How to Use Product Package Marketing with a Small Budget

If you are a small business owner, you may already be aware of how important creating a unique package for your newest products is. Amongst a sea of marketing campaigns, slick slogans, professionally made logos, and commercials and advertising spots that were created by some of the world's leading marketing experts, how can you compete? The answer is simple. Make your product stand out against your competitors when it sits on store shelves. Unique packaging is the small business owner's best weapon against the multi-billion dollar giants they compete with. The cost doesn't have to be extravagant. Those working with a small budget can use their imagination to create a product package that works as its own marketing tool. Not that creative? Use the tips below to get started.

First, abandon the old fashioned "box or bag" packaging. Putting your new product in a box with your company's name on it is a great way to let your few marketing dollars go down the drain as your product gets lost amongst shelf after shelf of similar-looking competitors. Create a package with a unique shape that will catch the eye of any consumer. If you're selling paper clips, package them in a plastic jar the shape of a giant paper clip that can sit right on a desktop. If you're selling lip gloss, pack it in a lip-shaped container the color of the gloss that can be attached to a keychain or purse. Ok, you don't have to get that whimsical with your product packaging, but you get the picture. Create a package that has a shape and texture that stands out against boxes and bags.

Next, offer your consumers a great product review and a guarantee right on the front of your new package, as opposed to on the back as is usually done. Why? Well, the sad fact is that most consumers aren't going to bother actually picking up your product to look at the back of the package if they've never even heard of you or your company. That's the curse of having a small budget to advertise with. You have to do your selling from the front of the package, which means giving them what they want right off the bat. Get a great, professional review for your new product and place it alongside your exceptional guarantee right on the front of the package, and pull your best "As Seen On TV" stunt. In other words, build credibility for your product by letting consumers know that someone else has already bought it, liked it, and that you're willing to back it up with a solid promise. Give them all that without them ever having to pick your product up off the shelf.

Next, add to the value of your product by giving the packaging itself a function. Placing paper clips in a jar that sits on a desktop for storage or packaging lip gloss in a container that can be used as a key chain as mentioned above are examples of product package functionality. Make the consumer feel that they are getting something more from you in the form of added convenience, and be sure to highlight that added benefit on your product package (again, on the front, not the back).

Finally, don't try to mimic the packaging of competitors. You'll make your product look like a lesser-known knockoff or generic brand. If your competitor uses blue and green in their packaging, you should be using purple and yellow. Ok, not really, but standing out is important. Otherwise, you run the risk of making your product look like an inferior carbon copy of the more popular brands in your field. Your product is newer, different, and has something else to offer. Let your product packaging reflect that very message.