Want packaging that will help you rule the retail scene?! Keep reading for 3 fresh tips from CEO of Pearl Resourcing, Emily Page, to help your brand capture consumer attention and gain more sales.
Define Your Brand and Stick to it
Higher
margins and customer loyalty is about defining your business as different and
valuable among the competition through your product and the visual cues in
stores and on packaging that help a customer identify you.
It’s important to utilize a brand guide, so every year and season your packaging stays within the visual guidelines. A brand guide will also make your brand recognizable over time and build brand equity. Don’t design in a vacuum on a computer without considering the existing line-up, and don’t design a single product alone. If you do, you may not realize its compromise on your brand image or store aesthetic.
Brand value comes when customers recognize your brand quickly through visuals, so you must be consistent to increase your value. Consistent color pallets in a store are soothing and attractive to the eye, yet contrast attracts attention. It’s a delicate art form, best advised on by a talented brand director to set the tone. Ask your art director to create a brand guide for all packaging design and store merchandising to follow. Then your whole team will be clear how to keep consistent in their independent projects.
Take the time before you embark on a new design and consider what is working in your store. What items sell out? What do your employees say your customers are always asking for? Design with customer requests in mind. Pick complimentary and contrasting colors to use across your entire product line to create consistency. Display products to create visual variety, with a focus on unique shapes or colors, for giftable items to result in higher perceived value and acceptable price.
Photo credit: Pearl Resourcing
Drive Customers Back to Your Online
Community
You want
every first-time buyer to not only love your product, but also buy from you
again. Make it easy for them to find you by including your website and exact
social media handles on your packaging (don’t just use the social media
icons, this creates opportunities for spelling errors). Focus on a maximum
of two or three social media platforms for customers to engage with you. They
can learn more on your website.
Recapturing existing customers is always less expensive than acquiring new ones. Offer a coupon code to first-time buyers to encourage return online orders, allow them to familiarize themselves with your products and memorize their favorites. One sale can easily turn into two with very little investment.
Be sure to curate your e-commerce and social media experiences, so the brand story continues to impact their minds and hearts. You don’t need to post a lot, but it should be professional. The easiest and least expensive way to curate great content is to re-post fan content on social media. Encourage high-quality photo sharing by giving a discount code or free product to fans with the best photos. Or send free samples to influencers with an already clear fan following in your region, in exchange for a set number of high-quality photos you can use to get the best both diversity and social proof.
Understanding
the unique elements of the retail shopping experience will help you make better
branding decisions when ordering or designing packaging for your products. By
utilizing these tips, you can make a difference in how consumers view and
engage with your products, allowing you to achieve even better sales.
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About Emily Page: Emily has managed and
launched multiple 7-figure product brands in Costco, Williams-Sonoma, Kroger,
and Amazon as a Business Growth Consultant and CEO of Pearl Resourcing. She’s
bringing you the expertise, resources, and mentors you need so that you can
develop products and make them sell in her blog articles and her START TO SOLD
YouTube channel and blog.
