The common question of all entrepreneurs; “How can I increase the sales of my product?”
It is not easy to answer this question, especially in today's market, which is developing and very competitive. By looking at the title, you can expect us to offer you a magic formula to increase your sales. No! We will not offer you magic, but instead of it we will convey our experiences. Because we strongly believe that the experiences can bring success to all entrepreneurs.
In the world of marketing, there is a famous proposition; “If there is no sale, there is no victory.” This proposition is correct in our opinion, but it is incomplete. As Grafimet, we complete this statement as follows; “If there is no proper packaging, there is no sale. If there is no sale, there is no victory.”
Now let's make this proposition more understandable by an imaginary scenario.
An entrepreneur who wants to invest, after years of feasibility and installation process, finally managed to produce its product. He has even conducted market research and he believes in the success of his product literally. The only thing he needs is a beautiful and attractive package that he will be able to offer his product to the consumer.
How difficult can it be to produce “a beautiful and attractive package?” After all, he spent a lot of money and established a large production facility.
The entrepreneur continues to think; “I put a big logo on the top of the packaging, I'll make a red ground color, install a photograph of my product, and a striking slogan on it.” “Now all I have to do is find a vigorous and talented designer to do what I think.”
The designer is found very easily. Because, the designer wants to design the packaging of this great product and have a good reference. She takes the short brief from the entrepreneur. The entrepreneur, who has been manage to produce his product in 2 years, must immediately put his product on the market. He gives the designer only two weeks.
Designer thinks; “I won't have any difficulty. The owner of the product, after all, thought of all details for me. Two weeks is enough for me.” She accepts the project.
Two weeks later the packaging is designed. The design is exactly what the entrepreneur has expected. Our designer has added a few minor touches to the fonts and added some aesthetics to the design.
The product is entered into the market and after a few months, sales numbers come. The entrepreneur who see the numbers is very surprised; "Oh my God! What is this! We have the best quality product in our segment, but we haven't even achieved a mediocre success in sales.”
The entrepreneur tries to find out where he might have made the mistake; “ I think we couldn't introduce the product enough. So we need a nice advertising campaign. Or should we do promotions? No, I think we should change our price policy.”
And time, effort, money are spent and wasted ... But victory can never be won.
As Grafimet, perhaps we have drawn a bad imaginary scenario. However, we know very well that the wasting one in this imaginary scenario is not just time, effort and money, in our opinion, the actual wasted one is the power of the packaging!
It is the packaging that sells the product. It's not just Grafimet who tells that. Scientists, marketers, senior entrepreneurs, and of course consumers themselves say that. So what do they say? Exactly they say:
Packaging is a self-sufficient marketing machine.
It is an advertising department,
A representative of the company,
Salesman in the field.
A radio jingle.
Full-page ad in the newspaper.
A 30-second TV commercial that is released on a prime time basis.
It is the promotional tool that has maximum effect, but the least on the cost.
In short, it is a superpower, where the forces of all sales channels are gathered in one place. This superpower must be self-sustaining, capable of conveying all the values of the brand to the consumer and making the consumer purchase the product. And all of this has to be achieved without motion, in a silent way and without the ability to think.
There are three questions that entrepreneurs and designers should ask themselves to design a successful package. If they can answer these 3 questions, then all the hours spent on the computer, by fine-tuning pixels, vectors, colors, will have a meaning. Afterwards, the packages begin to sing a beautiful song on the shelves. The consumer who hears this beautiful song decides to throw the product into his basket by hitting in his feels.
These 3 problems must be answered on a package. So, what are these questions?
Does the packaging of your product transfer the values of your brand to the consumer with a strong story?
Can the packaging of your product meet the consumer expectations in the category it belongs to? And can it differ from its competitors on the shelf while meeting these expectations?
Are the design elements in the packaging of your product placed with a clear hierarchy and good flow that can be read by the consumer easily?
These 3 basic rules that must be placed in the packaging, are only the theoretical part of the process. How are these three rules, what we are trying to explain, practiced in real life by entrepreneurs and designers? Our experience tells us how to achieve this. So how?
Start by telling a story.
The first task of the packaging of your product is to tell a strong story. The better the story, the better the sales. You must have determined this story before you start designing package. Having the story is the most basic necessity of a brand strategy. Without a powerful story, you can never have the proper packaging, you just have a beautiful picture.
Choose a focal point.
Something about your product is more important than anything else. This thing; may be the name of the company, a slogan, the name of the product, how the product can be used, what it may be in the packaging, or it may be an illustration or a photograph. Your brand strategy must determine this item very precisely. This item should be larger, thicker and more interesting than the other items on the packaging. The designer must be able to know and use the psychological and emotional triggers that can attract consumer interest.
And take the consumer on a journey.
Now, use this focal point as the first step in the journey of the consumer. The first step was determined. So, in which direction will the consumer continue its journey? This direction depends on your brand strategy and the story you want to tell. Each element on a package has two basic tasks. The first task is to be a part of the brand story, and the second task is to move the consumer to the next stop of the journey. The success of this journey depends on the hierarchy of packaging and the success of the flow. The settlement composition and attractiveness of each of the design elements should bring the consumer to a place. You can make a vertical overlay from the top of the package, or you can design a “s-pattern” flow, or you can specify a zigzag pattern. You can mix visual flow patterns in harmony with each other. Whichever way you decide, it needs to be understandable easily and has to create an endless loop on the packaging. Designers will solve the problem easily by knowing some tricks.
All entrepreneurs need a proper packaging that creates added value. The reason for the existence of Grafimet is to meet this need of all entrepreneurs.
