You’ve probably already heard the notion that first impressions last. You may have also heard this one: “You only get one chance to make a first impression.” Both these statements must be at the core of your product marketing strategy as a startup.

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Consumers are generally brand-centric and are more likely to purchase one brand repeatedly, and less are likely to change to a new brand. As a startup, you have to find ways to get the consumer to pick your product based on its looks.

Your best shot at making a good and lasting first impression is in the way you present your product. Consumers often purchase new products based on the design and aesthetic of the packaging. However, as more customers are becoming more environmentally aware and conscious about their surroundings, customers now buy products based on their overall environmental impact. Some studies even show that most consumers are willing to pay more for eco-friendly products.

Here are eight insider tips to consider when designing and choosing your product packaging material.

Know Your Target Audience

Firstly you need to identify the demographic and psychographics of the specific target audience or niche for your product. To sell to someone, you must know what one’s needs and wants are, as well as their gender, age, place of residency, and their income bracket.

You can collect this information by conducting needs-analysis research on a sample group. The results from the analysis will tell you who is most in need of your product and who will probably like to buy it.

The analysis will allow you to deduce the product’s affordability based on the target audience’s pockets. Finding out where your target audience lives will enable you to estimate your order fulfillment and lead delivery times.

Design Packaging That Encapsulates Brand Essence

Your packaging must communicate specific vital facts about your brand. The customer must deduce your company’s values and objectives from your packaging. The shape, size, colors, and surface of the packaging must align with the brand image.

E.g. (an eco-friendly brand is likely to have recycled brown corrugated boxes or paper bags as its packaging, with the brand name subtly written in green, brown, or any earthy colors.) Essentially your packaging must be able to sell itself.

Use A Set Color Scheme

Pick a color scheme for all your business-related activities. Use the same color palette or scheme for all your business processes, whether packaging, marketing, or promotional material, including internal company documents.

Your brand must have uniformity and consistency. Uniformity will make your brand more visible and noticeable to customers. A color scheme is the core principle of brand identity and image. A business with a striking brand image is prominent and easily noticed by consumers from just their color scheme.

Use colors that complement the product that you are selling. For instance, if your product is for teenage boys in high school, it is not advisable to have pink or purple packaging.

Be Clear And Concise

When potential customers look at your product, they are looking for one of three things, the name of the brand, who the manufacturer is, and lastly, what the product’s contents are and the benefits thereof.

Hence it is essential to keep your packaging design clean and straightforward. You should avoid using all capital letters and fancy or italicized fonts. The packaging must make it easy to read the product’s name and the company.

Use Quality Or Premium Packaging Material

Using high-quality material will ensure that your product is well-secured and not at potential risk of being damaged at any stage during the order fulfillment process.

Use durable or, even better, reusable material for your product packaging. The material you use must not be fragile such as glass or ceramic, which break, or materials prone to water or rain damage, such as corrugated boxes and paper bags.

Consider Distribution Process Costs

Suppose you rely on a third-party distributor to fulfill the delivery process of the product. In that case, it is advisable to consider the strength and quality of the material used for packaging.

Consider the external factors that may raise costs of distribution, such as the weather and the mode of transportation of the products, whether it is via land, air, or water. Damage caused by human error is another significant factor to consider.

Manage Packaging Costs

Before you get ahead of yourself, it is essential to note that quality packaging can be very costly. However, that does not mean you should short-change or compromise the quality of your packaging; quality remains imperative.

Instead, you can explore other cost reduction methods, such as buying the packing material in bulk. Bulk orders are much cheaper than batch-by-batch orders. They generally cost less per unit for die-cutting and ink printing. Bulk orders also save on transportation costs from the manufacturers to your warehouse.

Another cost reduction tip you can try is avoiding pattern printed packaging. It is better to use packaging with a plain background so that your company name and logo and the product name stand out and are legible.

Consider Biodegradable Packaging Material

As aforementioned, a segment in the market has become more conscious and self-aware about the impact of products, like fast-moving consumer goods or FMCG, on the environment, particularly at the end of the product life-cycle.

Most product containers are likely to end up in landfills where they cause soil and air pollution. Therefore an opportunity now exists for brands to switch out traditional product packaging material, such as plastic and paper, and opt for biodegradable material such as hemp and bio-plastic, made of plants such as corn, sugarcane, and cassava.

Startups are notorious for bringing innovative and disruptive ideas to the market. They like to implement the blue ocean strategies that set them apart from the rest of the pack.

However, even doing something as fundamental as changing your packaging design and material can be viewed as innovative and disruptive in some industries. These eight tips will place your company on the high end of professional product packaging.