label designs
Private Labeling = Successful Selling
Private label branding says a lot about your business! What better way to make your products attractive to wholesalers, Spas, Gift Shops, etc.?
A brand is a powerful tool in your hands, a visual image that encapsulates a perceived value associated with your company, product or service by customers and potential customers. As competition intensifies, small business owners are realizing the power of branding through private label as part of an ingenious business strategy. Owning your private label brand is not only an alluring marketing and sales tool, it makes good small business sense. Wholesalers of private label products offer resellers and diverse others the opportunity to build recognition for their own company and product, as well as develop customer loyalty. With a lead on identity and a secure on loyalty, new and repeat sales are sure to follow, given that your product meets consumer expectations. The bottom line is: You will drive your revenues and increase profits through the use of private labels.
Once thought of as a value-added, low cost substitute for higher priced name brands, private label brands were referred to as store or generic brands; remember the no name brand! Interestingly, the private label perception is blossoming in today's marketplace as the upscale alternative to national brands. As burnt cream evolved into French crème brûlée, consumers now consider private label brands as an affordable extravagance. Associated with distinctive, premium quality products and services, private labels are now positioning as your own proprietary brand or personalized brand, and rightly so.
Victory Time picture taken by createTWO.
Adding private labels will pack numerous marketing and sales benefits into your product. The basics of any good marketing plan are simple: Increase your customer base, increase the frequency of repeat sales and increase the average expenditure, the question is? How? Designed to display and impress your image and developed around your target market, propriety label may be the answer.
Your own brand is what sets you apart from your competitors and builds brand loyalty. Differentiating your product as a unique brand also enables you to compete on non-price factors such as quality. A smart move for small business because typically, they cannot achieve sales volume levels to be a low price favorite. Stocking name brand products does little to entice consumers into your brick and mortar or online store. National brands are widely distributed and can be purchased almost anywhere. A private label will bring customers to your place of business, as your brand is exclusive. An additional benefit is that of product awareness. Every time a customer opens your private label product sitting on the counter top the customer is reminded where the product was purchased!
Small businesses do not have abundant resources to spend on large marketing and advertising campaigns like their national competitors. Your proprietary label, imprinted on an appealing package, is an excellent advertising item and channel. You gain exposure and get the word out about your business and product, requiring little effort outside your input in the label and package design. Using a private label is a cost effective method to market your small business.
Of course, customers will not rush back to your store and beat down the door for a label. Establishing the brand with a high quality product is essential for repeat sales. Generate trust in your brand by selecting a respected wholesaler who knows the product and the business well. To promote consumer purchasing the reseller must also perfect the private label to meet the desires and expectations of the target market.
Small business branding through private labeling conclusively builds company and product recognition. Positioning your unique product through private label, aimed at your target market, results in an effective, low cost-effort marketing strategy. It is the solution to getting customers into your store and back again and again? If your company is competing in the candle industry, or any other industry, by using other brands, consider the benefits of your own proprietary brand. No matter how you label it, small business branding through a private label wholesaler is powerful marketing!
The benefits of branding a private label are substantial. Margins are generally 6-10% higher than national brands. In some categories, like nuts, average private label pricing is higher than national brands. And some have been successful at offering premium private label brands, with pricing higher than national brands. Supermarket chain Albertsons has rolled out Essensia, a premium label brand consisting of cookies, crackers, frozen foods and frozen desserts, "only available at your local store." Private label brands are also a competitive differentiator that decreases me-too dependence on national brands. And while national brands focus on boosting a category, private label brands support loyalty to a store, increasing customer profitability. {Author: Jake Mayer, Lapis Teahouse Private Label}
Find the Right Balance in Logo Creation
In a business, logo creation is as crucial as setting up a business plan. It is not as easy as going to a designer and having him create a cool, modern symbol with a ripped off tagline. Unfortunately, it goes beyond "cool". It goes beyond what you think is the hype. Instead, it requires a deeper understanding of your business, how it can be best represented, the overall impression it leaves on its viewers and if it is sticky enough to be retained in the minds of your market.
Your logo's every curve and color must exist for a reason. All elements should come together to contribute to an overall powerful and clear message easily conveyed to anyone who sees it.
Color Selection
Let us start with color. Colors mean something. Some colors make you mad, some make you calm and some make you agitated and so on. Every color has a psychological impact on people and a good mastery of such knowledge will prove to be very useful in creating your logo.
Composition of Elements
Selecting the right images shapes for your logo and arranging them also requires a good amount of thought. Overdone logos with a lot of curves and circles might leave you confused and overwhelmed. At the same time, some are too simple that it leaves you unimpressed with no clear idea what the business behind that logo wants to say. Investing time and effort on trial-and-error tests on your logo might seem a tedious task, but once overcome, you will reap the rewards with more response and more results from your viewers.
Getting It All Together
Before we think of what color or shape, at the base of our minds is what your logo should symbolize. The "what" comes first before the "how". From the base sketch, to the colors, to the shapes, always check if every addition gives more value to your logo in association with your brand. In addition to the value of the parts of your logo, another thing you should keep a keen eye out for is the overall balance of your design. You must think about how to balance your logo design well enough that each stroke is where it should be and everything taken in its totality equates to a clear message so that people can understand:
- What your business does and what it believes in
- The products and services you provide
- The advantage of choosing your products and services over others
Going over some popular logos very familiar to us, we notice the use of small fonts, use of the color red and arches. Let us dissect these elements for a minute.
Big companies use small fonts to convey that despite the enormous size and spread of their organization, people from all walks of life, even the less prestigious, can still make business with them. A small type makes people less daunted and rather more at ease in approaching the company.
The color red, not only grabs our attention, but it also communicates a sense of professionalism, passion and stability. That's why it's no surprise that several financial or banking companies make use of this shade like Mastercard, WellsFargo, and HSBC.
Now let us go to the use of arches. Arches can be used in a variety of ways and in conjunction other elements or letters in your logo. When used overhead, the arch can represent an umbrella to convey protection. Alternatively, in the same sense, when used under the text, an arch can convey reliability like a net catches circus acrobats when they fall. With lines arched in different directions, it is very possible that you can communicate a sense of protection, confidence and trust.
It goes to show that there is no need for too much incorporation of lines and shapes to convey a message to the people. Going overboard with symbols and colors in a logo can create too many elements that people will only add fuss instead of value.
Double check your designs and before you have your professional color printing company work on your logo, make sure that you have created it properly and have thought it out well. You must achieved the proper balance of using symbols that mean something akin to your company and keep them as simple and neat enough as possible. Balanced and uncluttered, remember that.
About the Author: Kaye Z. Marks is an avid writer and follower of developments in commercial color printing industry and how these improvements can benefit small to medium-scale business.