Both large corporations and small businesses can benefit from updating their brand’s marketing tools and allow their products to stand out when placed on the shelf. A custom label or promotional label design may continue to look great for a year or two, but it will appear dated eventually. If you refuse to do something about that, all that you’ve worked so hard for will be in vain. Hence, updated labels are one aspect you need to cover to represent the quality of the products you produce.
Before you get started, you need to know that you’re about to enter a retail jungle. You will need to implement all the knowledge and experience you have to navigate effectively and encounter fewer marketing setbacks along the way. That being said, retail shelf spaces are ever-changing and your competitors are also constantly evolving as well. From labeling trends to packaging trends, you need to make the effort to stay on top of everything. Otherwise, your market share will diminish in time.
Below are some elements that require your attention and action, if you want to improve the overall effectiveness and quality of your labels:
Evaluate the Effectiveness of Your Brand’s Central Message
Ask yourself what you think your brand is, and what do your consumers think about it. Do you find that it’s easy to articulate the central message of your brand through your labels? Can your consumers understand what you’re trying to say? If your perception on this matter lines up with theirs, your message is considered effective.
Your Brand’s Heritage and History
Before you can determine how to revisit your labels’ designs and where your brand can go, you should understand where they have been. Have previous label design been revolutionary or evolutionary? Which of these elements are cornerstones to your brand message? If your brand is evolving, you will need to find out how you can future proof the messaging, and ensure that the core elements it carries constant over time.
The Competitive Aspect of Your Labels
Do a little retail shopping and see how your labels fare. Are they eye-catching or unique enough? Do they communicate the advantages of buying your products well enough? Do this for products sold at retail and even for those that are sold online. When doing a virtual comparison, open a few windows of your competitors’ products and yours side by side. Even if you think yours is superior, you should find out if online shoppers, who are new to your brand, feel the same way.
The Existing Needs of Your Customers
Are you clear on how customers perceive your products? Does your label’s design establish an emotional connection with your customers? You should never alienate your current customers with an extreme redesign as it risks upending this relationship. Every labeling update needs a balancing act so you want to remain familiar to your existing customers while creating a buzz that attracts new ones.
Find Out More about Your Retail Environment in 2016
Retail environments are subjected to frequent changes and store owners are always looking for ways to manipulate traffic flow and improve sales. Hence, it’s vital that you know where and how your products will be displayed. Will your products be displayed behind glass or on the bottom shelf? Will lights such as brilliant fluorescents obscure your product’s subtle label designs, rendering it unreadable? As you find your way around the new retail environment, take notice of what works and what doesn’t.
