When it comes to creating your branding strategy and marketing campaigns, there’s one area you shouldn’t skimp on product packaging. In today’s competitive business industry, first impressions should last. You have to stand out amidst the competition and one of the best ways to do that is through improving your product packaging. Rather than think of it as an afterthought, your product packaging should be a part of your product development process.
Because of its strong potential in improving your brand reputation and making your product stand out on a shelf filled with other products, the packaging plays a higher role than simply protect your products per se. It also plays a core position in your branding strategy.
With that in mind, this article gives you everything you need to know about including product packaging in your branding strategy.
How To Improve Your Product Packaging
If you’re keen on improving your branding through excellent product packaging, these tips are going to come in handy:
1. Keep It Simple
As much as you’d want to have a lot of design elements in your packaging, you actually can’t go wrong with a simple design. Keep your packaging clean and streamlined to put a focus on the labels, and other important details of your packaging. Otherwise, if it’s complicated and unnecessarily colorful, your packaging will look busy and confusing.
2. Collaborate With Local Suppliers
Product packaging is very important, but this also doesn’t mean you have to spend an arm and a leg of your business budget to get your packaging right. You can also be more practical with your marketing and branding expenses by collaborating with local suppliers. Not only can you effectively reduce costs, but you’re also supporting other local businesses as well.
If you’re from Australia and you’re still on the hunt for a good packaging supplier, Stanley Packaging is one of the best options you can go for.
3. Be Authentic
Even if there are millions of items sold both in physical and online stores today, this doesn’t mean you no longer have an avenue to be authentic with your product packaging. Authenticity is very important, especially when it comes to branding as this is one of the best ways to make your products stand out.
You should aim to develop product packaging that truly reflects your brand’s purpose, name, and company culture. Remember that a key point of branding is having your own identity. This, you can never achieve if you’re simply allowing your business to be a copy of another’s.
4. Opt For Green And Sustainable Packaging
For products wherein using less packaging can’t be done without sacrificing the quality or protection of the product, a good solution is to opt for green and sustainable packaging. If you’re using sustainable packaging, you may actually be able to drive more customers to support your business—especially consumers who are conscious about their carbon footprint.
When you think of it from an ethical standpoint and your business’s corporate social responsibility, opting for sustainable packaging also speaks volumes about your company culture and commitment to the environment.
Why You Should Include Product Packaging In Your Branding Strategy
These are some of the most important reasons why product packaging is very important.
1. It Protects Your Product
Let’s start with the most obvious reason why product packaging exists. It’s necessary simply because it protects your product. Damage can happen during the transportation, handling, and even in the storage of your goods. So, it follows that the first line of protection is always the product packaging.
Especially when you’re in an eCommerce business, it’s not surprising at all to sometimes have more packaging than the actual product itself. This is necessary to ensure that the quality of your product is preserved and protected from the harsh elements of weather, heat, and even human error during handling and shipping.
Surely, the last thing you’d want is to have spent so much time and effort ensuring your business always comes up with top-quality products, only to find out it’s broken and distorted once it reaches your customer’s hands.
2. Displays And Promotes Your Product
Just imagine this scenario. You’re in a supermarket or department store, and you’re looking for a particular item you want to try out. You have no particular brand in mind yet, as this is also your first time trying out that specific product. What makes you lean towards picking up a product and going through it? It’s mostly because of eye-catching and attractive product packaging.
Branding-wise, this is another important benefit of putting a lot of thought into your product packaging. This means that with a good packaging design, your product can stand out from a sea of other options on the shelf.
3. Ensures Safety
Apart from protecting your products from spoilage, good packaging also ensures the safety of your consumers. Remember that your product packaging is more than just about the design per se. It also has to contain the necessary information to ensure your product is consumed or prepared the right way, or that the consumer is aware of its contents.
This fact is especially truer if you’re in the food business. For instance, your product packaging should clearly indicate the following:
- List of ingredients and any potential allergens it may have
- Whether or not your product is halal-certified, especially if you’re selling products in a place where there’s a big Muslim population
- Directions for use
- Best before dates or expiration dates
- Place and date of manufacture
Final Thoughts
Whatever type of product it is that you’re packaging—be it food, cosmetics, household goods, and clothing, among other retail goods, the product packaging is there for a reason. As you’ve just read above, your product packaging plays a much higher role than just a protective covering of your items. It has significant effects on branding and sales, which should convince you even more that planning your product packaging and spending on good quality ones bring more revenues for your business.
