What Are The Advantages Of Custom Branding And Packaging?

In today’s market, every business is looking for a way to stand out. One crucial component in doing so that is often overlooked is custom promotional packaging for businesses. In this blog, we’ll explore the advantages of custom branding and packaging, how it can help a brand create awareness around products or services, and better understand why over a third of consumers report that branded packaging affects their perception of a business.

What Is Custom Packaging?

Whether intended for B2B sales kits or those special B2C customer unboxing moments, uniquely tailored packaging and custom branding help a business make its mark. Instead of using a one-size-fits-all approach with pre-made packaging, the advantages of custom branding and packaging allow a package’s shape, size, style, colors, material, and finish to effortlessly match the size and aesthetic of the contained materials.

Now, that may be the technical explanation to the question of “what is custom packaging?”, but that doesn’t necessarily touch on why custom packaging is important for a brand.

What Is The Importance Of Branding And Packaging?

Is packaging the most important of the brand elements? Some would say so. But regardless of where you land on this, it’s certainly a crucial component. Custom branding and packaging is a statement about your business. It serves as a chance to build a physical connection between your brand and your customers or clients. It functions as an opportunity to engage people in a creative and memorable way.

Top 6 Advantages Of Branding And Packaging

With definitions out of the way, let’s explore 5 of the top advantages custom branding and packaging have to offer.

#1: It’s The First Impression

Think back to the first time you received a product from a company with excellent packaging. It didn’t feel or look much like a standard UPS delivery in corrugated cardboard. It probably arrived in a custom box, neatly branded with the company logo and delivered as though it were packaged and assembled just for you.

Expert branding and packaging help the unboxing experience (whether in a B2C or B2B setting) feel elegant and refined. It also demonstrates professionalism – even in the minor details – and it conveys the value a business feels toward its clients or customers.

The unboxing moment sets the tone for your product and your business. Over 90% of product first impressions are design-related, which means the first experience your clients or customers have with your product is the one they’ll be thinking about the most.

Whether good or bad, people do judge something by their first impression of it, and the old adage of “don’t judge a book by its cover” is not something society has taken to heart.

#2: It’s A Marketing Tool

The way you present a product or service says a lot about your brand. The benefit of cohesive branding, like color combinations, high-quality materials, and the positioning of different elements make the custom packaging process speak to your business’s excellence. In addition to price, the look and feel of a product, whether it be a sales kit that showcases a brand’s services or a tangible product a customer can feel and use, help shape how someone feels about the quality of your brand.

Every business wants to be meaningful and to connect with its customers in a way that makes the brand relevant and interesting to them. Custom packaged boxes and kits are a part of your brand’s personality, and, in many cases, as much a part of the branding as the items contained within.

#3: It Creates A More Memorable “Unboxing Experience”

Unboxing experiences are one of the most popular genres of video on YouTube. It may seem strange to some, but it’s a fact that speaks to the advantages of custom branding and packaging. 

Over the past few years, unboxing has evolved from part of the order receiving process to an online fad — and now to an effective marketing tool. In fact, the unboxing experience has become such an expectation of consumers that Instagram accounts like ThingTesting review how products are packaged as a way to help consumers “vet and discover brands”.

Think about it: would you prefer to receive a product in generic cardboard packaging, or in custom, high-quality branded packaging? Even if the product inside the generic packaging is exactly the same as the custom packaging, the perceived value and experience of the two are completely different.

#4: It Sets You Apart

Some brands have mastered customized branding for their business to the extent that they’re identifiable simply by their logo or packaging. Now, if you’re not a major B2C company like Tiffany’s or Glossier, this may not be something you even need to aim for. But that doesn’t mean we can’t learn why packaging is important for a brand from these companies.

One of the major components that every business with successful custom packaging recognizes — no matter their size or industry — is the importance of branded elements. When everyone in your space is delivering quality services and products, focusing on custom branding and packaging can help set you apart from the competition.

For instance, think back to when you were interviewing for your current job position. There may have been plenty of applicants who were just as qualified and able to produce quality work as yourself, but something about you stood out. In addition to qualifications, it’s often the way an applicant appears and presents themselves — their candor, appearance, and personability — that sets them apart from the other qualified candidates.

The same is true for a business looking to set itself apart. In a competitive market, custom branding and packaging is a marketing element directly within a company’s sphere of influence that can help them stand out and stay remembered.

#5: It Helps Keep You Top Of Mind

In a world of the status quo, custom stands out. People may remember the name of the sales executive who gifted them a sales kit, but if the packaging is like every other one on the market, they’ll probably forget the other details. 

Likewise, an influencer may know the name of a business that sent them a product, but it’s unlikely the brand name will stick with them or their followers if there’s nothing noteworthy about the branded elements.

With techniques like spot UV printing to make colors pop, or specialized debossing or embossing to grab attention, the advantages of custom branding and packaging can elevate your marketing materials. All of this helps keep you in the consciousness of your clients or customers.

#6: It Leverages Advertising Psychology

Psychology-based advertising is a method that focuses on understanding how the audience behaves and identifies correlations between emotional states and decisions. When the branded elements pop and tell a story, that unboxing moment can create emotional triggers.

Psychology-based advertising encourages people to make decisions based on their instincts; whether it be literature, film, or music, this is what all great media does. While some may see this type of “emotional advertising” as a manipulative strategy, Dr. Peter Noel Murray believes it helps people more readily process information on a deeper level. Emotional advertising can bypass rational facilities to help the consumer make a decision based on the impact it can have on their lives.

Is Custom Packaging Worth It?

According to a large study, a staggering 80% of consumers say their experience with a brand is as important as the product or service it offers. This is a noteworthy statistic in customer retention. Since custom packaging is an effective way to show prospects you care about their experience, it can help increase client or customer satisfaction and loyalty in the process.

Another advantage of custom branding and packaging is the product protection it offers. When you partner with a company specializing in custom promotional packaging for businesses, you can benefit from working with a team of experts knowledgeable about designing, producing, and assembling kits and boxes created to protect from weather and shipping-related damages.