Easy Personal Branding for Actors

How Actors Can Easily Pick Their Brand Colors

2/23/2018

Personal branding can sound like an overwhelming term, but it's important to learn for the sake of building your audience.

Actors must effectively market themselves, and building a brand can increase the success of those marketing efforts.

You might be thinking, "Wait, I don't have any customers as an actor, so why do I need a brand?" But remember, your fans and followers are your customers. At some point you'll want them to purchase and/or watch your work.

"Successful branding yields benefits such as increased customer loyalty, an improved image, and a relatable identity. (TSL Marketing)" - via Lucidpress

One of the easiest ways to kickstart your personal branding as an actor is by choosing your colors, which I'll teach you how to do in this post.

Here's what the experts say about brand colors:

Color increases brand recognition by up to 80 percent. (University of Loyola)
Color creates and instant subconscious judgment. Every color and every shade creates associations and has a personality surrounding it. (Business 2 Community)
Additional studies have revealed that our brains prefer recognizable brands, which makes color incredibly important when creating a brand identity. (Entrepreneur)

When I say McDonald's, you think of the color yellow.

When I say Starbucks, you think of the color green.

When I say Facebook, you think of the color blue.

On the flip side, those colors may make you think of those businesses.

You can also use color psychology to your advantage as an actor by making casting directors think about you when they see a certain color.

For me it's blue or aqua. I have an actor friend that looks great in citrus colors (yellow, red, orange), and I've highly encouraged her to always wear them.

STEP #1: PICK A NEUTRAL COLOR

What's your favorite neutral color?

Take a look at your clothes or the color of your walls. Which neutral do you use most in your everyday life?

Neutrals are colors that appear to be without color, creating an amazing backdrop for more pronounced colors.

Examples include white, gray, black, beige, ivory, taupe. I actually use navy as a neutral.

This will be the color you use as the primary backdrop of your graphics, logos, social banners, website, and staple pieces in your wardrobe if you're super coordinated.

STEP #2: PICK YOUR POWER COLOR

Now it's time to pick your second color.

Pick the color that makes you look your best, also known as your "power color."

This tends to be your favorite color.

This is the color I suggest you always wear for auditions or headshots.

That's why I pick blues. I have blue eyes and red undertones to my skin, so blues make my eyes pop (especially on camera) and tones down the redness in my skin.

Red, however, is my least favorite color. It really enhances splotchiness in my skin and accentuates acne.

Now look at your favorite color against your favorite neutral. Do they look good together? If not, tweak your neutral to match your power color.

This color will also be the color you primarily use for your text or graphics on your social media or sites, overlaid on your neutral backdrop.

STEP #3: PICK A POP COLOR

This last color is going to add a little pizzaz.

You need to pick a color that "pops" against your neutral and power colors.

These tend to be bright, bold colors.

This color should be used sparingly to highlight certain text on your sites or to add visual interest to graphics.

You could also use it in the accessories of your wardrobe.

BRAND COLOR EXAMPLE

My current brand colors are navy (neutral), aqua (power), and yellow (pop). I used coral instead of yellow initially, but it felt too feminine for me.

If you update your brand colors, make sure you do it everywhere!

It's ok, however, to leave old graphics with their original branding. It will allow your followers to see your brand change over time.

Just make sure any new branding is cohesive across all of your platforms once you pull the trigger.

Here's an example of my colors in action, via a post in our Actor Boss Facebook group:

I want to point out that my power color is blue, but there's not a true blue in my color scheme.

However, I consider navy and aqua to be in the blue color family, and I always wear blue shirts. In general, I'm associated with the color blue.

It's ok to bend these rules (i.e. two neutrals or only two colors total), but this is a great foundation to get you started.

TAKE ACTION

So what are your colors?

At a minimum I recommend finding your power color.

Start incorporating it into your wardrobe and online presence.

Here are five free color palettes to help you brainstorm. Feel free to use one if you like it: