We featured in the Packaging News! Please click on the link below to view the article written about Custom Printed Bags & Boxes:
http://www.packagingnews.com.au/news/custom-packaging-helps-small-businesses-test-the-market
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If these products above were the same product and price, which would you buy for a present?
Remember the value of packaging on customer's purchasing decisions. At this time of the year (if you love the festive season), you’ll be starting to think about presents for friends and family – maybe even writing present lists, and being organised and going out and buying presents already. If you’re like me, you’ll go to the store where you think you could purchase that item on the list, and find a good array of the same type of product. Say you were thinking of buying a nice tie for your brother. You go into a department store, and you see all the ties laid out in a glass case, and next to them, a beautiful branded rigid gift box. Then you see ties in another glass case with no branded rigid gift box…. I know myself that I would go for a tie that comes in a beautiful box, to make the present I’m gifting look beautiful (and appear much more expensive!) No matter how organised you are, there will always be someone you forgot to buy a gift for – maybe a neighbour or a colleague that gives you a gift close to Christmas and you realise you didn’t get anything for them, so you need to slip out to the mall or shopping strip as soon as possible to find a present. From past experience, my eyes will go directly to the packaged gifts selection on the shop shelf. I will buy a product in a beautifully presented bag or box. I will even by-pass superior quality products that are sitting on a shelf next to it, just to get a product that is beautifully packaged! I’ve even started seeing supermarkets stock their shelves with beautifully packaged items – so if you’ve forgotten that person at the last moment, you can even pick up a beautifully packaged gift in the supermarket! For example my local supermarket has started selling gift boxes in the beauty isle: for example a collection of soaps in a nice square or round box, with the soap company’s branding on the box, with cellophane and festive coloured ribbon, for a quick purchase decision sale. Think about your product. Could you package it in a beautiful bag or box for easy last minute purchase decisions? For example, if your hand creams range is stocked at a pharmacy, why don’t you consider packaging up some of your items into a beautiful, unique branded box, and present it as an already wrapped gift? Make it look a million bucks! Make the purchaser proud to give your product away as a gift, and make the person receiving it feel special, because they have a beautifully presented, expensive looking gift in their hands. Look at what your competitors are doing. Go to the shops where your product is sold and check out how your competitors are presenting their products for the festive season. If they have them in already-wrapped boxes for easy customer purchasing, then you need to think about doing this for next year – but make your gift box even better than your competitors! Even if your product is the superior quality product on the shelf - remember that some customers don't know your product and are just looking for a quick purchase! You will find that last minute shoppers might reach for your competitors product if it is beautifully wrapped and presented - even if your product is better on other levels. Don’t let this happen to you! Make it easy for your customers to choose you! All the best for the festive season! I don’t know about you, but every time I get home from an event, I have a heavy event bag full of a variety of postcards, flyers, brochures and giveaways that I often end up throwing away with a moments glance.
I wanted to explain my take on event bag fillers, and run through some good and bad ideas for your future event bags. Some good ideas for giveaways are are food – chocolates, drinks, nibbles, samples of your product or a wrapped present of some sort (chocolate or a small sample of your product, for example), a hugely discounted gift certificate or a 'two for one' deal (that is really worth something - not just $5 off) – but package it or make it stand out somehow (maybe tying ribbon around the voucher?) otherwise people might see it as a worthless piece of paper. Some bad ideas are key rings – who doesn’t have one of those already? figurines – who is going to keep them displayed around the house? Plus you don’t want them to get into the hands of someone under the age of five. If you are sticking to a budget for your conference or event (as most people do), don’t throw away money on silly, gimmicky give-aways that you know will end up in the bin. It’s not only bad for the environment, but a waste of your money – think about what the hundreds (or even thousands) of dollars that you spend on unwanted giveaways could have bought you, through other marketing efforts, or through spending a little bit more on a giveaway that is a truly thoughtful. Remember to always link the giveaway to your brand or your industry if you are not giving away samples of your product. Make it fun! You want people to like your brand and take notice of you. If you are giving away samples of your product, remember the basics for the packaging – keep it to your branding colours, include your logo, slogan and most importantly include the ‘how to buy’ or ‘how to contact us’ details. This could include where your product is stocked or your website details for online sales. The worst thing ever is a potential customer enjoying your sample, then finding it hard to contact you, find your website, or find out where they can buy it from their local area! Best of luck with your conference bag giveaways! We can now offer low quantities (min 500) of cotton bags! In keeping with our theme of allowing our customers to fully customise to their unique requirements, we can offer cotton bags to almost any design for your event: short handles or long handles, printed with your logo or design and dyed to your brand colour. We can even use thick cotton for heavy contents, or thin cotton if your bag is just for branding purposes....you choose! Remember that packaging for your product, events, promotions, conferences, seminars, trade shows or parties has to get the attention of customers. So make it fun and bring a smile to people’s faces! People respond well to something that’s a bit out of the ordinary and a bit crazy. Here are some really fun packaging ideas for everyday products, and for events, that might get people talking around the conference table or around the kitchen table at home: Imagine being the tea supplier for a major conference and having these cute little packages of your tea bags at the tea and coffee tables! Im sure it would get the delegates talking - and drinking more of your tea! If you're the snack provider at an event, why not put your snacks in a fun package? It would get noticed and talked about amongst the guests I'm sure! They might even take them home to share with family or friends! This packaging design is sure to stand out at gardening stores against the other seed suppliers packaging:
First of all you need to decide why you are going to participate in the expo. What are your objectives? Is it a pure branding exercise; is it something you ‘must’ do so that you are seen as a leader in your industry? Is it to gain more customers, is it networking? Or a combination of these things? _ Check out your competition – are your competitors exhibiting at the same event? If not, ask yourself why not. Maybe you need to take more time to look into the proportion of attendees that is your target market. Or maybe you’re the first of your competitors to take the plunge into exhibiting – so if you think it’s right for your business – go for it!
If you decide to exhibit at the event amongst your competitors, make sure you make it clear on all your event marketing materials what your point of difference is. Marketing is all about communicating to customers what you can do for them, and how you can satisfy their need. Don’t overcomplicate things. Don’t try to be all things to all customers. In most cases people set up businesses to fill a need in a market – maybe the market is already saturated, but you found a niche – you need to communicate that. Not all people will be your customers, but you need to communicate your differences so that the people that require that specific offering know where to purchase from. For example at Custom Printed Bags & Boxes our point of difference is that we fully customise event bags to any requirement (size, colour, design, printed, non-printed etc.), and we cater to low minimum orders. These are the two points of difference over our competitors. We make sure we communicate these points of difference on our postcards, banners, brochures and other marketing materials in simple words /statements. The same words/phrases are repeated everywhere in the hope that when someone needs low quantities of customised bags or boxes they will immediately think of us. What you need to consider to brand effectively at an event: Event bags – you can brand event bags to that particular event – why not get creative with your design or you can get generic custom printed event bags with your logo that you can use for events throughout the year. Banners – these are great at big and small events. You can get roll up banner stands for a few hundred dollars. I suggest getting generic banner stands – with your logo, offering and images that can be used at different events. Expo stand – if you have the budget, you will look sleek and professional with a professionally made expo stand that is custom made to your brand colours and design. Brochures / postcards / leaflets – you can get small quantities of quite cheap, good quality postcards or leaflets from somewhere like Vistaprint. Ensure that you have your logo, brand colours, images and your offering in simple wording on your postcard. When customers go through their event bag at the end of the day, they will take a quick glance at each of the dozens of brochures or leaflets that they have picked up during the day. Make sure your message is clear and concise, so people can decide within a second if they want to keep your leaflet or not. Ensure your contact details and website are featured too. Giveaways – try to find a useful giveaway that somehow ties into your service or brand. For example, if you’re a personal trainer, you could give away bottles of water with your logo printed on. I think you should either invest in great giveaways that people will want, need and use, or not spend money on a giveaway that people will end up throwing away with their unwanted brochures that they will receive in their event bags at the end of the day. Think about the giveaways you’ve been given that you were grateful for, and those that you threw away as soon as you get home. You and your staff – smile at people walking by, and be approachable. If someone is hovering around your stand it probably means they would like someone to say a friendly hello and ask if they can be of any help. Don’t stand in a circle talking to your staff, this is intimidating. When you have the customers attention, let them know your offering, discuss their unique needs and wants, and give them a brochure or any marketing material so they can take it away to think about it too. Also try to get their contact details and follow up with a phone call or email after the event. Best of luck with your event! |
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August 2021
AuthorClara Cassidy, Founder and Marketing Manager of Custom Printed Bags & Boxes, is a marketing professional with years of experience in branding, promotions and events. Categories
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