Branding in Marketing and Communication Design: positioning

package designing tips for success branding

Branding and packaging design agency OH! Design Studio highlight three strategic packaging tips for successful product branding.

It is very difficult to separate consumer’s perception of the brand from its product packaging. That makes product packaging design an integral part of overall branding efforts.

Packaging designers have an understanding of creative and visual challenges, but they need strategic inputs from brand managers to be able to create a design that sells the product.

Here are the three things you must tell your packaging design agency for successful product branding.

Target Market and Positioning

Every company wants to sell their products to largest number of consumers, but your constraint is that marketing budgets are not infinite. So better to determine which consumer base would be most receptive to your product and let your branding agency devise packaging design to attract that target consumer group most effectively.

Brand Positioning gives a compelling picture of how the marketer wants the target market to view the brand. Since packaging design has a huge impact on the brand image, hence positioning statement must be provided to the packaging design team as a reference.

As mentioned before, brand image perceived by consumers is highly influenced by packaging design. Every designing decision that is made should be judged by how well it supports the positioning statement.

Let's take an example of cosmetic product packaging.

Is your skincare product made up of safe ingredients ? White, the color of sterility, would be a great color to incorporate in your packaging design.

Are you selling a funky cosmetic brand? An enthusiastic use of bright and exciting colors would be a great way to let the packaging design pop.

If your audience values organic skincare product, then earthy tones could give the desired tone to your packaging.

Brands use packaging as a way to effectively communicate their unique value proposition to their target customers.

Related Article: What is target audience?

Product Category

Packaging design by OH! Design Studio for OTC pharmaceutical product in pain relief category

Tell your packaging design agency exactly what category does your product belong to and who the competitors are.

Purchase decisions are mostly made at the point of sale. The packaging has to stand out from its competition and communicate effectively with the buyer.

Successful packaging design is not necessarily the most good looking one. It should be able to stand out from the clutter. A beautiful design doesn’t always guarantee that, but a research of your competitors’ packaging does help.

Also, knowing product category gives an idea about the decision shoppers make for example do they go for brands in that category or color or whether they are driven by some condition.

Packaging Design Architecture

You don’t want products of your brand competing with each other when looking at shelf space. With a large brand portfolio, brand architecture should be coherent across the range to create connectivity across segments and categories. There are many ways to get it right like standard use of your brand’s logotype, or creating guidelines on how the brand logo and sub-brand logo would appear.

Creative Packaging Design for Dairy Brand from OH! Design Studio

For new brands with no history in marketplace, packaging and branding guidelines can be prepared before establishing a new product’s image in the eyes of consumer. For exiting brands, visual elects are already a part of it’s brand equity and hence any change in brand design must be handled with care.

If this sounds relevant to you, letstalk@ohdesignstudio.com for branding and packaging design services. OH! Design Studio is a branding firm in Mumbai, India.

Is it possible for small businesses to compete with large brands?

Some would consider that established brands have unlimited funds for marketing or at least amount so huge that they easily hog whole market share.

With a clearly defined niche target audience, even small businesses can effectively compete with large brands.

Here is a brief introduction to target audience and why it is important for branding.

Introduction to Target Audience

As a product owner, you would want to believe that whole world will love your products.

The reality is that not everyone “needs” your product and those who do need it may or may not “like” what you are offering.

In other words, only a small population is interested in your product.

That’s your primary target audience- the group of people you should target with advertising or other forms of promotions.

It’s like how you play darts game by throwing darts onto different parts of the board. Let’s say target audience is that board- every dart you throw is targeted or aimed to hit the board.

Example of Target Audience

For a baby diaper product, primary target audience/ market segment could be guardians and healthcare professionals of babies and toddlers who use baby products as part of their daily routine. The secondary target audience/ market segment could be anyone who purchases these products for family and friends with babies and toddlers. The basic product positioning would be in the development stages of babies and toddlers.

Why identifying target audience is important for branding?

As part of brand development, strategist work on brand mission statement, does competitive research in the target category, outlines the key qualities and benefits of the brand offering, etc.

Rather than creating a brand which appeals everyone, which is not possible and can make marketing more vague, a company can better position its brand with messaging, packaging design, advertisements, products, services and so on that appeal to those specific audience groups. Even pricing, packaging design and distribution channels are decided to appeal to a brand's target market.

Defining a target audience allows to focus brand marketing money and attention on the people most likely to provide an ROI.

Related Reading: What is a brand?

At our branding company OH! Design Studio, while working on brand design projects we start by gathering insights about the target market from the client. Information about consumers’ values, preferences, lifestyle and habits provides a framework that helps determine the brand design strategy and appropriate communication.

Consider product packaging design for instance.

Packaging design is still the most powerful factor in product marketing to attract consumers. It is very difficult to separate consumer’s perception of the brand from its product packaging. Poor quality design is perceived as packaging a cheaper product with inferior quality. The choice of design elements, design structure and text must be then be driven by the kind of people the brand is targeting to visually stimulate their interest in the product and to create the right kind of brand image.

Brand strategy - Misconception about Target Audience

Does that mean while targeting a specific market you are excluding those who do not fit the criteria?

No. Targeting just gives a clear sense of direction for spending marketing money and creating focused brand message on a specific market that is more likely to buy from you than other markets. It is an effective as well as efficient way to reach potential clients and generate business.

Related Reading: Branding misconceptions

If you are looking for a branding or graphic design agency, then letstalk@ohdesignstudio.com . OH! Design Studio is an integrated branding + design consultancy firm in India.

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3 Things to Tell Your Package Designer for Successful Product Branding