Branding Your Cannabis – How to make your cannabis product stand out in 2018

In the world of retail, marketing is king – to make your product stand out above the rest and to stay competitive. However, as is the case with cannabis, without TV commercials and printed advertisements, you are left with your packaging as your primary marketing medium. Market research has shown that packaging greatly influences a customer’s buying preferences.

When your packaging looks attractive, it reflects the quality, character, and appeal of the product contained within. If your packaging is functional, it increases your product’s desirability even more. In the world of cannabis, packaging is your single most effective marketing tool. Here are a couple of things that you can pay attention to when branding your cannabis and designing your packaging.

Simple design

The design of your packaging goes beyond the scope of the graphical print. The physical shape of your packaging plays just as big a role in your product’s aesthetics and desirability as the design of the art.

With that being said, keeping your design simple is often the best course of action. An eye-catching design is never overdone and never busy. Too many colors and features can deter your customer, or worse, confuse them. They want to look at a package and know immediately what they are buying. Too much detail can become overwhelming, and your customer will opt for another product, regardless of the quality inside.

Relevance

Style is one of the things that constantly change and what was deemed professional and attractive last year, is now outdated and boring. You need to keep your finger on the pulse cannabis branding in terms of relevant design features and incorporate it into your own packaging.

On the other hand, your design should always speak about the product on the inside. If your design is not relevant to your products, it will never work. If your products are aimed at recreational use, clinically clean and white designs are out. What you need are relaxing color tones with simple graphics.

Target Market

When you develop your products, you always have a target market in mind. It is, therefore, important to design something that will appeal to that specific group of people. What is also important is that you should follow the state regulations in this regard and not design something to attract minors.

You might sell the same product, but if you target professional businessmen, your packaging will look different to the product that is aimed at the middle-class. Knowing your audience and what they love is key to being able to appeal to them and draw their eye.

Imagery

The imagery that you use on your product is probably the single most important feature of your packaging seeing that it is the feature that attracts the buyer. All it needs to achieve is to attract the buyer to stop and stare.

People will walk into a shop and scan the shelves, not for words, but for images. Only when they fix their eyes on a relevant image, do they stop and go in for further examination. In this case, a picture is worth a thousand words and money in the bank.

What’s inside

Once you have the attention of the customer, it doesn’t stop there. Now you have to pay dividends to the curiosity that you created. As the customers inspect your merchandise, they want to know what they will be spending money on. Confusing language should be avoided at all costs. Rather, you should focus on the language of your target market.

Recreational products should provide info in a light and easy tone, whereas medicinal products’ info should be written in a much more formal tone. The next thing that you should keep in mind is to be short and to the point.

Instructions

Many people are new to the cannabis industry and don’t necessarily know how to use their new recreational or medicinal cannabis. This will often be the deciding factor of whether a person will buy your product or move on to the next one.

People will often go into the shops with an idea of what they want and search for relevant products only. On the other hand, the newbies don’t have a clue and the one who can explain the best is the one who is going to get the sale. When customers walk out the door, they want to feel confident that they will be able to use the product. Instructions are an important part of your cannabis branding.

Seasonal packaging

Designing your packaging with seasonal themes is purely for aesthetics’ sake, but people love getting into the mood for different seasons. Just think about how companies change their packaging around Christmas time. Anything with a Christmas theme is like a magnet for shoppers.

You don’t necessarily have to stick Santa figures or Easter bunnies on your packaging, using the colors of the season is enough to attract customers to your products. Tell your story

People love authenticity because it gives them a sense of buying into something that has value. When you share your story of how your company and product came to be, the small beginnings, etc. they feel as if they know the brand a bit better.

Your product then transcends from being just another consumable to something much more personal. Your story makes your cannabis branding authentic, not some mass-produced item that is made for a profit. Your story reveals that you aren’t just a massive corporation, but rather that you are someone who changed your passion into something to share with the world.

Content Contributor: Green Rush Packaging