Six secret tips to creating the perfect package

six-secret-tips-to-creating-the-perfect-package<p>You’ve spent months even years developing your product and now you’ve got to bottle it and sell it. But it’s not easy. There are so many details. How do you know if you’ve got a package that is going to get noticed? Here’s what you need to do to create the perfect package for your product …</p> <h3>1. Study the competition</h3> <p>Look around and see what kind of packaging your competitors are using. You want to be unique, but you need to use packaging that makes sense. You wouldn’t put Whiteout in an economy-sized lotion bottle with a pump. First off, that’s enough Whiteout for a lifetime! Secondly, what are you going to do with the whiteout once you’ve pumped it? Rub it all over your hands? And thirdly, consumers have expectations on how Whiteout is packaged and that’s what they look for on the shelf.</p> <h3>2. Know HOW your product will be used</h3> <p>Before you can choose a container and a closure for your product you need to think through where your customer will store it and how they will use it. Again, you wouldn’t put eye drops in a <a href=https://www.containerandpackaging.com/catalog/dairy-plastic-bottles/43/>milk jug</a>. I don’t know of a gallon of anything that I’d want to dump in my eyes.</p> <p>Make sure that the cap you choose creates the most positive experience for your customer. This needs to be positive in aesthetics and well as usage.</p> <h3>3. Know WHO your product is for</h3> <p>This is HUGE. Is your product for a car mechanic or a pre-teen obsessed with makeup? If it isn’t obvious you’ve got a problem. If your product is for everyone, you have an even bigger problem. You have to drill it down. Think of what a terrifying world this would be if pantyhose, denture glue, and preperation H were for everyone.</p> <p>For example: <a href=http://biokleenhome.com/ target=_blank>BioKleen</a> is targeted toward female homemakers wanting to live a more balanced, natural life. This person will be interested in green, biodegradable ingredients, recyclable packaging, no animal testing, natural, no harsh chemicals, etc. And you know what? These people buy this stuff because BioKleen makes it obvious that it’s for them.</p> <h3>4. Know WHY your product is unique and SELL that</h3> <p>Chances are EVERYTHING about your product isn’t unique. But there is SOMETHING that makes it unique. This is WHY someone will buy your product and not the one next to it. Be sure that this unique quality is obvious. Don’t shout it at your customers (although <a href=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Mays target=_blank>Billy Mays</a> the OxyClean guy seems to make a lot of money doing this) but be sure they get it.</p> <h3>5. Hire a designer</h3> <p>Freelancer or agency. It doesn’t matter as long as they’re good. I can’t stress this one enough. Let me put it this way. Your chain store barber/stylist can give you a great cut/color/perm but it is HIGHLY unlikely that they can also counsel you through the differences between a c-corp, s-corp, and an LLC.</p> <p>Now this part is really hard to hear for a lot of people … if you didn’t go to college to get a design degree, chances are you aren’t a designer. So, keep your fortes in house, and outsource everything else. Hiring a designer forces you to communicate the HOW, WHO, and WHY (see paragraphs 2, 3 and 4) so the designer can create a package design that will sing to your potential customers’ souls.</p> <p>This is a valuable exercise for you, and you’ll get a professional design out of it, because …</p> <h3>6. DESIGN MATTERS</h3> <p>The average consumer spends less than three seconds making up their minds whether or not to buy a product. The fact that you have all the greatest ingredients or a truly revolutionary formula won’t mean a thing unless the customer SEES your product. Customers SEE things they need. They need: unique, engaging, colorful, exciting, intriguing, different, soothing, and a host of other adjectives. These adjectives must be consistent with your product.</p> <p>Again … you wouldn’t put a soothing massage oil in a squeezable mustard bottle and call it SHAZAMY! Yellow is energy, excitement, happiness, manic, sunshine, bipolar, crazy, fresh, citrus. Don’t even get me started on the name. These aren’t the right kinds of reactions you want to solicit if your product is a calming massage oil. Your designer is an experienced professional in THIS arena. Use them to help you create packaging that makes sense.</p>