Does your packaging say anything about your brand? How does your packaging impact the consumer while it rests on the shelf of a store? Does your packaging make a lasting impression on the consumer?
These are just some of the important questions that can help you go round the packaging dilemma. In fact, finding answers to these questions can help you create an effective packaging solution for your product. Researchers interested in learning the brain’s response to different types of packaging found that brands that packed more attractively were met with increased brain activity than brands that had average packaging. This underlines the importance of packaging to branding activities and adds weight to the idea that organizations should indeed spare more thought to packaging needs.
Below are five tips that can enhance your packaging and keep you ahead of the competition.
Be unapologetically creative
Nothing beats a creative way of packaging regardless of the quality of the product insidem (But be sure you are packaging a quality product too. It’s paramount!). Thinking outside the box-literally- relates to looking at elements such as shape, material, and volume. Rob Turner of Madava Farms wanted to sell syrup in a bottle. He acknowledged that most syrup producers packaged their products in wide-bellied or maple leaf-shaped bottles. Turner chose to do it differently by using a round bottle that you could think of as an elegant liquor bottle. Not only was it outstanding but also highly effective. Creativity is vital in packaging activities.
Use your packaging to tell the story behind the brand
The packaging gives you an opportunity to advance your brand story. Once you have the package you have the space, now find the right words to promote your product. Briefly tell the consumer how product “X” comes to life. For instance, a toothpaste manufacturer could tell the consumer how carefully the herbs used are picked from the Amazon …so could a fragrance manufacturer. This wins the heart of the consumer in a unique way. Additionally, your choice of colours, materials, textures and so on will help evoke certain emotions in consumers.
Eco-Friendly Materials are gaining popularity
Consumers across the board are becoming more conscious about their environment. In response to aggressive conservation and preservation campaigns, consumers are falling for brands that show the same concern. Choosing packaging material that popularizes the “go-green” campaign or one that encourages re-cycle and re-use aligns you with the modern day consumer concerns.
Precision and Brevity work Best.
Although the importance of telling the brand story through packaging has been emphasized, precision and being clear to the point can score big. You only have limited space, and you cannot afford to be fuzzy or unclear on what you want the consumer to know about the product in the hands or infront of them. Some big brand names have scored highly on this. Electronic giants such as Samsung, LG, HP and many others have their logos as the prominent feature on their packaging units, leaving the details to pamphlets and manuals that come along with the product.
Make your packaging functional
The moment a poorly packaged beverage spills on a consumer as she strains to open it up, they part ways, and it becomes the last time she will ever want to hold that product in her hands. This can be altered the same product is packaged in a can that the consumer, walking hurriedly in her high heels can still take a sip and returns it to her purse for more sips later. Making your packaging functional is placing yourself in the shoes of the end consumer and getting the feeling that your consumer gets when unwrapping the package.
And Finally
Whatever your product, might be, packaging could be the line between the first purchase and the more frequent purchases. Some brands have successfully spread the word through packaging that is passed from one person to the other. Your packaging is the silent salesperson spreading the word on your behalf to as many consumers as see it on the sheld or elsewhere.
