We know the importance of standing out from the competition, and with the current state of the economy, we are feeling it now more than ever. But for cannabis businesses, it’s tougher than ever. It's no longer just about having the right product or services, at the right rices, it’s also about having the right branding and the right packaging to move volume on dispensary shelves.
Investing in custom packaging that reflects your brand’s unique personality and values is an effective way to differentiate your business from the competition and draw in new customers. Keep reading to learn how effectively branded packaging can help boost your brand's visibility and attract retail partners.
Understanding Branding via Packaging
Properly branding your packaging is a crucial, albeit arduous step in product marketing, as it augments the identity and story of the product inside. Properly branded packaging involves creating an eye-catching package design using colors, textures and unique elements that appeal to the target audience. It also helps customers recognize and remember the product, making it easier for them to repurchase in the future. Ultimately, well-executed branding on packaging helps create a lasting connection with consumers, positioning your brand as one that can be trusted for quality and consistency.
Packaging is an integral part of product branding and can have a huge impact on the perception of customers. It's important to understand the psychology behind packaging and how different colors and shapes can influence this. Different packaging designs can evoke different emotions from customers, so it's essential to get it right from the beginning if you want your product to stand out in a crowded marketplace.
Again, custom packaging goes far beyond just an eye-catching design to draw customers in. It should also be reflective of the brand's values and stay consistent with brand messaging across all platforms; otherwise your packaging will not be a successful representation of your brand. The impact that custom packaging has on a company's appeal can have profound implications and should be given proper consideration when developing or modifying a visual identity for one's business.
Advantages of Custom Cannabis Packaging
Custom packaging can be a great way to make your brand stand out from the competition. You can create unique designs that reflect your company’s values and let customers know why they should choose your product over others. With creative messaging and eye-catching visuals, custom packaging branding is an effective marketing strategy that will help you distinguish yourself in a crowded marketplace.
It isn't enough to just make great products--you have to be able to visually communicate your message and create a memorable experience. Packaging branding helps you do this by instituting keystone design elements that will become associated with your products as soon as consumers see them. It's a great way to boost recognition and loyalty, and helps customers to quickly recognize the products they already love and trust, even if they are new to the marketplace. Executed perfectly, custom packaging is as powerful a way to create a lasting impression on customers as the product inside it.
Design Elements for Effective Branding
Choosing the right color scheme for your packaging is essential in maintaining an effective brand identity. It's often underestimated how much of an impact color has on a product, but the truth is that humans are naturally drawn to certain colors, which can help create recognition and loyalty with customers. Studies have even shown that products seen as high-quality tend to be more associated with deeper and subdued hues, while vibrant colors are usually associated with low-priced goods. With this in mind, take some time to consider the type of branding you’re hoping to achieve and select a color scheme that best reflects it.
Utilizing unique materials, textures, and finishes will give your brand added visibility on store shelves, creating a memorable customer experience that is sure to have an impact on customers’ purchasing decisions. With the right kind of custom packaging for your product, you can ensure your customers remember who you are and what you do every time they walk into the store.
Packaging should be seen as an important element of retail product design, not as separate from it. By including informative graphics on the packaging, designers can make sure the product is easy, safe, and enjoyable to use. Packaging also plays a vital role in telling your brand's story, which is an essential part of the product experience.
Ways to Enhance Brand Visibility with Custom Packaging
Incorporating unique or outwardly high quality materials into custom packaging is an important choice of crafting a memorable brand. Not only can the materials composition of your packaging add to the overall aesthetic value, it also can serve as an effective marketing tool - helping set you apart from competitors and leaving a lasting impression with potential customers. Choosing quality packaging through base materials is an easy way to elevate and differentiate your product line, but it needs to be done in a thoughtful way.
Designing SKU-specific packaging for products is a great way to enhance visibility on a retail shelf, however, it can end up up on two ends of the spectrum: repetitive or disjointed. Flavor and strain-specific packaging for is becoming increasingly popular among cannabis companies looking to create a memorable experience for their customers. By incorporating the brand's logo and colors into strain and flavor-specific packaging in interesting ways, you can prevent repetitiveness, while maintaining the consistency.
Including a free item that is visible or, better yet, accentuated by your packaging is among the best ways to increase visibility to prospective buyers. Cracker Jacks has done it successfully since 1896. Don't you remember the joy of finding a surprise in your cereal as a kid? Creating a limited time side by side 'Buy 2 Get 1' package, or a free lapel pin attached to a mylar bag, or a free dab tool on a concentrate box can evoke the same feelings in your customers.
Creating a Consistent and Recognizable Visual Identity
Custom packaging can help create a consistent and recognizable visual identity for your brand, allowing it to create defensible differentiation. By creating a unique look and feel, custom packaging can emphasize the quality, value, and uniqueness of your brand while also creating a strong, unified presence across all marketing and sales channels.
Establishing a consistent color palette and typography are essential components of branding. A recognizable visual identity can quickly be created when you have the same color scheme and font used across all your product packaging. This creates a streamline look that customers will recognize, making it easier for them to remember your products or services. Furthermore, investing in the development of an iconic logo will help you further solidify your brand identity among consumers.
When it comes to packaging branding, incorporating recognizable icons or symbols beyond the logo can be a great way to create a memorable brand identity. It helps people to connect with the product and is more likely to surprise them if it plays off the logo in an interesting way. Symbols are also an incredibly versatile way of expressing a desired message - even if your target market does not speak the same language, they may still be able to understand what you're trying to convey.
Branding via Packaging is a powerful and essential communications avenue that can be used to differentiate your product and to create interesting visual stories. Investing in cohesive catalog design can help create an emotional connection with customers, resulting in higher rates of customer engagement, loyalty and satisfaction.
Reaching New Customers Through Packaging
Packaging has become a critical aspect of product marketing in recent years, especially as LeafLink and WeedMaps have grown to dominate the landscape, and cannabis has turned into more of an ecommerce business, both in wholesale and retail. It's an effective tool for attracting new customers and buyers, as well as creating brand recognition, as it communicates important product information directly to the consumer. For new brands looking to make their mark in their industry, properly branded custom packaging is a must-have.
Packaging plays a critical role in a buyer's ability to merchandise and sell a product. The quality of a product's packaging may be just as important as its efficiency to many purchasers. Is it bulky? Is it easy to open? Is it clearly marked for staff to pull from inventory? Making product easy to sell works on many levels, and every one should be exploited to gain marketshare.
Furthermore, a fully developed retail packaging design must integrate and be delivered with branded in-store displays. Well-designed displays can be the key to opening new doors to prospective buyers, and closing the sale on the dispensary floor. The simplest, most economical solution is often a case that folds open and works as both a shipper and display, but no matter how extravagant a solution you choose, it is essential that retail displays are incorporated into your packaging plans.
Conclusion
In closing, I'll say that we all know that custom packaging can be a powerful tool in boosting your brand visibility and helping you attract new customers. We also know the efficiency and utility of your packaging effects everyone from your production team, to your retailers, to your end customers. Customizing your packaging in a thoughtful, interesting way allows you to create a unique user experience for customers, which is essential for retaining and gaining customers in the New World of Cannabis
Hit me up if you'd like to talk branding, packaging, or catalog planning!
Nate Russell
nrussell@pmc-sc.com
@natesaysdoless
FOUNDER AND CEO
CUSTOMPACKCO & THE LAB