The entire look, from the colors to the text, of your product is the extension of your brand. Every detail matters when it comes to acquiring and keeping market share, having a core group of customers and profit. The appearance of your product can make or break your customer’s perception of your brand.
The packaging must be spot on to strengthen branding and grab the attention of potential customers. Experts on
Clear and Simple
Clarity is important to packaging, and you want your target customers to know exactly what your product is and who is selling it. The package must convey this along with your brand messaging. Use your branding colors with a font that is easy to read but doesn’t affect the overall look of your product.
You have approximately four seconds to convince a potential customer to pick up your product off the shelf, make it count.
Easy to Remove
Your product’s package grabs the attention of a customer, but it should also serve its purpose and must be easy to remove. Complicated packaging may frustrate a customer. It shouldn’t take more than a few seconds to tear the packaging open or open it.
Factor this in when you design your product package. Combine aesthetics with practicality to improve your brand image among your intended audience.
Be Authentic
The last thing you want to happen is to make your brand forgettable. Simply blending in with your competitors prevents you from maximizing profit and connecting with your target audience. It’s difficult to be unique when everybody else is trying to do the same, but approach packaging like any other branding endeavor.
Understand who your brand is and who your customers are. From there, formulate a ‘look’ that exemplifies your brand’s personality. Use strong visual standards that set you apart from your competition.
This can come in the form of using bright colors, distinct font, a retro appearance, type-based design or other styles that may differentiate your company from the rest.
Variability
Branding requires you to think of the future; the design of your product’s packaging should provide you with a way to create a line extension. This is important because you might come up with variants or new flavors using the same brand; this is often the case for juices, seasonings and food.
You want the package to be distinct and have “carry over” appeal when you launch a new product in the same line. Use a simple and customizable design concept that allows you to add or subtract features depending on a product’s needs.
Factor in Shelf Impact
Think about the point of view of a potential customer; they don’t see individual products and with little detail. They will look at all the brands on the shelf from a distance. The only time they will go for a closer look is if the product has a unique package.
Mix and match designs that pop out of a shelf and grab the attention of people. Test which designs work on an actual shelf with your product surrounded by competitors’ products.
These are some of the ways to improve the packaging of your products. The package is an extension of your brand and allows you to stand out.
