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How to Enable Macros in Excel
Microsoft Excel’s versatility and sheer number of features make it one of the most complex software programs to master.
While you might want to learn every feature in Excel, you’ll likely need to know just a limited number to get the best from the software. Macros are small and simple programs that can make your work much easier and are favored by expert users.
The good thing is that learning how to enable macros is relatively easy, and in this article, we’ll show you how to enable macros in Excel, since they are disabled by default.
The Benefits of Using Macros in Excel
The Dangers of Using Macros in Excel
How to Enable a Single Macro in Excel
How to Enable Macros in a Single Excel File
What are macros in Excel?
An Excel macro is a small program created in Excel that allows you to automate everyday tasks. It’s a precious tool in Excel that lets complicated instructions be carried out with just a command.
Macros are tremendous time-savers — you can create macros that can do almost anything you want in Excel and other Microsoft Office software.
For example, macros can let you insert company letterhead into an existing document in Word or add formatted tables to a spreadsheet in Excel — all with one command.
When you create a macro, you’re recording your mouse clicks and keystrokes. Using this feature, you can run a program to automate repetitive tasks.
The Benefits of Using Macros in Excel
Using macros in Excel offers the following benefits to users.
It saves time and effort.
This is perhaps the most apparent advantage of using macros in Excel. Since you can automate repetitive tasks, you can save time for yourself.
You can then use the extra time on your hands to handle other crucial tasks and responsibilities.
But the automation of macros does more than help you save time — it also helps you handle complex or tedious processes.
For instance, if you have an Excel spreadsheet with data, you can create a macro that searches through all the data, compiles essential information, and sends a copy to an email address.
Or imagine you usually create a monthly report for your accounting manager.
So, instead of spending time and energy plowing through data, formatting customer names, and identifying customers who are defaulting or overpaying, you could create a macro that does everything in a few minutes.
It helps you reduce errors.
Spending long hours manually entering data into a spreadsheet can be exhausting and tedious. Once exhausted and bored, it won’t be long before you start making mistakes.
When you use automated macros, you’d be able to avoid or reduce errors that might come about due to human fatigue.
It’s easy to set up macros in Excel.
You don’t need to be a coding expert before you can use macros in Excel. That way, no matter your profession, you can use macros to a reasonable extent by following the steps we offer in this guide.
The Danger of Using Macros in Excel
Although a default feature of Excel in the past, macros can cause some problems. For example, some people have used this powerful tool to create macro viruses, which can cause harmful results.
Several websites offer free macros that you can download to save time. While appealing, we strongly recommend that you avoid these.
If you’re not a technical user or unsure what a macro will do, you should avoid downloading or verifying its contents.
Because of these dangers, Microsoft disables macros by default. So while you can still use macros, you’ll need to enable them.
With that in mind, let’s now see how you can enable macros in Excel.
How to Enable Macros in Excel
Enabling macros is one of the simpler things to do in Excel. Here’s how to do it.
Click on File and then click on Options.
This takes you to the Excel Options window. On this page, click the Trust Center on the bottom left sidebar.
Once you click Trust Center, a new window opens. Click on Trust Center Settings.
Within the Trust Center window, click on Macro Settings on the left sidebar.
To enable macros, tick the checkbox next to Enable Excel 4.0 macros.
Then click on OK at the bottom of the page to save your new settings. And with that, you’ve enabled macros in Excel.
Note that following the steps above will ensure all spreadsheets in Excel will run macros. You should only do this if you can deal with the risk of macro viruses.
What if you want to enable just one macro in Excel and not all macros? Then the following section will show you how.
How to Enable a Single Macro in an Excel File
You can easily enable the spreadsheet without going through any hoops if the spreadsheet has a macro.
Here’s how.
Open the file that contains the macro.
Due to Excel’s settings, macros are automatically disabled. If a spreadsheet with macros is opened, a yellow security warning message bar will appear, telling you that macros have been disabled.
To enable macros, you only need to click on Enable Content.
How to Enable Macros in a Single Excel File
Since March 2023, Microsoft has changed the default behavior of Office applications to block macros in files downloaded from the internet. So when users open a file that contains macros, they receive the following message:
However, you can enable macros by changing the properties of the file that contains macros. Just follow these steps:
Go to the file location of the Excel file.
Right-click and select Properties.
3. Select the Unblock checkbox at the bottom of the General tab in Properties, then select OK.
Getting Started
You don’t have to be an accountant before you know how to use Excel. The steps we’ve listed above will help beginners learn how to enable macros in Excel.
Whether you want to work faster or improve your productivity, Excel has features like macros to help you.
How Performance Marketing Works [+ 6 Tools You Can Use]
Many companies have employee referral programs where referring someone who gets hired comes with a reward (typically a cash bonus).
This is the same principle of performance marketing: marketers set a performance goal (like driving conversions) and reward the partners/people who help them get those conversions.
Let’s dive deeper into how performance marketing works, how to create a performance marketing strategy, and the tools you can use to implement one.
Table of Contents
What is performance marketing?
How Performance Marketing Works
How To Create a Performance Marketing Strategy
How do you measure performance marketing?
Top Performance Marketing Software
Top Performance Marketing Verticals
What is performance marketing?
Performance marketing is a digital marketing strategy driven by results, where advertisers (like a brand or business) only pay once a goal is met, which can be anything from making a purchase to filling out a form on a landing page.
With a traditional ad campaign approach, there’s no guarantee you will get a return on your investment, and you can only monitor performance and make adjustments after it launches.
Even seasoned media buyers can have unsuccessful campaigns if there’s a misalignment between the campaign and the target audience.
Since you’ll only pay when your goals are met, you accomplish three things:
Your campaign is less risky
There’s a guaranteed return on investment (ROI)
You have better control over your ad spend
Is affiliate marketing the same as performance marketing?
While somewhat related, affiliate marketing and performance marketing are different.
Affiliate marketing is a subset of performance marketing based on paying a commission after each sale or target goal/conversion.
Performance marketing has grown broader than just affiliate marketing, with the target goal of improving a company’s performance as a whole.
Types of Performance Marketing
There are various performance marketing partners/channels to consider for your campaigns:
Affiliate marketing: A partner uses an affiliate code or link to promote an advertiser to their audience and is paid by tracking the conversions from their unique link.
Influencer marketing: Brands work with creators and influencers that promote their offer to their unique audiences to inspire them to take action.
Paid marketing and advertising: Businesses work with a publisher to display their ad (like on a webpage) and pay the publisher for actions like clicks, purchases after clicking, or the number of impressions from where they feature the ad.
Search engine marketing (SEM): Advertisers feature advertisements in search results for business-related terms and pay the publisher if their ad is clicked.
Native advertising: Advertisers create ads that blend in on the channels they’re on, and advertisers pay an affiliate or influencer based on their target conversion.
Social media marketing: Creators and influencers advertise for partners on different social media channels.
How Performance Marketing Works
Executing a performance marketing strategy relies on three key players:
The advertiser (like a retailer, merchant, brand, etc., who is looking to improve performance)
A publisher or an affiliate partner (someone who promotes for an advertiser)
An affiliate tracking network (a third-party system where advertisers and publishers connect and can track performance and receive payments).
Some advertisers may use an outsourced program management (OPM) firm or agency that takes over running the program.
How To Create a Performance Marketing Strategy
1. Define your goals.
With any digital marketing campaign, establishing your objectives is key.
What do you want to accomplish? It may be general brand awareness, sales for your new product line, more leads, or something else. For example, if your goal is to attract new leads, you might have a performance marketing goal of drawing in 500 new leads.
Once you define your goals, you can select the publisher/partner best suited to help you achieve them.
2. Identify your partners.
Finding the right publisher/partner takes research, but it’s the most important step because it’s how you inspire people to convert.
Today, influencers are some of the most popular partners because of the high level of trust they have with their audience. The influencer could be a YouTuber that adds an affiliate link in a video description or a blogger who adds a backlink to your landing page in their written content.
Once you’ve found your partner or preferred channel, you also outline a payment structure. For example, with SEM, you’d likely design a program where you pay Google for impressions or clicks, and with an influencer, you’d decide how and how much you’d pay them whenever your goal is met.
We’ll talk more about how to measure performance marketing below.
3. Generate and assign IDs.
The next step is to get your unique tracking links/URLs and codes ready.
This is crucial because the only way to attribute an action to your partner/publisher correctly is with a unique code, URL, or UTM parameter.
You may do this manually at first, but many people rely on automated tracking systems to ensure all conversion attributions are correct.
How do you measure performance marketing?
Overall, the metric you use determines what actions trigger a commission payment and the ROI of your efforts. The more actions you drive, the more successful your campaign.
Let’s say I’m an influencer partnered with Brandon Blackwood. I share a 10% discount code “MARTINA10” with my followers to use at checkout when purchasing an item from the brand. Whenever someone used my code to purchase, I would get a percentage of the sale. In this case, the tracked metric is unique sales from my code, which can be paid with a cost-per-acquisition model.
Some standard measurement and pricing structures for performance marketing are:
Cost Per Acquisition (CPA)/Pay Per Sale – If your goal is to drive sales, you’d measure the success of your campaign by the number of sales and pay your partners every time someone buys a product that is directly traceable to them.
Cost Per Click (CPC)/Pay Per Click – If your goal is to drive clicks to your page or offers, you’d pay each time your partner drives someone to click (which is why tracking URLs are crucial in distinguishing regular traffic from partner-inspired traffic).
Cost Per Lead (CPL)/Pay Per Lead – You’d pay each time you get new information on a user (like after they fill out a form) because the partner inspired them to submit their information. You’d then further nurture the lead with the end goal of converting them into a customer.
Cost Per Impression (CPM) – Also called cost per mille, you’d pay based on the number of impressions you get from an ad that a partner shares or that is displayed somewhere. CPM usually pays out every 1,000 impressions.
Top Performance Marketing Software
There are two main types of performance marketing software: those that focus on connecting advertisers with affiliate partners or publishers and those that monitor performance. Let’s go through some top tools in each category.
Performance Marketing Partnership Tools
1. PartnerStack
Price: Contact for pricing
If you’re a SaaS company looking to develop a robust partner program, consider PartnerStack.
Key Features
Choose from a network of active partners, or recruit your preferred partners.
Custom partner portal and automated onboarding to share relevant training resources.
Campaign tracking to understand performance and initiate payments.
2. Partnerize
Price: Contact for pricing
Partnerize is a simple and easy-to-use dashboard to manage your partners.
Key Features
Build an invite-only network of partners, or get automated partner recommendations from its partner ecosystem.
Access to real-time campaign data to view partner performance.
Custom commission structure for each partner and automate the payment and reward process.
3. Everflow
Price: $750/mo (Core plan), contact for custom pricing
Everflow helps you simplify partnership management to ensure you drive results.
Key Features
Easy-to-use portal to onboard partners and manage your relationships.
Track every referral and lead and accurately attribute conversion events to each partner.
Design a custom payout structure to pay partners when they deliver on your goals.
One of the biggest struggles of working with affiliates is creating and tracking links and codes at scale. Below we’ll go over some helpful tools.
Performance Marketing Tracking Tools
1. LeadDyno
Price: $49/mo Starter), $129/mo (Plus), more advanced pricing for businesses with 15,000+ unique site visitors per month
LeadDyno gives brands tools to grow a successful affiliate program that aligns rewards to your target actions.
Key Features:
Create links, codes, or assign specific URLs to each partner.
Unique affiliate dashboard to ensure you attribute conversions correctly.
Customize a payment structure based on your key metrics and seamlessly send payments.
2. AnyTrack.io
Price: 14-day free trial; $50/mo (Basic), $150/mo (Personal), $300/mo (Advanced)
With AnyTrack, attribution reporting is easier.
Key Features
Assign a tag to each partner that automatically tracks, attributes, and syncs your conversions.
Track every single engagement and sale to understand performance.
Integrate your custom affiliate network.
3. Impact
Price: Contact for pricing
The Impact tool streamlines the partnership process from initial contact to payout.
Key Features
Universal tracking tag helps you track the traffic your partners drive on all properties across any device.
Create payment contracts and automatically pay partners when they bring results on your key metrics.
Find partners that align with your needs or import your existing affiliate network.
Top Performance Marketing Verticals
Wondering which industries use performance marketing the most? According to a 2022 study by the Performance Marketing Association, advertisers in the retail sector spent the most on performance marketing – accounting for 76% of total spending. The financial sector followed with a steep drop to 12%, then the travel industry with 5%.
In terms of revenue, the sector with the highest revenue was retail at 84%, followed by travel at 10%. Industries like automotive, healthcare, and telecoms only accounted for 1% of the total performance marketing revenue.
However, despite having the biggest spending and highest revenue percentages, the retail industry didn’t offer the best ROAS. According to the report, the automotive industry offered the best return at $26, followed by travel at $21 and retail at $12.
Any industry can have success with performance marketing. It’s all about collaborating with the right partners and setting up a robust program to reach your marketing goals.
Brand Colors — Everything You Need to Know
Brand colors shape how people perceive your business. Up to 80% of snap judgments about products are solely based on color alone. That’s right, 80%!
Think about McDonald’s for a moment. What pops into your mind? The yellow arches, right? McDonald’s has done a fantastic job of using its colors to establish a memorable brand identity that stays with you long after you’ve finished your burger and fries.
So why settle for a forgettable brand image that blends in with the crowd? Let’s sprinkle some color into our article and discover the powerful connection between colors and branding.
Inspiration From 10 Brands That Get it Right
Why Brand Colors Matter
1. Colors establish brand identity and recognition.
Today’s market is overwhelmed. So, how can you find your top spot there? Using consistent brand colors is a great way to establish brand recognition and identity.
For example, let’s look at Coca-Cola. The company has been using its signature red and white colors since 1886.
Red represents excitement, passion, and energy, while white represents purity and simplicity. These colors have become synonymous with the brand and are instantly recognizable by people worldwide.
2. Brand colors evoke emotions and associations.
Let’s admit it. We’re all guilty of making purchases based on emotions. And since the colors can evoke certain feelings, this raises the question: “What does this mean for your brand?”
Picking the right color palette can be a game-changer in customers’ attraction, as 34.5% of purchases are driven by color influence.
Different colors evoke different emotions and associations. For example, green can signify growth, health, and nature, while red can symbolize passion, excitement, and urgency.
Facebook uses blue as its primary color in its branding. Blue is often a color of trust, security, and reliability, which aligns with Facebook’s mission to connect people and create a safe online community.
It also calms people, helping users feel more relaxed and comfortable while using the platform.
“Media giants are sneaky and use colors to create psychological impacts that grab our attention,” says Lindsay Braman, an illustrator, therapist, and visual translator.
Think of the fiery reds in fast-food logos that pump us up or the enigmatic blacks in luxury branding that intrigue us.
She also backs up her claims with an interesting study where college students who received test papers with red numbers performed worse due to its anxiety-inducing effect.
3. Brand colors increase recall.
Using consistent brand colors can increase brand recall by up to 80%. When customers repeatedly see your brand colors in different contexts, their brains associate those colors with your brand.
So basically, brand recall can make or break your business.
And let’s not forget about brand equity. The financial value added to your products and services by having a recognized brand. Qualtrics says 59% of consumers prefer to buy from trusted brands.
4. Brand colors create a competitive edge.
Colors are your brand’s signature, your statement to the world. Creating a memorable brand increases your chances of outshining competitors and gaining loyal customers.
Canva’s experts suggest analyzing your competitors’ color choices and then using the following questions to differentiate yourself:
What brand colors do your competitors use? How do they reflect their brand identities?
What are the audience perceptions of each competitor’s visual design and branding choices?
What color palette choices do competitors use with specific content types?
What makes your brand unique from each competitor?
They also suggest interviewing brand managers for valuable insight into the color-choosing process.
The Brand Color Formula
A brand color formula is a set of predefined color codes representing a company’s visual identity. It translates into a cohesive look and feel that resonates with their target audience and strengthens brand recognition.
The following formulas outline how to select colors for one, two, three, and four color brands.
One-Color Brand
Main color: This is the only color used in the brand.
Example: Nike’s brand color is black.
Two-Color Brand
Main color: The primary color used in the brand.
Accent color: The secondary color used to complement the main color.
Example: T-Mobile’s main brand color is magenta and the accent color is white.
Three-Color Brand
Main color: The primary color used in the brand.
Secondary color: The second most important color used in the brand.
Accent color: The third color used to complement the main and secondary colors.
Example: FedEx’s main brand colors are purple and orange, with white as an accent color.
Four-Color Brand
Primary color: The main color used in the brand.
Secondary color: The second most important color used in the brand.
Accent color 1: A color used to complement the primary and secondary colors.
Accent color 2: A second color used to complement the primary and secondary colors.
Example: Microsoft’s brand colors consist of a blue primary color and a green secondary color. Yellow is accent color 1 while red is accent color 2.
How to Choose Brand Colors
1. Define Your Brand Personality and Values
Before thinking about brand colors, let’s take a step back. First, consider the soul of your brand — its personality and values:
What’s its purpose and goal?
What emotions do you want to awaken in your customers?
Is it bold and daring or gentle and nurturing?
Is it all about luxury and exclusivity or affordability and accessibility?
What values do you offer?
What’s your message?
Once you’ve nailed down your brand’s personality traits, you’ll have a solid foundation for choosing your colors.
2. Research Color Psychology
Color psychology delves into how colors can impact our mood, behavior, and how we perceive everything around us.
Once you’ve cracked the code of color psychology, you’ll have the power to tap into the undeniable influence of hues and make savvy decisions.
Read books and studies on color psychology.
3. Pick Your Primary Color
Your primary color articulates your brand’s unique personality and values. Choose a hue that genuinely reflects your brand’s vibe and connects with your ideal audience to ensure a perfect match.
With color theory and psychology on your side, you’ll have all the tools to select a primary color and create a lasting impact.
4. Choose Your Secondary Colors
Secondary colors support your brand identity, adding depth and dimension to your overall color scheme. Use them to highlight accents, backgrounds, and typography and create a harmonious color palette that tells your brand’s unique story.
To create a seamless combo, select two to three colors that perfectly harmonize with your primary color.
5. Test Your Colors Across Platforms
Once you’ve selected your brand colors, it’s time to put them to the test and ensure they work properly across all platforms.
Try them on your website, social media channels, business cards, packaging, and other marketing materials to guarantee maximum consistency and visibility.
You can A/B test the buttons’ colors, backdrops, etc., to identify which brings in the most conversions.
Small changes in color and more straightforward communication through images led to a sales boost for Alpro, a Belgium company that markets plant-based milk products.
Color Psychology Tips
Color Meanings and Associations
Colors have different meanings and associations. Red can signify passion and love. Conversely, it also symbolizes danger and warning.
Warm colors like red, orange, and yellow evoke emotions ranging from warmth to anger, explains Kendra Cherry, a Psychosocial Rehabilitation Specialist and author.
Conversely, cool colors like blue, purple, and green are often associated with calmness but can also evoke sadness or indifference.
Black and grey trigger high-quality and high-technology associations.
Pro tip: Choose your brand and product colors to stimulate a concrete action, feeling, or desire — hunger (= buying food), confidence, inspiration, trust, etc.
Color and Emotions
And did you know that people across 30 countries share similar associations between colors and feelings? A survey of over 4,500 participants from 30 countries found that people easily connect colors and emotions.
What we like: Most colors were linked to positive emotions, while brown, grey, and black were associated with negative emotions.
Fun fact: Participants whose languages and geographical locations were similar had more similar color-emotion associations.
We also highly recommend you watch the video on color psychology by expert Mike Ploger.
Understanding the emotional connection between colors and individuals is crucial in visual branding. “Your favorite color likely came from positive experiences with that single color when you were growing up,” says Mike Ploger.
This highlights the importance of considering color psychology in brand building.
Gender and Color Preferences
Color preference can also be influenced by gender. Women generally lean towards warmer colors, purple (23%) and blue (35%). Men prefer blue (57%), black (9%), and green (14%).
But wait, there’s more!
Have you ever noticed the ubiquitous association between pink and girls and blue and boys? This gender-color stereotype has been deeply ingrained in Western societies, but what about in Chinese culture?
Researchers from several Chinese universities set out to investigate this phenomenon using a modified Stroop paradigm and event-related potential (ERP) signals.
In the experiment, Chinese college students received occupation words stereotypically associated with masculinity or femininity (displayed in either pink or blue). They were then asked to quickly and accurately classify the gender of the occupation.
The study revealed that pink stimuli associated with masculinity resulted in longer response times. In contrast, blue stimuli linked to masculinity did not cause the same delays in response time.
So what’s the conclusion? Pink is a “gendered” color, but blue is not. What a thought-provoking discovery.
However, color preferences in marketing still have a powerful impact on consumer behavior.
While some may argue that colors are insignificant when it comes to gender, it’s hard to ignore that pinky shades have become synonymous with the feminine market.
And we can see it everywhere, from Barbie’s iconic packaging to clothing brands that cater to women.
On the other hand, darker shades like black and navy blue have traditionally been a symbol of masculinity and are often the go-to choice for male products.
Just think of the rugged and athletic look synonymous with Jack & Jones’ marketing campaigns.
Color and Purchasing Decisions
Colors can affect purchasing decisions by evoking emotions and associations.
For example, red is often used in sales promotions because it creates a sense of urgency and can stimulate impulse buying. Sarah Levinger, Consumer Behavior Analyst, confirms that in one of her LinkedIn posts:
Yellow is often used to grab attention and create a sense of excitement. That makes it a popular color for clearance sales and promotions. Unexpectedly, people associate orange, brown, and yellow with inexpensive products.
Context and Color Impact
The impact of colors depends on the context in which they are used. For example, black can represent elegance and sophistication in fashion but can be perceived as ominous in other contexts.
Also, yellow can signify caution and slowness in transportation. Yellow lights, yellow yield signs, and yellow caution tape indicate slowing down in traffic.
In a different setting, yellow may evoke positive feelings such as cheerfulness and assurance.
The crux lies in the context of its usage.
Furthermore, in finance, green is all about profitability and money.
In the context of food, orange has a connection with freshness and nutrition (reminding us of oranges and carrots). However, in the context of safety, orange is used to signify danger and caution.
According to licensed psychologist Steffanie Stecker, colors can influence our mood, performance, and even how people perceive us. She emphasizes the subjective nature of color perception.
Simply put, what one person perceives as calming may not be the same for another person.
Brand Color Best Practices
1. Consider Cultural Differences
When choosing brand colors, remember to take into account cultural differences. Some colors can have different meanings and associations in different cultures.
For example, white symbolizes purity and innocence in Western cultures. But on the contrary, it has dark meanings, such as mourning and death in some Asian cultures.
In the 1950s, Pepsi decided to revamp the color in Southeast Asia. They swapped out the old and dull dark blue with a new, trendy, and icy blue shade that they believed would make their vending machines look fresh and inviting.
But nobody bothered to check the cultural significance of the color blue in that part of the world.
As it turns out, light blue means death and sorrow. So, needless to say, the new color scheme didn’t go down well with the locals. The result? A steep drop in Pepsi’s share price in the region.
Pro tip: When choosing colors for your brand, make sure you’re clued to their cultural connotations.
2. Use Colors to Differentiate Products
If your brand offers different products or services, you can use colors to differentiate them.
Google uses a clever strategy to help users easily differentiate between its products. The tech giant uses a distinct color scheme for each offering.
For instance, Google Drive has a tricolor look, while Google Docs has a fresh blue hue. Google Sheets is green, and Slides has a yellow appearance.
Pro tip: Choose a different color for each product or service to help customers easily identify and remember them.
3. Use Colors to Reinforce Your Brand’s Personality
Colors can also communicate important messages and enhance brand storytelling. If you carefully select the hues that align with your brand’s values and narrative, you can create a much better brand experience for your customers.
For instance, let’s consider Adidas — what sets it apart from others?
Its bold and dynamic colors reflect the company’s athletic and competitive spirit. The iconic three-stripe logo is often black and white, lending a touch of sophistication and timelessness to the brand’s overall look.
However, Adidas also incorporates vivid and lively colors into its product designs, such as neon yellows and electric blues. That exudes a sense of enthusiasm and excitement.
4. The Importance of Visual Contrast in Branding
Adding visual contrast to your branding is another key to unlocking the door of perfect design. You don’t have to make it look like a neon sign from Vegas, though.
Pro tip: Use the right color combo to create contrast. You can then emphasize key elements and convey your message more effectively.
No matter the brand, an element of visual contrast is key to every color palette. Having contrast
doesn’t necessarily mean that a brand looks bold or loud. A sense of complementary harmony, be it through hue or value, allows all brand visuals to be clear and legible.
“At Switch, one process we use to ensure that the brand colors we’re planning for a brand have
enough contrast is to desaturate our chosen brand palette. By removing all hues from our colors, we guarantee that the color values are distinct enough and, therefore, work well together.
This is a reverse-engineered process from traditional ‘underpainting’ — where artists would plan their painting in monochrome, only using light and shade to tell the story,” Andrea Meli, Head of Design, Switch
Now, let’s recall the iconic Apple logo with the perfect contrast between black and white. This design showcases how even a simple logo can use visual contrast to make a lasting impression.
5. Be Open to Change
Finally, don’t hesitate to change your brand colors if they aren’t connecting with your target audience or no longer match your brand’s personality and values. Stay open to making adjustments that can enhance your brand’s appeal.
And don’t consider that a bad thing. In fact, many mega-popular brands have done the same thing.
For instance, in 2014, Airbnb updated its brand colors and font. The company shifted from a blue and white color scheme to a more vibrant and diverse color palette.
Likewise, Semrush, the leading SEO tool, rebranded in December 2020 to symbolize the creative spark that ignites the marketing engine and the company’s energetic, passionate, and innovative approach to work.
Semrush’s home page back in early 2020.
Semrush’s home page of 2023.
Inspiration From 10 Brands That Get It Right
Lastly, check out the list of 10 brands that expertly use colors to create a visually stunning and memorable identity.
Instagram — Purple, pink, orange, and white
LinkedIn — Blue and white
Red Bull — Blue and red
Spotify — Green and black
Ferrari — Red and yellow
Visa — Blue and gold
Samsung — Blue and white
Twitter — Blue and white
Dropbox — Blue and white
YouTube — Red and white
And if you’re looking for an answer to what are the best brand colors, sorry to burst your bubble, but they don’t exist. The trick is mixing and matching different colors to create a unique visual design that sets your brand apart.
How Ozempic Ushered In the Next Wave of Wellness Marketing
Every few years there’s a new buzzy fad in the wellness space that fuels industry growth. So far in 2023, Ozempic has taken the crown — and it has the potential to change marketing in the wellness industry.
What is Ozempic and how did it get so popular?
Ozempic, which was introduced in 2018, is a brand of semaglutide medication that was approved by the FDA for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. These injectable drugs promote insulin sensitivity to lower blood sugar levels and suppress appetite.
While it’s intended to help manage diabetes, many people who take it experience weight loss as a side effect. In 2022, the medication exploded in popularity when news of its weight-loss enablement went mainstream.
By August of last year, the FDA declared a shortage of the medication due to a surge in usage for weight loss. With supply unable to meet demand, some diabetes patients who took Ozempic for its intended purpose were unable to access the meds they needed.
Though Ozempic is often used as an umbrella term to describe semaglutide medications, there are other drugs on the market that offer similar effects.
Wegovy is another brand name for semaglutide that is approved specifically for weight loss, offering a higher dosage level than Ozempic. This medication has also experienced shortages due to popularity, causing the drug maker to limit distribution.
Factors that contributed to the drug shortage include:
Publicized celebrity usage: celebrities such as Elon Musk and Chelsea Handler have admitted to using forms of semaglutide.
Social media: Ozempic has become a trending topic on TikTok, with the hashtag surpassing 1.1 billion views.
Telehealth: patients now have easier access to weight loss medication prescriptions without waiting for a doctor’s appointment.
…Speaking of Telehealth
Earlier this year, telehealth startup Ro ran a campaign of over 1,000 ads to promote its Body Program which offers a prescription to Wegovy along with weight loss coaching. The campaign included TV spots, influencer marketing, and signage at New York subway stations.
Other players in the weight loss industry have also announced plans to add weight loss drug subscriptions to their suite of services.
Weight loss startup Noom recently announced the launch of Noom Med, a telehealth service that will offer prescriptions for drugs like Wegovy. Since its launch in 2016, Noom has predominantly focused on helping users lose weight through behavior changes. The shift to include weight loss drugs feels like a departure from the brand’s initial mission.
Similarly, WW (formerly known as Weight Watchers) acquired a telehealth service called Sequence which also offers prescriptions for popular injectable weight loss drugs. Prior to the acquisition WW was most commonly known for encouraging calorie-conscious diets and exercise to lose weight.
Both Noom and WW appear to be taking strides to remain relevant with a customer base that has expressed interest in prescribed weight loss support. As evidenced by the recent closure of Jenny Craig due to financial issues, weight loss companies that fail to evolve with the rapid pace of the wellness industry can put themselves at risk.
Though all Jenny Craig company stores are now closed, the company’s online operations have been acquired by Eucalyptus, an Australian-based digital health startup that also offers telehealth prescriptions to…you guessed it…injectible weight loss drugs.
How Ozempic’s Popularity Brought Back Marketing “Weight Loss”
In the 2010s, marketing weight loss had lost its appeal. With movements such as body positivity and health and every size picking up steam, diet programs and products promising weight loss seemed to be on their way out.
With a growing emphasis on self-care, people seemed to reach a point of dieting fatigue. On social media and beyond, conversations about anti-fat bias became more widespread and openly marketing or even discussing “weight loss” began to feel taboo. This led to a period of decline for companies like WW. During this time period wellness marketing began emphasizing terms like “strong” and “holistic” instead of “weight loss” or “dieting.”
So what changed?
Though conversations about anti-fat bias have been amplified over the past few years, the bias itself is alive and well. For those still interested in losing weight the effectiveness of these new weight loss drugs has been pretty convincing.
Behavioral approaches to weight loss typically result in a reduction of around 5% of an individual’s weight after six months, which is often gained back within two years.
Using injectable weight loss drugs, people lose around 15% of their body weight and can keep it off as long as they continue using medication (preliminary research suggests people tend to gain it back when they discontinue use).
The recent Ozempic craze is in part being fueled by the persuasive nature of diet culture, and weight loss companies that are eager to market these medications in hopes of cashing in after a period of decline.