You could have the hottest product in the world. (…and maybe you do!) However, even if your product is something everyone needs and wants, without the right packaging and labeling, who’s going to pick it up off the shelf or place it in their cart online? Unless you’re catching eyes at first glance, it’s going to be hard to get attention.
When it comes to retail, your product will be shelved next to your competition. Your custom printed label is your only shot at a first impression—it’s the one chance you have to convince customers to choose your product instead of your competitor’s.
Analyze Your Competitors’ Label Design
Knowing what your competition is doing will give you a good idea of where to start with your own label. What do you like about it? What do you not like about it? How is your product/company/brand different from the competition? What can you do with your label that will communicate your brand better than the competition?
Spend a decent amount of time in the research phase, taking a close look at as many elements as possible. Take notes accordingly to help determine what you must have on your custom printed label, and also what you’d like to have on your label. The more information you have available, the easier it will be to finalize your label design.
Tell a Story
An important part of your branding (the image you project that makes your company and product stand out as memorable and unique) is the story you tell. Stories help build an emotional connection with your target audience, but your label only has so much space to convey it. Whatever your company story, work to condense it down to a couple sentences (or even a few words) to help connect your product to your customers.
Custom label printing allows you to emphasize what makes your product different. Do you focus on using only locally sourced, organic ingredients? Does your business donate a portion of profits to charity? Is your company family-owned?
Pay Attention to Color Choices
Color is a powerful communication tool. Color can grab attention, convey flavor/scent, affect mood, and more. Choose colors that match your existing branding, but vary them when necessary in accordance with varieties of your product.
If you’re starting your branding from scratch, keep these things in mind when it comes to your custom label’s color:
- Red: Red is usually associated with excitement. It’s a bold color, known to be associated with love, but also anger.
- Orange: This color is associated with confidence and cheer.
- Yellow: This color is associated with optimism, clarity, and warmth.
- Green: Green is strongly associated with growth, health and nature, and it can be used to create a peaceful feeling.
- Blue: This calming color is associated with trust, dependability, and strength.
- Purple: This color is associated with creativity, imagination, and wisdom.
- Black: Black represents power and control. It can be intimidating, unfriendly, and unapproachable. It’s a good idea to use this color sparingly, unless it fits with your brand and your competition uses it widely.
- Brown: This color is friendly, but serious. It’s down-to-earth. Brown is a good color to use to convey protection, security, comfort, and wealth.
- White: This color represents purity, wholeness, and perfection.
- Pink: The color pink represents nurturing and unconditional love. It’s a feminine color that can also convey silliness.
- Gray: Gray is neutral and impartial. The closer it gets to black, the more dramatic it becomes. The closer it gets to white, the livelier it becomes.
Use Eye-Catching Imagery
Images can add more visual appeal to your labeling, and those images can vary from product to product accordingly. Custom label images can convey much more than words. They even help with customer retention, as many people are visual learners who are more likely to remember an image than a word. However, to keep your custom label design from becoming too cluttered or busy, you’ll want to carefully balance images and text.
Image quality matters. Don’t be afraid to turn to stock photography options to find exactly what you need to convey your brand messaging and what really makes your product stand out.
Customize, Customize, Customize
One way you can make your product labeling stand out from the competition is to use a custom approach. You’ll surely soar past your competitors. Customization options are nearly limitless, from custom die cuts, custom materials, custom finishing, and custom imprinting. Try these label options to make your label truly special.
The design is only one facet of the entire process. You’ll also need quality—in terms of the label material itself, the ink, and the adhesive—so your label can stand up to wear and tear during use and transit.
The team at T&L Graphics will help you find the right label for your needs. Our custom label printing services ensure you get an awesome label to help you better serve and retain your customers.