Custom Packaging Tips for Small Business Owners
Getting started, especially for small business owners, is challenging. There is fierce competition in each industry, whether it is cosmetics, food, medicine, or any other.
It might be confusing how to distinguish and increase brand visibility in your related competitive niche. There are many marketing ways to get your potential customer’s attention.
One of the most effective yet affordable ways is the customization of your packaging. It can help you stand out among the multiple.
We gathered some of the best and most effective packaging tips to help your business grow. Before diving right into the tips, first, have a look at why custom packaging is important for you.
Significance of Custom Packaging for All Small Businesses
According to a survey, less than 30 percent of businesses that started their businesses in 2010 were still operational in 2016. This situation is still the same and even worse with more saturation and the entry of new competitors.
This means the survival of a new business is the biggest challenge in any market. However, all the top brands were once small businesses.
By using the right marketing tools, such businesses grew with time. Such success stories also bring motivation for small business owners to keep going.
Among multiple factors, custom packaging has a prominent place in making them successful. Instead of using boring or standard boxes, they make use of new methods of packaging.
You may take help by searching their packaging trends and getting ideas from their boxes. Other than marketing, small startups have a limited pool of money for promotion.
In this situation, using custom packaging for small businesses proves an effective marketing step. Moreover, these boxes work as an advertisement way, and they tell others about your importance and good features.
10 Helpful and Effective Custom Packaging Tricks
Small businesses can increase their chances of success by using interesting boxes for their products. This is the first thing that a customer will notice about a new product. However, large businesses have more resources than small businesses.
They can use expensive finishing or decorations for the display of their boxes. This is not the case with small businesses.
So, the proper use of resources for packaging is very important. Instead of fancy things, even simple things can make an impression on others.
We will guide you about the best possible use of resources in making attractive packaging, even when you have a small amount of money for marketing. Here are some tips to make packaging more useful and attention-grabbing:
1. Start with a Simple yet Attractive Packaging Design
Designs are the first thing that a small business owner must focus on. You can follow the trends of packaging which are followed by famous brands. However, try to keep everything simple yet attractive.
A trending design means it is liked by the majority of the customers. So, following it will make your product suitable in the eyes of potential buyers. For example, you can make use of typography for the beauty of your customized boxes.
This is mostly in use by many brands. In this design, we have to arrange letters in different styles and fonts. Using proper words that best display your product’s features is the important thing to consider in this theme. Just the right font size with the right selection of words works best for your packaging.
2. Identify Your Target Audience
You cannot make everyone happy. A large number of buyers means you have to serve various needs of the customers at once. This is only possible with a vast number of resources.
As a small business owner, you can narrow down your market by selecting any specific region or specialty. This niche strategy will help in serving your customers in a better way. You can now learn about the preferences of your target audience.
So, identifying your market scope and then working on its likes and dislikes are important for making packaging accordingly. For example, your target audience may like elegant packaging with sober color schemes, or they may go for bold or funky color themes. Market research is the best solution for clearing this confusion.
3. Choose Safe Packaging
No one wants to get a broken item, whether it’s from a well-known brand or a small store. For secure delivery, packaging must be made from strong materials. This is true for all businesses, no matter how big or small they are.
Protective custom box packaging is very important, especially for a small business with less chance of staying in business than a large company.
So, use materials like cardboard, Kraft, rigid, etc., to make boxes that will last and protect the product from things like dust and water.
This kind of packaging also keeps things safe if the roads are bumpy while traveling. So, the customer will get your product in perfect condition, which will build their trust in you.
4. Appropriate Sizing
It’s important to measure the products correctly before making custom boxes. This thing also saves costs by less wastage of materials. Boxes that are too big can also damage the item inside because it will bump against the box’s wall as it moves.
Also, boxes that are too small will cause scratches on the outside of the product and make it hard to get the product out of the box. Both of these things would make a customer feel bad.
Using boxes of the right size is the best way to make a good impression. You have to add some extra inches into the length and width of your product for proper sizes. Experts from a good packaging company can help you figure out how you can have ideal sizes for packaging.
5. Effective Logo Imprints
The logo is what gives your brand identity among millions. You can make a strong appeal against competitors by using innovative logos and printing techniques. Even small businesses can compete with large businesses based on branding essentials.
There are many techniques that you can easily employ for your logo imprints. For example, embossing is a good practice that raises the logo from the surface of the packaging. Likewise, debossing presses the logo into the surface.
These techniques make a logo look like a real thing. Moreover, for the metallic look of custom packaging boxes, you can choose UV spots.
They come in silver and good colors and are commonly in use for brand positioning. All these methods make a small business look like a premium one.
6. Minimalistic Approach
As we’ve already said, small businesses don’t have as much money to spend on marketing or packaging as big businesses do. But they can still make a strong appeal for themselves if they use simple customized packaging.
It means using as few colors, designs, decorations, etc., as possible. Minimalism means that your box should only have one color scheme and an attractive logo. This method also saves money and shows off a brand in a classy way.
Customers also like things that are simple and give them more value and benefits. So, using simple things can sometimes add more value and lead to good results.
7. Give it a Personal Touch
Customers want to feel like they’re getting something special when they use a certain product. You can use what a potential buyer wants to help your business. When you add handwritten notes to your packaging, it looks like it was made for a specific person.
Adding something like this to simple custom box packaging gives it a more personal touch. The same goes for putting name stickers on your box.
People will buy these things if they have names on them like Coca-Cola used to do on its bottles to get people’s attention. You could also include thank-you notes with your packages. These little things don’t cost much, but they can help you get attention.
8. Make It Recyclable, Sustainable
Recyclable packaging is what is now in demand due to global warming. People are now switching to such materials that are easy to recycle and create less waste. In Europe, 50 percent of the customers go for such brands that use green packaging for their products.
So, using this idea will give you more benefits than other brands that use plastic or other types of packaging. For a small business owner, such materials are available at cheap rates, like cardboard.
This material is also hard enough to provide long-lasting protection; you can make use of old cardboard boxes for making new ones. This thing further reduces the cost of packaging solutions and improves the image of the business in terms of social responsibility.
9. Give a Pleasant Unboxing Experience
The unboxing experience is what a customer will always remember about any product. If you use some tips, you can make the experience pleasant. For example, you can add surprise gifts like free testers with perfume bottles.
Such a gesture surpasses the expectations of a customer and makes him feel delighted. Furthermore, you can add internal prints like your logo imprint on the inner walls of the boxes.
Printing on the exterior is common, but internal printing is not. This addition shows your professionalism and makes customers feel special about your brand. Moreover, it makes your new and small business brand look like a top-rated brand in the market.
10. Make it More Practical
Every household has a box of biscuits or ice cream that is now in use for storage purposes. This is the practical perspective of packaging solutions. Make your boxes more practical so that they can be in use for further storage or decoration purpose.
For example, red cardboard boxes are a great form of interior decoration. Moreover, a box with a lid is perfect for storing different things like jewelry.
Customers like to buy those brands that use such custom packaging boxes, which they can use even after taking out the product.
With more functional packaging, the brand name will remain in the minds of the customers as the boxes become part of their household items.
Final Words
Small businesses face more challenges than large businesses in terms of budget, machinery, and manpower. They have to work hard to make an impression in the presence of other major brands.
This thing needs good and strong marketing methods, which also includes the custom packaging of the products. With the help of customization, the value of any box becomes high in the eyes of the customers.
They trust such brands that use custom boxes rather than standard boxes. The above-mentioned tips guide you in making the right selection of techniques for your packaging. Go for any way that best suits your business and product needs.
