Putting Words In The Mouth Of Your Packaging

A product should always be the most important part of any marketing campaign. We often focus on advertising, social media, and logo design. But, the product is more important than all those things. This is, after all, the primary focus of your efforts. This, more than you advertising, is what will gain customers, and ensure they remain loyal.

On the one hand, this means that the best advertising campaign can’t save a bad product. On the other, it means that it may be time to set aside your other marketing pursuits. Your product itself should come first. That means you need to ensure it’s the best it can be. But, you also need to ensure it looks appealing and stands out on the shelf.

The main way to do that is to focus on packaging. While it’s often forgotten, the right packaging is the best creative marketing method available to you. Like anything else in the marketing world, your choice says a lot about you as a company, and your product. For proof, let’s look at what a few different styles say about you.

‘I care’’

Eco-friendly packaging is a sure way to show customers that you care. Not so long ago, eco-friendly wasn’t a consideration for many companies. But, with environmental issues becoming more relevant, showing you’re on board could be invaluable. This is a fantastic way to reach younger customers, as they’re often at the forefront of this issue.

Eco-friendly options for packaging include cardboard, recycled options, and biodegradable plastic. These will often set you back a little more, but people who care about these issues are usually willing to pay.

‘I’m high-quality’

We all want customer’s to think our product is high-quality, right? Using top of the range packaging materials is a sure way to send that message. If this is your goal, you need your product to look as smart as possible. There are a few different ways to achieve this. Something like these stand up pouches are sure to work well. This way, you know your product will always be standing tall on the shelf. Opting for the aluminum options would also show that you care about quality. Small personal touches also add a high-quality finish. Tying a bow around each product, for example, gives an exclusive quality vibe.

4 Ways To Save Money On Office Space

Office space is a huge expense for many businesses. Fortunately, there are many ways to save costs in this area. Here are four options for companies on a budget.

Work from home

If you’re running your business solo, there may be no reason spend money on office space at all. Most businesses only need a computer and a phone. An office space can be nice for meeting clients in person, but you could simply opt for video calls or meet people in a local coffee bar. If you rent a property, you may even be able to claim some of this on expenses by working from home.

It’s worth always having your own private work space to limit distractions. By making this a designated office space it may also help to separate your home and work life. It could also be worth getting a separate phone and number for business, as well as using a virtual address so that clients sending business mail don’t know your home address.

Once you start hiring employees, you may want to think about moving, although it’s possible they may be able to work from their homes too. The only issue may be that communication is slower than it would be in an office.

Try working from a ‘coffice’

Using a laptop, it’s possible to work from any location. Coffee bars have become the go-to alternative office, allowing you to get out the house and also serving as a great place for meeting clients. You may want to avoid certain coffee bars around certain times, as they could get busy and noisy, making them distracting and unsuitable if you need to take phone-calls. Libraries, parks and even bars are other places you could consider.

Think rural

If renting or buying an office space is the only option, there are still ways that you could save costs. Location can have a big effect on rates. Urban areas are almost always favoured for being central, but unless you’ve got clients regularly coming into your office, do you need an urban office space?

Opting for somewhere rural and out of the way could possibly be cheaper. A lot of farmers convert their barns and rent them out to potential business for a cheap rate. You could even buy a barn and convert it yourself. Issues could be getting electricity, which may require buying a generator. Look out for diesel generator sales online that could help save you money. Alternatively, you could consider solar power.

Share your office

Shared office spaces are ideal for small businesses. You could buy somewhere yourself and then rent space to another business to help pay the mortgage. You could alternative rent space of another company. There are even specific co-working spaces, in which multiple businesses and individuals share space. Not only will this cut costs of rent, but it will also cut costs of bills too and allow you share certain resources like printers and paper.

Keeping Your Small Business Successful For Years To Come

Only someone that has set up their own small business knows how difficult it can be. You have to put in so much time, money, and effort and sometimes still can’t get your business off the ground. Keeping your business successful is even more difficult. Studies have shown that most small businesses collapse within two years of their launch, so pay attention to these tips if you want to do the opposite.

Customer Service Is Key

It doesn’t matter how great your product seems, if your customer service is poor, no one will buy from you. To improve your customer service, ensure you only employ staff who are friendly, polite, and seem to want your business to succeed as much as you do. If they’re only there to get paid and leave, and have a negative attitude, they aren’t the employees you need. You should also ensure that there is always someone available to handle any queries or complaints from your customers. If you respond quickly, and in person, your customers will know you care and are more likely to return to your business in the future.

Advertising

If your business is going through a slow stage, don’t give up. At this point, you should invest in plenty of advertising to get your name and products out there for all to see. You want loyal customers that keep coming back, but new ones are necessary too. Otherwise your business will never be able to grow.

Get One The Web

Selling your products online is a smart way to find new customers, sometimes even from all over the world. As long as your advertising is great, anyone that can’t make it to your store is sure to buy from you over the internet, even if they do have to pay a small shipping charge.

Perfect Your Product

No one is going to keep buying what you’re selling unless it’s perfect. Make sure you have done plenty of market research to ensure that there’s actually a gap in the market for your product. If there is, and people like it, now is the time to start thinking big. Precision machining can be used to mass produce your product to a flawless standard that simply cannot be met by human production. This will save you time, if you’ve been making your product yourself, and ensure that all of your products are perfect.

Proper Finance Management

As soon as your business starts making a regular profit, it would probably be a sensible idea to hire an accountant. Things like tax can be difficult to understand, but it would be your accountant’s job to understand for you. This would take the pressure off you, and allow you to manage other aspects of your business. Your accountant can also advise you on ways to make running your business more cost effective, so they really would be worth the money.

There’s no greater feeling than seeing your business thrive, so stick with it through the difficult times. Just follow these simple steps and have some faith in your small business, and it will be hard to go wrong.