Breaking down your target market is one of the first steps you should take when starting to think about your retail packaging strategy. There are a few simple questions you should always ask yourself before you begin marketing through packaging: who is your company, who are your current customers, and what makes your product better than your competitors.
What makes your company special? If you have a product that is cutting edge and extremely niche you may have a golden ticket to success. Though, most of us have to rely on more than just a great product. When trying to differentiate your business from your competitors you need to look at what makes your business different or better. Do you have an amazing sales team that builds incredible relationships? Do you have an in-house support team with an excellent track record of retaining customers; or even better gaining referrals? Are your products known to be extremely easy to use? If you can pinpoint your strong points you will have a better insight into why your current customers are buying your products; thus, using it to break down your current target market.
One of the easiest ways to figure out your target market is to breakdown who is currently buying your products. Start with one product and take a sample of five to ten of your current customers. Write down everything you know about each customer: age, gender, geographic locations, lifestyle, hobbies, occupations etc. Look for common factors between your current customers. For example, if your product is a weight supplement and all your current customers from your sample business men aged 35 – 45 living in an urban centre; you will have a great idea of who your target customers are. From this data, you can do further research into what elements to incorporate into your packaging designs.
Now that you know more about why consumers chose your business over your competitors, you can now look deeper into the benefits of your product and how to market them to your target market. If you have multiple products you will need to do this for each product. You will want to look into each benefit your product offers and try to pin point how these will they will attract your target market. If you have ever looked at a keyword cluster, the keywords searched or used the most will appear larger and bolder and will decrease in size as they are less common. Pull these elements into your design. For example, if you are marketing products to new parents, emphasize on benefits such as safety, ease of use and how the product will make the parents life a lot easier.
Once you have broken down your company, your customer and products you will be able to gain a deeper understanding into what makes your product sell. Incorporating these key elements into your retail packaging designs will help your consumer determine why your product was made for them. If you would like more information on packaging strategies please contact us.
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