear on your blind spots and the people you need, then you won’t be able to really run a business.

To grow, you must take time working on the business rather than in the business.

I want you to ask yourself these two things:

Do you have the right people around you?
Is there a communication plan in place to deliver the messages the way they need to hear it?

Stay tuned! In my next article I will talk more about the essential P.

Psychology of Brand Colors: Orange

If you are getting ready to start a new business venture, or getting ready to give your brand a face lift. One of the most important things to consider, is how you want your brand colors to make your perfect client feel. The psychology behind your brand colors says a lot about who you want to attract. 

Given that I went to school for psychology and worked in mental health, it's an understatement to say that I geek out about this stuff. So rather than making choices blindly, let's add some rhyme and reason to your decision.

The choices of colors in your company logo, website design, and marketing materials can have an impact on the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns. With my background in psychology, we structure everything around this.

Here is the psychology behind how colors affect people’s perception of your brand below:

Orange: When you think of orange, what do you think of? So for me, I think of Amazon (the #1 brand I can't live without), the Tennessee VOLS (which is where I went to college, we were damn good and always won because Peyton Manning was the quarterback), Hooters (a place that a lot of my friends wanted me to work at because I have a big chest but my dad said no), Avon (skin so soft, because it's the only thing that will keep the bugs from biting me and trust me I've tried everything). Below are a few words that describe how these brands want you to feel when you are interacting with their brand. 

• Original
• Optimism
• Emotion
• Pleasure
• Freedom
• Enthusiasm
• Youth

To sum it all up, which this is all 100% facts. Pre-gaming at Hooters eating some chicken wings outside with a bunch of Alumni's and reminiscing the good ol' days and not wanting to accept the fact that the VOLS really suck and have been for the past decades. I'm not worried about being outside because it's fall and the temperature is quite pleasant, but I lathered up with my Avon skin so soft because the bugs always find me not matter where I am in the world and no matter what the temperature is. Halfway through the game I lose interest because we were losing so bad. So I pull out my phone, even though I'm trying to live in the moment and be present, I start to shop on Amazon for a new Canon lens. I'm just keeping it real with the orange.

If you want to know more about the other colors and how they help and affect your brand, be sure to check it out on next week's blog!

Psychology of Brand Colors: Red

If you are getting ready to start a new business venture, or getting ready to give your brand a face lift. One of the most important things to consider, is how you want your brand colors to make your perfect client feel. The psychology behind your brand colors says a lot about who you want to attract. 

Given that I went to school for psychology and worked in mental health, it's an understatement to say that I geek out about this stuff. So rather than making choices blindly, let's add some rhyme and reason to your decision.

The choices of colors in your company logo, website design, and marketing materials can have an impact on the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns. With my background in psychology, we structure everything around this.

Here is the psychology behind how colors affect people’s perception of your brand below:

Red: When you think of red, what do you think of? For me, I think of brands likeVirgin, Pinterest, Target, Canon, Coca-Cola, Chick-Fil-A, Netflix, Oracle, Macy's, TJ Maxx Home Goods, CNN, TIME, H&M, TLC, Disney, and Youtube. Below are a few words that describe how these brands want you to feel when you are interacting with their brand. 

• Love
• Strength
• Energy
• Passion
• Adventure
• Excitement
• Action

To sum it up, these are mostly brands that I most definitely interact with. And I'm not saying they're all healthy for you. Waking up at the Virgin hotel in Nashville (a staycation since it recently opened), with CNN on the background with my niece flipping back and forth with TLC and Disney (again I don't watch TV, so not my reality). However, Youtube is a different story and I won't even go to the different things that I've learned from Youtube. I hop on to the Chick-Fil-A app because it's Saturday not Sunday and I'm so tired from scrolling on Pinterest (designing the GSD house ya'll) the night before I need some Coca-Cola for the caffeine. It's Saturday so making a run to Target to ONLY get the things on my list, which is a joke and I also get side tracked and go to TJ Maxx because it's next door and on the same road we swing by Macy's because why not?? They're having a huge sale and my mother gave me coupons for the kids' back-to-school clothes. They didn't like anything and begged to go to H&M instead, which is completely out of the way. Their clothes fall apart after wearing them once so it wasn't worth the drive. Meanwhile, I'm super annoyed at all of the traffic because Oracle just opened up in Nashville and brought 8,000+ people to the city. But hey! It's a $1.2 billion investment for Nashville which is great for business. So in real life, this is why I use Amazon and get everything delivered to avoid the squirrel moments. Meanwhile, the kids are watching Netflix on the iPad binge watching Outer Banks which I don't understand because that shit is fake. Now I do with many of these brands but I try to keep it on a productive level.

If you want to know more about the other colors and how they help and affect your brand, be sure to check it out on next week's blog!

Psychology of Brand Colors: Pink

If you are getting ready to start a new business venture, or getting ready to give your brand a face lift. One of the most important things to consider, is how you want your brand colors to make your perfect client feel. The psychology behind your brand colors says a lot about who you want to attract. 

Given that I went to school for psychology and worked in mental health, it's an understatement to say that I geek out about this stuff. So rather than making choices blindly, let's add some rhyme and reason to your decision.

The choices of colors in your company logo, website design, and marketing materials can have an impact on the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns. With my background in psychology, we structure everything around this.

Here is the psychology behind how colors affect people’s perception of your brand below:

Pink: When you think of pink? What do you think of? For me, I think of breast cancer awareness, Victoria's Secret, Air B&B, Lyft, Barbie, Pepto-Bismol, Vineyard Vines, and LG. Below are a few words that describe how these brands want you to feel when you are interacting with their brand. 

• Gratitude
• Softness
• Respect
• Intuition
• Femininity
• Calm
• Creativity

To sum it up, it makes me think of waking up in the morning in an Air B&B watching my LG TV (not really because I never watch TV), drinking my Pepto-Bismol because I ate shit food last night. I hop out of bed, slip on my very sexy yet uncomfortable bra from Victoria's Secret (I'm kidding because I only live in sports bras), throw on my pink polo from Vineyard Vines and schedule a Lyft to drive me to a breast cancer awareness event. In tow with me is my niece who is scrolling on my iPad through Instagram looking at people's profiles looking like plastic Barbie dolls. Can you gather that I don't really interact with these brands?!!!

If you want to know more about the other colors and how they help and affect your brand, be sure to check it out on next week's blog!

Psychology of Brand Colors: Purple

If you are getting ready to start a new business venture, or getting ready to give your brand a face lift. One of the most important things to consider, is how you want your brand colors to make your perfect client feel. The psychology behind your brand colors says a lot about who you want to attract. 

Given that I went to school for psychology and worked in mental health, it's an understatement to say that I geek out about this stuff. So rather than making choices blindly, let's add some rhyme and reason to your decision.

The choices of colors in your company logo, website design, and marketing materials can have an impact on the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns. With my background in psychology, we structure everything around this.

Here is the psychology behind how colors affect people’s perception of your brand below:

Purple: When you think of purple, what do you think of? For me, it's really hard to think of brands in this color and I actually had to Google it. Below are a few words that describe how these brands want you to feel when you are interacting with their brand. 

• Justice
• Art
• Fantasy
• Royalty
• Mystery
• Imagination
• Spirituality

The only one that really pops out on Google images is FedEx, because they deliver packages to my doorstep almost daily. And until I was able to meet the driver and clarify what I do, he thought I was a shopping addict. Then to come find out, on the weekends he is a server of the catering company that we often use. And he said: "Oh my gosh I thought you looked familiar. I watch all your videos and my favorite one were about your mother saving the cardboard from another country". I guess the video was funny to outsiders watching it because I was pissed that her bags were overweight traveling from another country with all these freakin' cardboards. He started to collect them and bring them to me for her, which is the sweetest thing ever. Now if you're wondering what the cardboard is for, I will let your mind wonder, I have one word for you, gerbil. JK, it was for the kids' school project.

If you want to know more about the other colors and how they help and affect your brand, be sure to check it out on next week's blog!

Psychology of Brand Colors: Blue

If you are getting ready to start a new business venture, or getting ready to give your brand a face lift. One of the most important things to consider, is how you want your brand colors to make your perfect client feel. The psychology behind your brand colors says a lot about who you want to attract. 

Given that I went to school for psychology and worked in mental health, it's an understatement to say that I geek out about this stuff. So rather than making choices blindly, let's add some rhyme and reason to your decision.

The choices of colors in your company logo, website design, and marketing materials can have an impact on the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns. With my background in psychology, we structure everything around this.

Here is the psychology behind how colors affect people’s perception of your brand below:

Blue: When you think of blue, what do you think of? Well, American Express, Wordpress, Vimeo, Twitter, Facebook, Skype, Chase, Dropbox, Paypal, BMW, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and Pfizer. Below are a few words that describe how these brands want you to feel when you are interacting with their brand. 

• Success
• Trust
• Purpose
• Power
• Security
• Loyalty
• Confidence

To sum it up, I could really go on and on and on with the blue brands because these brands want to instill trust and strength. They are brands that are dependable and you can count on them. I probably had a business American Express and a Southwest Chase cards for 2 decades. And if I add up Wordpress, Vimeo, Skype, Facebook, Dropbox, and BMW I've spent a lot of freakin' money (I did not buy a car with a credit card just so to be clear but I thought about it for the points. I prefer Porsche over BMW anyway). But seriously, the point system of AmEx and Chase is incredible if you know how to use it right. Also, speaking of money, Paypal is a great resource to send money back and forth securely and their founder's story is incredible, that's why I like to support Paypal (yes, stories sell). If I think back to my healthcare days, we had so much fun with all of the sponsored events by Pfizer. And then some rule got put in place, that only $300 could be spent for each physician and I quickly retired at a healthcare because if I'm not having fun I'm not doing it. Life is too short. Blue Cross Blue Shield is our primary healthcare provider where I live, and I'm not going there because it's too political and I don't get into that. Just like I don't get into Twitter, for that reason.

If you want to know more about the other colors and how they help and affect your brand, be sure to check it out on next week's blog!

Video Content Creation and Production Tips

As a digital content creation agency, we at GSD Creative focus on the strategy, planning, creation and execution of consistent organic content to target your audience and grow your brand. Through this, we have definitely learned a lot along the way and mastered the processes within our team. Below are some simple tips for you if you plan on creating video content for your brand and business.

1. What is the most important aspect of creating a storyboard for a business video?

A storyboard is creating the entire story of your brand, why you do what you do, and what drives the passion. This is essential. If you don’t organize a storyboard you’ll likely not reach your target audience and cause confusion. It helps you gather your thoughts and helps the directors and line producers understand what you’re going for. Also, it helps the editor, which saves you more time and increases your company’s productivity. Clarity is speed. When you have clarity, you can produce things quicker.

2. What tip would you give to someone who has to write a script for the first time for their business video?

If you’re not a copy writer and not in marketing, hire someone to work with you to help you write a script. Someone who knows what they are doing. Although I suggest you need someone behind the scenes who understands the psychology behind your client avatar. Also, hire someone who is in research to search the keywords of what’s trending for the problem that you solve for the viewer.

3. What common mistakes do you see from small businesses who try to create their own videos for their video marketing?

The really simple stuff. How to hold the camera, how to hold the phone, lighting, bad audio quality, bad editing, and not understanding the purpose of the video. There is a psychological formula, who to talk to based on who your client avatar is. There is a method to the madness.

If you want help in creating organic video content, contact us at GSD Creative now! We'd love to help you out!