Packaging as Marketing Tool

The packaging we choose for our business should never be considered of minor importance, or be treated as a random piece of marketing.

Packaging is a powerful strategy, as it incorporates all the main elements of our brand from the very first moment it reaches the hands of our customers.

Why it’s a Fundamental Marketing Instrument:

#1 Protects Products

Of course, this is the main function of packaging. But it also plays an important role in how our customers form an opinion about our entire company. If we pack our products sloppily or use very poor-quality products for our packaging, we not only put the products themselves at risk, but we will also make a very bad impression on our customers; imagine the customer’s shock if, for example, the bag they are holding while walking is torn and products are dropped onto the street.

They will feel that we neither respect nor appreciate them for choosing us for their purchases, which will certainly discourage them from selecting us again in the future. 

#2 Tells our Brand Story

The marketing industry itself has become more challenging than ever with the role of Millennials and Generation Z being at the forefront of the marketplace. For some time now, it seems we have been moving away from traditional marketing strategies, such as trumpeting to our customers that “our product is the best of the best”. This is not enough to convince them.

Customers nowadays love good stories, so, they want to know:

  • Why is our product the best?
  • Who created it?
  • How?
  • Why?
  • Where?

By giving this information regarding the story of our product to our customers, we can evoke various positive emotions while at the same time informing them both about our product and our business. The story of our product and our brand itself doesn’t need to be detailed or too descriptive: our packaging will truly speak directly to our customers through imagery and tangible experience.

#3 It’s our Signature

It’s no coincidence that leading global brands, like Apple, promote packaging as a consumer experience in its own right: an Apple box is itself a product, just like an iPhone or MacBook contained within it. Their packaging, then, creates an experience for customers and reflects the durability and simplicity for which the company itself is renowned. 

Too often, we forget that our packaging is essentially the signature we leave everywhere and that through it we have the ability to attract new customers and maintain the trusting relationship we already have with old ones.

#4 It’s a Channel of Communication

In order to strengthen our brand, we must remember that our product may be the best on the market, but its packaging must be the main tool that represents it. So, we should have our products placed in an easily recognizable packaging for our customers. The uniqueness of our business does not mean that we need to have complicated or cluttered packaging. A simple design can enhance our brand visibility through our logo, our name and our company colors. 

As customers see these elements repeatedly, over time they get used to them and can recognize us making our business and products memorable.

#5 It Makes Us Stand Out from Competitors

As the German marketing consultant, Frank Rehme, has very aptly observed, “Today’s consumers have gone from being mere shoppers to experts”. Also, he has likened the unboxing process itself to a whole ritual, so, our packaging, as the core of this ritual, must:

  • Be openable without tools
  • Make the customer fall in love with the product
  • Represent sustainability

In particular, sticking to the last point, more and more consumers are becoming aware of environmental protection and how their own purchases and the actions of the company they buy from contribute to the protection or destruction of the environment. It is, therefore, crucial that our packaging promotes our responsibility and values by associating our business with sustainable practices, promoting packaging-recycling and helping our customers feel that they are protecting nature through our packaging.

#6 Ensuring Timelessness

By choosing bags that are reusable, our customers not only contribute to protecting the environment, as we mentioned, but also make it easier for them wherever they are during the day and perhaps keep our packaging forever, since:

  • It can become their accessory.
  • They can carry other items by using it over and over again.
  • It can become a status symbol of the fact that they shopped from us.
  • They can repackage other things for shipping.
  • They can use our packaging as storage-space at home.
  • They can keep it as a souvenir, especially if we write a nice message on it.

#7 It’s Mobile Advertising

Our packaging is literally a mobile advertisement at a low cost for us, since our customers can carry it with them everywhere. A simple but neat packaging with our logo will highlight our company and, without us taking any other steps, will be an opportunity for new customers to seek us out.

Also, today’s customers love online posts and, especially, photos on various social media, such as Instagram, TikTok, etc., as well as recording the so-called “unboxing” videos on platforms such as YouTube. So, even without our knowledge, our product packaging can be found “posing” on our customers’ profiles, thus, advertising our brand and our product effortlessly.

Επίσης, οι σύγχρονοι πελάτες αγαπούν τα online posts και, ειδικά, τις φωτογραφίες σε διάφορα social media, όπως είναι το Instagram, το TikTok, κλπ. όπως και τα λεγόμενα “unboxing” βίντεο σε πλατφόρμες όπως το YouTube. Μπορεί και εν αγνοία μας, λοιπόν, η σακούλα του προϊόντος μας να βρεθεί «ποζάροντας» στα προφίλ των πελατών μας, διαφημίζοντας έτσι το brand μας και το προϊόν μας αβίαστα.

To sum up, packaging is the most powerful marketing tool at our disposal and is a kind of “gift” that we give our customer when they buy our products. To show them the appreciation we have for them, we need to choose packaging that symbolizes that we reward them and thank them for choosing us.

This way, we will definitely see them again soon.