3. Differentiate
Once you’ve managed to identify the gaps in the market and you have a solid understanding of the competition, it’s time to differentiate your brand so that it looks and feels like no other. That means branding and packaging. Every single decision, from color, to font, to logo, to brand voice, to photographic style, to calls-to-action, to product naming, and more, must follow the same branding guidelines.
Here are three things we know about branding that we think everyone should know about branding:
A ) Customer first
Successful brands are not built on personal likes and dislikes. They grab hold of an underexplored opportunity; a gap in the market. (Remember what we covered in learn the market?)
B ) Good branding is timeless
Gratuitous communication and poor branding can kill a brand in record time. Brands that step away from their established branding and publish subpar content online do nothing but damage their brand’s reputation. Brands that evoke trust and achieve consistently favorable ROIs never publish hastily in a desperate enough to move things forward. They are calm, deliberate, and publish only when the content speaks their established brand language.
C ) Think longterm
The power of a well-constructed and carefully-maintained brand identity, particularly in a saturated market like the world of CBD, should not be underestimated. But it should also never be overestimated either. Solid branding is meaningless without sales and profit. (Remember what we discussed earlier in setting goals and knowing the score?).
For example, let’s look at packaging. Does packaging, an element that must ooze brand identity, lead to sales and profit? The answer is yes, when it’s done right. There are 100s of CBD topicals on the market, 100s of CBD edibles on the shelves, and many of them are now being sold through standard retail outlets. Even Sephora has its own line of CBD products laid out on the shop floor. So, what makes a consumer choose one brand over another.
Sometimes it’s because they’ve seen online marketing efforts and have headed to the store to buy as a result. Sometimes it’s because of brand name and previously established trust. Sometimes it’s because the packaging is just so incredibly attractive that it seals their decision at POS. We’ve all put products back on the supermarket shelf because we didn’t like, or were dubious of the packaging. The CBD consumer is no different.
Experts in creating customized packaging that helps differentiate a brand from the POS competition, we know that one of the reasons why so many brands out there disappointingly blend into the crowd, is because packaging regulations are so strict. But there are ways of remaining ultra-compliant without losing the opportunity to differentiate on the shelf. A packaging design that solves a consumer experience issue, for example, is an area worth pursuing. As too is packaging design that opens in a unique way, or presents a limited edition of your star product. A penny saved is a penny earned, but not when that penny leads to decreased sales. Our advice is to definitely set aside a decent budget for packaging, because experience has shown us that it’s an important factor in terms of brand identity and increased sales.
Having said that, packaging can run up greater costs than most brands anticipate. You need to be sure that the cost of your packaging doesn’t prevent you from earning a healthy ROI. Effective packaging increases sales and profit margins. It doesn’t reduce them. Contact us if you’re looking yo reduce packaging costs. We will most probably be able to help.
Source: https://cannaversesolutions.com/blog/the-cbd-graveyard/
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