Product branding and packaging come hand in hand with the development of new products. The way your products are presented to your target market matters! Product branding, which is the process of actively building a positive reputation for a product, focuses upon positioning the product as the focus point, rather than the business. This is where so many businesses get it wrong, believing they should put all their attention on building the brand and not the products, hoping that it is the brand recognition and loyalty that will sell the products. Sometimes it does, if you think about the Apple brand, as many of their customers will only purchase Apple branded products. But for small or newly established businesses, it requires a combination of both.
To help you achieve product branding and packaging perfection (and yes, we believe there is such a thing) we’ve put together this handy guide for you.
Branding Verses Product Branding
By the time you’re ready to launch a new product, you should have already sorted out your business branding. This means you will have hired a professional graphic designer, like us, to create your business branding and branding guidelines. What you need will depend upon what your business offers, how you will market yourself, budget and packaging requirements, with our Branding Package being a perfect example of branding choices. Your branding could include a logo, colours and fonts, social media icons and templates, business cards, email footer, flag, brochure, and letterhead. Its purpose is to promote your company or business, build loyalty and recognition, and create a positive impression.
Your product branding is slightly different in that you are focusing on branding the product itself, showcasing it against other similar products. Here is where the packaging aspect also comes into play, with the choosing of the type and branding it will require. As a guideline, the branding of your product will require your logo, the name and description of the product and the design of the packaging.
Why Product Branding is Very Important
Spending time getting your branding sorted may not sound as exciting as actually selling your product, but the effort you put in now is essential. When a product is well branded, it is:
- Easier for the customers to identify how it will benefit them/solve their problem
- Makes it clear what the product is, avoiding the wrong product being purchased by mistake
- Creates an emotional and loyal connection with your target customers
- Helps to build brand awareness
- Makes the product easily recognisable
- Allows easier entry into the market for new products from your business
- Builds separation between the product and the company, so if the worst happens, the product reputation is damaged and not the brand
Let’s look at the steps to follow when creating your product branding.
Developing Your Product Branding
To brand your product well and ensure it lasts the distance, you need to work through a series of steps:
Research your target audience
This is something that is done before product development, as well as during the branding stage. This time you will be focused on identifying ways that you and best present your product to meet the needs of your customers.
Research your competition
Study how the competition packages and brands products similar to yours. Find out what customers think about these products, what makes them buy them and what your product needs to have to convince them to switch to your product.
Define the product personality
What would your product say, sound like, smell like and feel like? Branding of a product is more than the way it looks; it’s the use of senses that will guide your packaging.
Identify the package requirements
Does your product packaging need to contain specific information? What information do you want to include within it? How will you package your product? Is this suitable for storing the product long-term? What characteristics does the packaging need to have? How will you package quantities of this product? What size courier bag will it fit in?
Use your branding guide to design the packaging
This is where you use your brand guidelines to ensure brand consistency is achieved. It is vital that your customers instantly recognise the similarities between your brand and the product branding. Consistency is crucial and your brand guidelines will specifically state what the specific brand colours and fonts are, what to do and what not to do with your logo, and any specific characteristics it has, such as taglines or other imagery.
Once you’ve got your packaging designed, give it a test run. Ask for customer opinions, and check that it is fit for purpose. It is better to get it correct now in small quantities than to print in the hundreds and need to manufacture it all again.
Should you DIY or Hire a Professional for Your Branding?
Without a doubt, we recommend you use a professional graphic design team to develop your brand. Of course, there are pros and cons for both options:
Pros of designing your own branding - it is cheap and can be done anytime. If you have got design skills and access to the right software, it may even be a no brainer. However, the downsides of doing it yourself are that it might look different between your screen and when it's printed, it doesn’t gel with your audience, it creates a negative impression and your product fails.
On the other hand, the benefits of hiring a professional branding designer are that they’ll save you time and money, have the experience and knowledge in creating brands, know design secrets that help your product achieve its aims, bring new ideas and help build trust and credibility with your customers. The downsides are that it does come at a cost, but well worth the investment as your branding is a business asset.
Our Branding Package has been specifically created to meet the needs of every business, whether it is a start up or an existing business rebranding. It gives you the ability to select the specific design work you require, as well as the free artwork setup of selected stationery items and promotional products ordered with us for one year. Our clients will receive a physical copy of the branding guidelines we create, along with a laminated summary sheet to refer to. We are happy to mock up any signage and stationery for you to get an idea about too. We’ll send you all of your logo and design files via Dropbox, from which you can download and use your files. If the worst happens and you lose your saved files, relax because we keep them backed up safely at our end.
Get in touch today to discuss your branding requirements, and we’ll put together a bespoke package and quote for you.