We all know that branding is critical to success, and although this is true for all businesses, it is especially true for businesses that sell products rather than services. But it’s no surprise that many struggle to understand the nuances of branding and how best to apply the elements of great branding to their business.

So, we’ve put together some key information to help make the concept of branding that little bit easier to digest…

So, What is Branding?

In its simplest form, branding clearly states what your business is, and what people can expect from it. Branding will help your business to create a distinctive and long-lasting perception in the minds of consumers. And when done really well, branding can make your business, products and services more desirable than those of your competitors.

See that wasn’t so scary, was it?

But let’s dig a little deeper into this. The objective of effective branding is to not just make your company more attractive to customers. It also ensures that your company, service or products are more memorable than your competitors.

The final trick of effective branding is to make sure that the brand’s personality is appropriate to the audience. It’s important that professional services look professional instead of silly or unprofessional. That fun products don’t look overly corporate or dull. And that luxury venues give the impression of premium and do not come across as cheap.

If branding is done well, it reaps significant rewards. Great branding will capture more attention, be remembered more than the branding of competitors and will start to develop that perception, allowing you to build rapport through your branding to attract and retain customers and stakeholders.

Types of Branding

Branding is one of those terms that can mean different things to different people. Some people interpret branding as brand’s name, some will interpret it as a logo, and some will see the overlap between branding and marketing and assume that they are one and the same. As branding covers such an incredibly wide and diverse range of activities, elements, assets and more – it’s easy to see why there is much confusion…

But generally, you should try to treat the phrase branding as a ‘catch all’ term – as a broad way of describing the area of your branding efforts. But let’s take a closer look at the main areas of branding that you might already be familiar with:

Corporate Branding – Branding at company level with the aim of effectively communicating key information about the business, such as; who they are, what they do, who they do it for and why they do it.

Personal Branding – Branding for an individual person with the aim of cultivating a public persona that accurately communicates personality.

Product Branding – Branding for a specific product, with the aim of shaping how the product is perceived, to ensure that the product ‘connects’ with the customer.

Service Branding – Similar to product branding, service branding aims to shape how the service is perceived, to ensure that is appeals to the right customers.

But remember this is not an exhaustive list, there are many other types of branding, such as geographic, cultural, retail, online, offline and more. And then we have the elements of branding, think of these as the building blocks that make up each area of branding;

Brand Identity – this is how the brand identifies itself, through a name, logo, tagline and more.

Brand Image – this is the perception that people hold of the brand, based on how the brand presents itself.

Brand Positioning – this is the chosen target market segmentation.

Brand Personality – this is the personality and qualities behind the brand.

Brand Equity – this is the value of the brand, covering both tangible and intangible value.

Brand Experience – this is the culmination of the customers experience with the brand.

Brand Differentiation – this is the way in which the brand stands out from competitors.

Brand Communication – this is the messaging that the brand delivers through various mediums.

Brand Gap – this is the difference between what a brand promises in its communications and what it actually delivers.

As you can see, there are lots of different types of branding, with many different layers, meanings and structures. And yes, it is complex, but the more you understand about the complex nature of it, the easier it is to understand the strengths and weaknesses of your own branding.

Here at PHd Design we are branding experts, so if you are looking for support with branding your business, or if you’re looking for branded designs for your next marketing campaign – please get in touch with our team.

Within each industry, there is a great amount of competition. Hundreds, maybe even thousands of businesses each competing to hold and grow their market share. There are of course many, many factors that can influence each company’s success – but one factor that is often overlooked, and more importantly underestimated is product packaging.

So let’s take a closer look at the impact that product packaging can have on sales…

Information

What better place to give potential customers all of the information they might need about your product, than on the product itself?

When people are unsure whether or not to purchase a product, they will often pick it up to inspect the packaging and learn more about it. They’re looking for something very specific – information that confirms whether this is the right product for them. In short, they’re looking for a reason to commit to the purchase. So, your packaging should communicate exactly what the product is, instructions for use, ingredients, where it was manufactured, how the products should be stored, use by dates etc.

Customers feel more confident about their buying decisions when they know exactly what they’re buying. And if your packaging covers this information clearly, a customer is more likely to make a purchase. And if you opt not to include this information, it is likely that you won’t be able to convert a good number of those potential customers into sales for your product.

Branding

It goes without saying that branding is an important component of product packaging – but why?

If your business or brand is already well established and well known, the brand name and theming will carry some weight and could help to sway a consumer to purchase your product. They already know and trust your other products, and automatically assume given their past experience with your brand that this product will be equally as useful to them. Or at the very least that it is worth their time to purchase and try the product.

But of course, branding is more than just a colour palette and a logo. A good brand identity will give an accurate representation of your brand and core values, to those people who may not yet be familiar with it. Therefore, packaging should always be designed with customers in mind.

Additionally, it is important to ensure that the overall design looks good. Surprisingly, many products fail to achieve this. Your packaging needs to be visually stimulating, engaging and most importantly appropriate for the product and in line with your branding. Because in a crowded marketplace with a number of direct competitors, all with very similar, and in some cases near identical products – these features will help your product to grab the attention of potential customers. And if you don’t convert potential customers into a sale, your competitors will.

Pricing

Financially speaking, you might think of packaging as nothing more than a cost. But did you know that it can be an important factor in how to price your product?

A well designed, well executed and high-quality packaging will reassure buyers that the product is also well designed and high-quality. And of course, a higher quality product can easily justify a reasonable increase to the price point. But if your packaging is not up to scratch, there is a good chance that potential buyers will assume that the brand, or even the product itself isn’t good. Because if it was a good product, the company would surely have sufficient money to invest in their packaging…

The Power of Packaging

For many businesses, the packaging of their product(s) is an afterthought – especially when a product has been on the market for some time. But packaging can make a powerful impact on sales, and it’s worth remembering that the impact is not always a positive one.

Great packaging can boost and sustain sales, grow a brand’s reputation and open doors of opportunity to your business. An interesting design and quality production will help to catch a potential customers eye, which in a crowded marketplace isn’t always an easy thing to do. But bad packaging that is poorly designed or executed can not only fail to attract potential buyers, but it could actively put off potential buyers and damage your brands reputation.

If you are looking for support with packaging design, our friendly team of designers here at PHd Design can help. We have 30 years of experience with packaging design projects and have a proven track record with most industries and products covering both new product launches and also for brands looking to improve their existing packaging. If you would like more information, please get in touch.